The Hive III Tarot

As the French would say: "Le nouveau Hive est arrive" (or something like that). Last year I already  mentioned the Hive I and II decks here. This is now the third edition of this yearly art exhibition and deck using the art from it organised by the Los Angeles based Hive Gallery.

As for the previous 2 decks it showcases a wide array of stiles and techniques all blended together and bound by the Tarot-theme, some relatively  traditional other with a big "what where they thinking"-factor, but within this deck knowing it's background and set-up they make sense.

Besides being a new and completely different deck than it's 2 predecessors there are some identical element like the backs & the borders and the fact that this too is a numbered limited edition of only 100 decks.

You can find more info about the deck and the Hive Gallery at their website here.

Entries for previous editions are to be found here:

• The Hive I & II Tarot's 
• The Hive IV

The iTongo Tarot for Transformation

This one of these decks that stay in the back of my mind waiting for a good moment to be posted here, and this despite all its merits! It's a great deck with an original twist, taking all the original icons of the Tarot and taking them down, out-of-the box and deep into a wild and mysterious world, down into South Africa

This is a well thought out deck is entirely based on African mythology, lore and concepts for the majors and depicting the people of Southern Africa, their living and their environment in the pre-colonial period for the minors. The deck is purely African in archetypes not Afro-American, Afro-Cuban or any other hybrids, what is pretty unique in it's genre.

The information needed for those who are interested in but know very little about the African culture and tradition used in the deck can find everything they need and more in the very clearly written box that make up this set.

The decks website is here and you can get it here or here.

The Way Of The Fool Tarot

This deck by the native Venezuelan artist Beatriz Inglessis is vibrant has something very primal, brutal yet also tender and both at the same time very artistic. Miss Ingelessis has been exposed to many influences in her live, born in Venezuela, currently living and working in Tokyo, Japan. She attained her Bachelor degree in Fine Arts from The Art Institute of Boston in Boston MA (1999), and a MFA degree, with a specialization in Japanese Woodblock Printing, from Tokyo University of the Arts (2010) and all these must surely have had an influence upon her art although to me me I can only see the style of an adult artist sure of herself and her creations.

The deck of smallish cards is the third incarnation of these images there are large sized posters which you can see on her site here, there was also a scroll created that you can see here 

The technique used is that of the woodcut that gives it's very strong look and unity.

The edition of 50 decks that make up this edition isn't sold out, so i'd say get one as long as you can the decks are for sale here  a great opportunity to get a piece of contemporary tarot art that is true to the spirit of tarot and yes also usable, not only pretty top look at.

The Regretsy Tarot Project

The name of the decks sounds whimsy and that's exactly what the deck is! It is a collaborative project between 25 artists all over the world active on the website Regretsy.com (a site that's a humorous view of all strange stuff that can be found on the Etsy site )  and who call themselves 'April's Army'. last year they organised a successful fund-raiser and there are still some of the 1144 decks that make up this edition available at this location.

The cards are as a result of the regretsy origin full of fun and general (and specific) strangeness, and yes some of that is of an adult nature (for example the suits are called Tools, Genitalia, WTF, and Whimsicles and with extra card Towel Mike). The occasional hint to the WCS-deck, keeps it recognisable as a tarot yet viewed through an hilariously mad mind, the majors have been renamed to go with the vibe of the whole, some title work some are just bizarre - but as part of this deck what could you expect.

Darkana Tarot Deck

And once again I'm here with a deck in the fund-raising stage of it's creation/publication life, it seems lately many artists who want to self-publish have discovered this way get their project off the ground.

The deck was seeking the needed money to go through and get published, and meanwhile already succeed in, (after only 4 days) but it is still possible to obtain one though his kickstarter page here.

It is a full 79 cards modern, black and white deck with non conventional imagery, the extra 79th card is called the Badass, a clear illustration of the artist's sense of humor. Tongue in cheek, irreverent, comic or just plain fun, well these impressions are correct the deck creator Dan Donche (aka Tarot Junkie) is the man behind the Inappropriate Tarot Readings application on Facebook.

The Holy Card Tarot

Many people think Christianity and tarot do not mix, well this is a very extreme example they do, you have to know and recognize many many saints. Every card in this deck is the depiction of a saint

Patty Gallagher made her deck entirely out of  holy card images ranging from classical art to anonymously created religious art that so many of us recognize and have a both vintage and religious look and feel.A great deck for those wanting to combine a Christian background with tarot.

The homepage for the deck is here

Stolen Child is Re-launched!

