AUTHOR'S NOTE: In yesterday's post I set myself the task of "taking a deep dive" into the Thoth Tarot, an esoteric deck I've been using since 1973. I will approach it more systematically in future essays, so here I'm only going to outline a few important details. My ultimate goal is to avoid repeating the … Continue reading Thoth Preliminaries (and a Few Particulars)
Tarot Decks
Thoughts on Thoth
AUTHOR'S NOTE: I've written about the Thoth deck many times in the past but lately, as I roam the online tarot community, I've encountered Thoth novices who have just discovered it and who, while fascinated by its esoteric depth, are nervous about having anything to do with its co-creator, Aleister Crowley. (They have yet to … Continue reading Thoughts on Thoth
The Magical Tarot of the Golden Dawn – A Deck Interview
This is Pat Zalewski's much-anticipated take on the Golden Dawn tarot. Its main selling point is that it is hyped as being faithful to the color scales of the Order, while in a less beguiling sense it looks remarkably like a color-corrected, minor artistic overhaul of the graphics created by Robert Wang in collaboration with … Continue reading The Magical Tarot of the Golden Dawn – A Deck Interview
Only A Fool . . .
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Here I've taken another stab at creating one of my quirky "pop-culture" tarot tableaux, this time marrying Brian Williams' sly PoMo Tarot to Steely Dan's equally sly lyrics in "Only A Fool Would Say That" from their first album. It looks like a "match made in heaven" to me because the PoMo Tarot … Continue reading Only A Fool . . .
The “Landscape” As We Know It
AUTHOR'S NOTE: You knew I would get back to the topic of "landscape," just not in the way I originally envisioned. I've written in the past about the enormous outpouring of new tarot decks (apparently due to the advent of self-publishing where their worthiness to see the light of day doesn't have to be demonstrated … Continue reading The “Landscape” As We Know It
Tarot of Mystical Moments: An Atypical Deck Interview
UPDATE: I discovered that I made a "fortuitous error" in the quintessence calculation for this reading. The trump card thus derived should have been Justice and not the Hanged Man. But this deck is emphatically non-cerebral, so I'm going to leave the essay as it stands. (Maybe the Magician was peeking out cautiously from behind … Continue reading Tarot of Mystical Moments: An Atypical Deck Interview
The “Good” Beginner’s Tarot Deck
Novice tarot readers frequently ask online which deck would be good as a first-time buy. I've written several detailed essays on this subject in the past, but thought a "punchlist" format might be useful in answering this question. So here is my abbreviated overview of what, at least for me, makes a "good" tarot deck. … Continue reading The “Good” Beginner’s Tarot Deck
A Glut of Garbage?
I've written in the past that there seems to be a veritable tsunami of mediocre tarot and oracle decks entering the market, most likely due to the ease of self-publishing and the impression that "anyone can be an artist" (aka "It's so simple a caveman could do it"). Now I notice on the Tarot Marketplace … Continue reading A Glut of Garbage?
“The Initial Sweep of the Divinatory Eye”
While reading an Amazon review of the gold-enhanced, 78-card Oswald Wirth deck (which I had been thinking of buying but now I'm not so sure), I happened upon the phrase "the initial sweep of the divinatory eye" in a criticism of the uninspired non-Wirth pip cards that drag this deck down. The author noted that … Continue reading “The Initial Sweep of the Divinatory Eye”
Going for the Gold
I now have a handful of tarot decks with gold-foil highlights and in some cases complete backgrounds. I also have the Golden Lenormand but I'm not including it here, and the Dali Tarot but it only has gold on the upper and lower borders. Kat Black's Golden Tarot and Eric Dunne's Illuminati Tarot didn't make … Continue reading Going for the Gold
Parsifal's Wheel Tarot & Astrology 