It’s In The Cards
After a hiatus of over a decade, I pulled my Tarot deck from my teenage years out of storage and started studying the cards again. Since then, I’ve been noticing beautiful decks in so many different places.
This is the deck that I’ve been using the past few months. It replaced my original Rider Waite cards, and I used Crowley’s The Book of Thoth as a guide to accompany it. The deck was painted by Lady Freida Harris, as designed and instructed by Aleister Crowley, over the course of five years. Crowley renamed several of the trump cards, and also rearranged the astrological and numerical order of some of the cards, in accordance with his previous book, The Book of the Law.
Once I got used to his rearrangement, I was much more comfortable with this deck than I ever had been with the Rider Waite cards. I read The Book of Thoth with a grain of salt, because Crowley can be a bit … well, if you’ve read any Crowley, you can fill in the blank that I’m leaving. I wrote about it a tiny bit on my other blog, Five Twenty Three.
This is another deck I own, but have never used for a reading. Designed by one of my favorite artists, Dave McKean, each card is big and bold, and almost frighteningly beautiful. His artwork depicting each symbol makes you feel like you’ve fallen into a different dimension. I’ve read that the characters on the cards are actually characters from Vertigo comics, but can’t say I recognized any of them (I think most of the Vertigo comics I’ve read where Sandman and its off-shoots).
The Wild Unknown Tarot Deck was released earlier this year, and has been all over my Instagram feed since. I still haven’t seen one in person, but I feel like I’ve seen most of the cards online at some point or another. Designed by artists Kim Krans and Jonny Ollsin, each card (from what I have seen) is represented by an animal or symbol of nature. There is a lovely video interview with the artist on their blog, which I recommend watching if you were curious at all about the evolution on their brand. I’m looking forward to eventually seeing (and owning) this deck – and its guidebook and calendar.
**Edited to Add :: I’ve since received a deck of these, and they’re just as amazing and beautiful as I hoped they’d be! I posted more photos on my other blog!
Photographer Krist Mort’s tarot deck completely intrigues me. I have only seen the preview image listed on her shop page, and random images here and there on Tumblr, but solely based off of that, I know that it must be beautiful and mysterious. Her photography is seeped in magic, so I imagine that her tarot cards must be individually infused.
Tags: aleister crowley, Dave McKean, krist mort, occult, tarot, the wild unknown
December 6th, 2012 at 4:39 PM
I have the Wild Unknown Tarot Deck and I LOOOOVE it. Every card is gorgeous.
December 6th, 2012 at 4:44 PM
I love the collective tarot, a queer artists’ tarot reimagined with a focus on social justice, and with suits of feathers, bones, bottles, and keys. It’s awesome! I recently got my deck as a supporter’s gift from their kickstarter campaign to acquire funds for a third printing.
December 6th, 2012 at 6:31 PM
I like the Pokemon tarot. http://s116.beta.photobucket.com/user/GreatGF/media/8267f7955cf754baab51534690949be4.png.html
December 6th, 2012 at 9:03 PM
I always enjoyed the artwork on Stephanie Pui-Mun Law’s deck:
http://www.shadowscapes.com/Tarot/cardsmain.php?suit=0
That Wild Unknown one also looks amazing!
December 7th, 2012 at 8:34 AM
I own the Tarot of Prague deck; the illustrations are collages taken from thousands of photos of the city. Considering how old Prague is (imo the gothiest city in Europe), you can imagine the gorgeous architecture & public artworks it uses. http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Tarot-Prague-set-architecture/dp/0954500709#
December 7th, 2012 at 11:23 AM
I can’t believe I never knew about the Vertigo deck. I just ordered the reissue on Amazon. Thanks for this post!
December 7th, 2012 at 1:47 PM
Thanks for this refresher trip down memory lane! I also haven’t so much as looked at my cards in far too long and just recently during a huge life change/shift, I pulled out my prized Akron HR Geiger deck that I’ve had forever and actually used them. These use only the major arcana and were VERY accurate and effective.
http://www.amazon.com/H-R-Giger-Tarot-Set-Evergreen/dp/3822858501
December 8th, 2012 at 1:47 AM
Trista, I think I have that Giger deck! I know I used to, hopefully it’s still in storage!
December 8th, 2012 at 1:57 PM
i love my vertigo deck.
December 17th, 2012 at 5:10 PM
The various prints of the Vertigo deck are of very poor cardstock. Quite flimsy. Beautiful to look at but if you plan on using them, buyer beware. I was less than impressed with the quality for price.