Last year (here) I mentioned that artiste Monica Knighton (known for her Tarot of the Dead) was launching a fund-raiser to get the means to finish and self publish her new deck the Stolen Child Tarot - a Major Arcana Deck, this was unsuccessfully sadly enough.

But rejoice, Monica is back with a new go at it, so perhaps this time it will work out just fine (and it looks out it will be) you can see more about it, and fund it here and on her Facebook.
   

Tarot de Marsella Robledo

Some time ago I posted about a TdM restoration made by Pablo Robledo, well good news the good man is back with a new deck, an original TdM deck of his very own creation this time.This child of his love for the Marseilles pattern is worthy of getting all the attention it can, and yes, being included in the collection of all TdM lovers.


Created to look like a traditional deck as if it where created by a contemporary of the great card makers of the past.All the strengths of the tradition, but made to fit modern quality standards in printing and card stock (and both are as high quality as the previous Robledo deck and worthy of any professional printing, worthy of the master card makers of yore). The whole feels right, there are no concessions made to modern times, if you don't know any better the deck could have come from any era, the colors are rich but not in your face and what I particularly love is that unlike  many 'modern' TdM renditions is that the backgrounds aren't disturbingly white but rather a creamy beige a wonderful touch that gives it an instant classical appearance.

Watcher Angel Tarot by Jacqueline Williams & Michelle Belanger

There are quite a few angel themed decks out there, mostly very sugary sweet or with detached absent looking beings, not so for this one here is drama, action, emotion, both good and bad.

The Watcher Angels to whom the decks title referred are the angels who chose to fall to earth for the love of human women, and learned them the arts of prophecy, root-cutting, cosmetics, and metal-smiting. Briefly mentioned in the bible book genesis, the angels story is told at large in the the first section of the "Book of Enoch",a non-canonical Jewish text.

Each major arcana is linked to one of these angels, whose name appear at the bottom of the card, the minors portray both humans and angels and the impact those had on our world, this linked to a keyword under the image.

78 cards + one extra card the 'Seeker', available as deck alone or as set with the companion book.

The homepage for the deck is here
The deck can be ordered here or at the artists Etsy store

Abiding in the Sanctuary: The Waite-Trinick Tarot

The Waite-Colman Smith is probably one of the most famous decks in the world, printed in many different era's versions and editions since it first saw the light in 1909, but very few people know Arthur Edward Waite also created an other deck this time with the artists John Trinick and Wilfrid Pippet, all images from that deck are now published in a limited edition book by Marcus Katz and Tali Goodwin and available here.

The 23 cards, the 22 Major Arcana  + Da’ath, portrayed here are in shown in colour and B&W; in different versions (the finished B&W versions as well as many original variant illustrations and sketches of the same in both colour and B&W)

Subtitled "A Christian Mystical Tarot (1917-1923)"  where to be used in Waite's own mystical order the 'Fellowship of the Rosy Cross' in rituals as meditations on the 22 paths of the Tree of Life, correspondences who differer significantly from the 'Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn' ones.



The following details come from the publishers page: "80 colour and b&w plates, extensive commentary and biographies, with a preface by Mary K. Greer.
250 copies only limited edition (186pp, hardback, dustcover).
In this book you will be introduced to these mystical and sublime images, and given ways of using them for your own contemplation in an ancient technique termed "Lectio Divina". You will be shown how they correspond to the Tree of Life and discover Waite's hidden mystical system for spiritual development illustrated by the Tarot.The book contains original sketches and paintings by J. B. Trinick, forgotten for over thirty years in the British Museum, a full set of the b&w plates produced from the images, in addition to extensive research, family background and artistic context for the images." If that doesn't sound mouthwatering to every tarot lover and student.

Les 22 Portes by Nadine et Michel Auzas-Mille

Some tarot pearls are not published as decks but appear as illustrations inside a book,  as are these 22 wonderful cards do. They appeared in the French book with the looooong title and subtitle: 'Les 22 Portes - essai pour une approche spirituelle, au seuil du 3ème millénaire, à partir de la symbolique des arcanes de Tarot' (The Doors 22 - an essay for a spiritual approach, at the threshold of the third millennium, to the symbolism and the mysteries of Tarot) published in 2007 by Editions Cosmogone.

These big one page sized images follow the TdM tradition (in this case the artist took it's inspiration from the Grimaud deck) but interpreted and redrawn into 22 detailed works of art.

