Three More Tarot Deck Reviews

Hello there!
Hope you are having a fine holiday season. You know, scientists and historians figure that Jesus was born sometime in the spring time. I figure in early March,
around the time of the Ides, just before the Roman year began on the 21st. After all, they were headed to Bethlehem to take part in the census so that Joseph could be taxed. Joseph knew which side his bread was buttered on, not that he’d use butter if he were having meat with his bread, good Jew that he was. Shepherds would not have their sheep out in the pastures in winter. It gets pretty cold out there in the Palestinian desert in winter. It doesn’t snow, but it gets pretty cold. The shepherds didn’t want their sheep out there any more than they wanted to be out there themselves.

Christmas got shifted by the Church to December 25th because the people were already celebrating Winter Solstice, the birthday of Sol Invictus (Constantine’s patron god before he got converted to Christianity) Saturnalia, which was the celebration of Saturn, an ancient farmer’s god. Everyone celebrated him, because that’s where their food came from, and the birthday of Dionysus, in Rome called Bacchus, who was born in a cave on December 25th. Mithra, son of Ahura Mazda was also born on December 25th. Many of the soldiers were Mithraists. The church fathers would rather the people were at mass than out in the streets being rowdy, drunk, and having sex, so they arbitrarily shifted the official date for the birth of Jesus to December 25th. Now the people were still rowdy, drunk, and having sex, but at least they also spent some time in church, quietly worshipping the Christ-child, and recovering from their hangovers.

Stephen6580 refuses to celebrate the holiday because the Christians have so corrupted it, but I say, let’s reclaim it. It was ours first, after all. Doc went along with me, of course. We mostly celebrated on the 24th, which is when the Norwegians celebrate it, called Mother’s Night. I can say it in German Mutternacht, but I don’t know what it is in Norwegian. My daughter came over, we’d have a feast, and open gifts. She would do something to my computer for her own amusement. That’s how she relaxes. What can I say? She’s a dyed-in-the-wool computer nerd, just like her father. She’s been on the computer for over 24 of her 27 years. Anyway, At ten her father would come over and pick her up, and the 25th Doc and I would watch movies. This year I plan to watch the entire Hellraiser series, all four movies.

.Now to the main part of this blog. The 3 decks I will review today are: The Druidcraft Tarot, the Art Nouveau Taro, and the Comparative Tarot. First, the Druidcraft Tarot by Philip and Stephanie Carr Gomm, and by Will Worthington. I don’t know about you, but I like my Tarot decks with drop dead gorgeous artwork, and Mr. Worthington has certainly done so in this deck. I wish that I could supply some images to show you exactly just how gorgeous the cards are. They aptly illustrate the culture of the ancient Celts. At least they do for me. Except for some barrows and some cunningly wrought metal pieces, the Celts didn’t leave much behind them. Much of what they did leave was destroyed by the Germanic tribes that followed them, and by modern grave robbers. I like my cards to be rich with color, and these cards certainly are richly colored. The cards may be a little unwieldy to handle if you have small hands, as many women do. I’m sure the reason for this was to better show off the artwork. The idea behind the deck was to combine Druidry with the Craft of the Wise, that is, Wicca/Witchcraft, which has been enjoying a resurgence the past 50 years, especially the past 30 years. The Carr-Gomms thought that the two paths were naturals to join, and so in this deck they did it. The tradition that this would call for would be the Celtic tradition. Stephen6580 and I were so inspired by this that we formed an online coven called “DruidWicca_Coven”, which can be found on several networks, all with different numbers. .I think you can still get a copy of the deck from Amazon.com. Google “DruidCraft Tarot” and see what you come up with. The Carr-Gomms may still have it up on their website.

The Art Nouveau Tarot is published by Llewellyn, and the cards are by Antonella Castelli. The main artist of the movement she emulated was my favorite Alphonse Mucha, who was from what is now the Czech republic. They both favored a stylized view of natural forms and of the human body. If you are a parent with very young children, and protective about which parts of the human body you allow them to see, you will want to keep this deck out of their reach and sight. You don’t want very young children handling them anyway, because they will mess them up. I’m enjoying looking through these cards again. It’s been over a year since I’ve seen them. Watch out then you call me for a reading, because I just might give you a reading with them. They are gorgeous cards. Pages are male knaves, but she does follow the Thelemic custom of having Justice be Trump number VIII, while Strength is Trump number XI. I don’t know whether they’re still available from Llewellyn or not, but you might be able to obtain the deck from Amazon, or even from Ebay. I am, however rather hesitant to recommend Ebay because it being an auction site, instead of a straight retail site, you tend to have to almost have unlimited funds. Still, Doc did very well with the things he bought from Ebay, and you might too. I know a seamstress who gets her fabrics exclusively from one of the shops on Ebay, so it’s the old case of YMMV (your Mileage May Vary).