CBD Tarot de Marseille by Yoav Ben-Dov

I'm back and this time with a new Marseilles deck coming to us from Israel, a country which produces very very few deck (this is only my second deck I know of and own from there).Mister Yoav Ben-Dov, has been a tarot reader and teacher for 32 years, so he knows his tarot.

The deck he worked on, aided by 2 professionals, is one of the most popular TdM decks around, to know the Conver deck from 1760, but rather than making a historically correct restoration his version is one for our modern time, for a modern public (with al the advantages and weaknesses that goes with that).The CBD is an artistic remake, bringing the Conver up to date to contemporary printing techniques and visual tastes and sensitivities, what is especially noticeable in the face expressions and the color shades that differ from the original.

It is a high quality production self-published but printed in Belgium by Carta Mundy (still a guarantee for great card stock  and high end printing)

The artists site, with images of the deck is here and here you can order the deck from him.

The tarot design coloring book by Caren Caraway

There are many formats in which a tarot can be published, but this is as far as I know this is the only one in colouring book form. Published in 1980 by Stemmer House Publishers, a publisher specialised in children books and Designs from different era's, countries and cultures printed in black and white, as this work is.

Miss Caraway has rendered the arcana's in 78 flowing images with a 'cosmic' end of the 70ies feeling, especially pronounced in the majors, the minors are more adaptations of the familiar WCS-images to her personal style giving them all a soft and non threatening feel, an elegant child of it's time! Each  major and court-card are printed on a full (approximately) A4 pages sized, the Ace's and twos are put together and the remaining 8 cards are distributed on 2 pages.

Some cards have been renamed, so Strength became  Vigor, Justice Equilibrium,  and Judgement  is Transformation.

The Rosetta Tarot - Book of Seshet by Melissa M Meleen

There is a new Thoth-remake out, and knowing how few there are (especially when compared to the amount of  Waite-Colman-Smith and TdM-style ones) this is always a good news! Among those children of the Thoth this one is for sure one with the brightest and most vivid colours around so if you like a Thoth using a vibrant palette this might be one to look out for.


The artist wanted her deck to be a lovechild between the Thoth yet somehow during the elaboration of it the Thoth took over. In the portray of the archetypes and in structure it's a true Thoth with only here and there some stylistic WCS hints and traces, particularly in the minor arcana.

One interesting technique used by the artist is the fact that for each suit and the majors she used the techniques that where closest to the meaning and spirit of that suit, for example for the Cups connected to the element water  she used a mixed media technique of watercolor, water-based ink and acrylic, the acrylic comes back in all cards to create an unifying force throughout the deck.

The tarot is independently yet professionally printed in a limited edition of only 777 deck and comes in a well-constructed box together with an informative LWB that gives more info about the cards and the structure they are build on - in addition the artist also wrote a companion book for those wanting more.

The artist's site is here,  to find more about the deck and if you like it even buy it!

Update: The deck is now available as an app for iPhone and iPad  here (as well forTarot of the Holy Light and others)

Tarot Collectors Forum 2011 Collaborative Deck

Le nouveau Tarot Collectors Forum tarot has arrived! Yes it's that moment of the year again, for it's 4th consecutive year members of the Tarot Collectors Forum have put together their efforts, creativity and love of tarot to create a 78 card deck - and once more the harvest from all that labour of love has been a good one.

As with the 3 previous decks style and materials used where up to the participants what resulted in a wide array of possible variations in result; mix that in with a background of people who have and know literally hundreds of decks and or even created at least one (some among us are even artist with deck that are self published or published by a big company). My personal contributions this year where The Chariot, the Page of Swords and shown below the Page of Pentacles (and I think I may be proud of my creations)

A big project like this one brings its problems with it, many persons working together on the same project but in their own manner, their own speed and personality means there is need for a good organisation with some strong personalities to keep the reigns, but we reached the finish all together and even faster than previous years. Bravo for us all!

It is a very exclusive deck, not meant for sale, there is one deck for each participant + one deck for the forums host Adam McLean and one fro the "Museo dei Tarocchi".

See also:
Tarot Collectors Forum 2010 Collaborative Deck
Tarot Collectors Forum 2009 Collaborative Deck

The Tarot Cards Of Francesco Clemente

End of August I blogged about the New-York artist Francesco Clementes exhibition in the Uffizi museum in Florence, about the 78 tarot paintings he created. 

This month a book was published showcasing all 78 paintings + some background about tarot in general, the artist and the creation of the tarot series. An second part of the book is about an other series he maid portraying him as the 12 apostles.

You can find my original blog entry here

The ISBN of the book is: 9783777445212 available at bookshops, Amazon and Bookdepository among others

 

Glass Tarot No. 2

The artist behind this deck, Krzysztof Glass (1944-2000) was a busy, engaged and creative person: painter , graphic artist , poet , journalist and political analyst where the fields where he was active in. As artist he began exhibiting his paintings, drawings and lithographs from 1970 onwards in Poland, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Germany and Austria. His main interests and concerns in his artistic expression where concerned with both the working class and social themes, but he also created 2 tarots.

The second of his 2 tarots came recently into my possession by pure chance and to my great joy of course (all interesting decks always are, and this one is both interesting and extremely difficult to find). This deck was published in 1977 in a limited edition of only 99 decks, and made in a very time and work intensively manner: hand-pulled, with the (very bold) colors added in separate steps a true work of art and great craftsmanship. The only part of the deck that is a bit less are the simplistic pip cards (only the number of suit emblems they represent) but the majors and court cards are stunning and worth every attention they can get, being both very in your face as well as mysterious because of they are shown with dual or split profiles .

Triomphes De Paris by Bertrand Saint-Guillain

This deck is the result of a grand love affair, passion even the artist, Bertrand Saint-Guillain, has for the craftsmanship and art of the 17th & 18th century French cardmakers. Published this year, in a first edition run of only 6 (I have  number 5 and I adore it, it feels like a paper made treasure, an ancient manuscript in card form) if you wouldn't know what date it was published it could have come from any era (well 20th century that is, otherwise there would have been deterioration)

The artist told there could be 50 decks made if the molds can take the printings and if there is enough demand.

Inspired by the Jacques Viéville tarot as a lead, a source without following it slavishly.The black & white trumps are small sized, printed on heavy unlaminated stock, red backs are glued onto them. Worth of the great artisans this decks execution has been entirely traditional, excepted only for the substitution of linoleum for printing, in stead of woodblocks, and also for use of modern papers and a light powered heat source.

You can see them all and even contact through his website
Sadly the original hand-made edition is now OOP
Update: a new edition of the deck is available 

Stolen Child Tarot - a Major Arcana Deck, by Monica Knighton

I'm back with a new deck that seeks the means to be finished and get published through the use of a fund-raising site (this time that site is Kickstarter). And yes I'd love to see it published!

The artist of this deck in the making is Monica Knighton, who we know as the creator of the Tarot Of The Dead, someone who knows about tarot and self-publishing (she published the first edition of her deck herself).

The name and inspiration for this deck came from one of her favourite poems, the Stolen Child, by William Butler Yeats  -- in particular the refrain:
“Come away, O human child!
To the waters and the wild
With a faery, hand in hand,
For the world's more full of weeping than you can understand.”



There are more images on Monica's Facebook page
The KicksSarter page  for it is here

Tarot of the Holy Light by Christine Payne-Towler and Michael Dowers

If there is one deck I'd advise to get it would be this one (in my humble opinion worthy of the title deck of the year, decennium or even bigger...)

It is an, as they artist state (and strongly emphasize), a traditional Continental-style deck, nothing modern, nothing (post) Golden Dawn to be found, not in images nor in the underlying system. Here the images project us in the world of the 16- and 1700's science and magic, the images used in alchemical, gnostic & hermetic texts...all the esoteric knowledge of the time - the art itself is consistent throughout the deck and what i would call in equilibrium, between the positive and negative energies represented by each arcanum. The framework these images where build upon, as by a skilled architect (or would I in this context use mason), by Michael is from that same period and world view, forming an alchemical marriage of flesh and mind. To know more about the correspondences uses Christine advises to get a copy of The Occult Power of Numbers, by W. Wynn Westcott, but i think Agrippa's three books of occult philosophy could also provide a wealth of information.

So indeed an impressive work deep mysterious and powerful, BUT you do not need to get your study books out and spend hours immersing in the esoteric systems, the deck can be used right out of the box.

The cards are printed upon nice quality textured (linnen-like) card-stock, sturdy yet not stiff supple without being bendy, so they will stay looking good for a very long time!

You may notice the art upon the box is completely different from those in the cards, the reason is simple, box and cards where made by 2 different artists -  Michael found it important his brother made the art for the box, and that he did his own thing to it.

The deck can be obtained through here and there is a lot more of information to be found about it there also.

Update: The deck is now available as an app for iPhone and iPad  here (as well for the The Rosetta Tarot and others)