The third deck I will discuss today is the Comparative Tarot, which is more a teaching or learning deck than anything else. Valerie Sim selected four decks which she thought were representative: the Universal Tarot, the Marseilles Tarot, the Tarot of the Sphinx, and the Origins Tarot. Universal is very much like the Rider-Waite-Smith Tarot, except that it made certain changes that I don not approve of. Marseilles is one of the oldest existing Tarot decks. It has late medieval images. But it is hard to read, because on the pip cards, minor arcane 2 through 10 of the four suits, have just the symbols of the suits rather than scenes illustrating the meanings of the cards. This calls for a lot of memorization, which is intimidating for many people. My method of reading Tarot is incompatible with decks like that. I own a few decks like it, but not many. I try to keep ownership of that type of deck to a minimum. When I read in person, I’m sure it’s not as interesting for my querent, although it’s more mysterious that way. It’s a way to really pull the wool over the eyes of the marks. It’s thus suitable for the old type of unethical fortuneteller. I’m not saying that a reader who uses that type of deck is unethical, but I would certainly be curious why s/he uses that deck when there are thousands of decks available where the meanings are more transparent. The excuse that s/he learned on that deck doesn’t make it, not when what s/he learned on that deck is so easily transferable to other decks.

The next example she shows is the Tarot of the Sphinx, which looks to be a deck with an Egyptian theme. Considering that the word gypsies came from is “Egyptians” and that many people still associate the Tarot with Gypsies, it seems oddly fitting. The Tarot of the Sphinx is by Silvana Alasia. The work of many occultists is based upon the Khemetic model, such as the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, which chose Khemetic motifs blended with the Qabalah. Unlike the Marseilles Tarot, The Tarot of the Sphinx features individual scenes for the pip cards, although I have some doubts about how the scenes relate to the meaning of the cards. The final deck exemplar featured in the Comparative Tarot is the Tarot of the Origins by Piero Alligo, Manfredi Toraldo, and Sergio Toppi. It seems to be rather dark. I can tell you right now that I would not have chosen that deck, because I don’t regard it as representative of the “innovative” decks that are out there. If I had to choose from the Llewellyn or Lo Scarabeo decks, I would have chosen the Robin Wood Tarot. It is much more representative of the kind of deck that is currently published, and is true to the Rider-Colman-Smith-Waite model of Tarot decks. I don’t know whether The Comparative Tarot is still published or not. Llewellyn often gets rid of decks that don’t do as well as they think it should. You might be able to get hold of a deck on Amazon.com, but it might be a used one.

The treatment for a used deck is similar to the attunement for a new one. You can clear it with a crystal, or in the window on a full moon night. Then sleep with it under your pillow. Use your intuition as how long, but a full week might be appropriate, or a full cycle of the moon, whichever you feel is appropriate. There are few hard and fast rules where this is concerned. You have to do it by feel, and pay attention to your instincts. If you can, get hold of some silk and wrap it in that after you’ve slept with it under your pillow. And as always, record the dreams you have after sleeping with your new (to you) Tarot deck. If the dreams are overly disturbing, that means the deck is not as yet cleared enough, and you need to go through the clearing process again, and re-attune it to yourself. You might also attempt a one card reading for yourself. I don’t recommend a multi-card reading because it really isn’t good to read Tarot for yourself. You’re too close to the situation. If you have a willing guinea pig handy, read for her/him. Take careful notes, noting whether the reading is on target. If it doesn’t seem to be, if it’s off for any reason, re-clear, and re-attune the deck. It is worth all the care you can put into it to get a top-notch divinatory tool for yourself, whether you read cards professionally as I and my fellow Keen readers do, or whether you do it as a talented amateur, who does it either as a hobby or for spiritual edification.

In these end-of-the-year times, you may want to call for a reading about what 2010 looks like. I am available from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. (all times Pacific). Do call. I am waiting eagerly for your call.