Tarot Table Talk

…be sure to visit Mary K. Greer’s blog. She has interesting posts on 5/6/08 and 5/7/08.

Choose your card for the week from Aleister Crowley’s Thoth Tarot. When making your selection, don’t worry about what the cards mean. Base your choice on the pictures—the stories they tell and how they make you feel. Let us know which card you chose. Post a comment!

If you want to buy the Thoth deck, I recommend finding an out-of-print “White Box” edition by Lewellyn, or an in-print Swiss “Blue Box” edition by AGMuller. Tarot Garden is a good source. My understanding is that the U.S. Games editions have a green cast to them that wasn’t originally intended. Note that the early “White Box” edition does not have a decorative border.

For a good book on the Thoth deck, check out Lon Milo DuQuette’s, Understanding Aleister Crowley’s Thoth Tarot.

The Tarot-to-Go podcast, now hosted at the Tarot Pathways blog has a great interview with DuQuette about how the Thoth artist, Lady Frieda Harris ended up collaborating with Crowley.

XVII: The Star, Two of Swords: Peace, Four of Wands, Completion

Four of Disks: Power, XIV: Art, XVI: The Tower

Choose your card for the week from the Gypsy Lore Fortune Telling Cards—they’re not tarot cards, but I can’t resist.

When making your selection, don’t worry about what the cards mean. Base your choice on the pictures—the stories they tell and how they make you feel. Let us know what card you chose. Post a comment!

I have a great interest in the 1920s and was quite excited when I first saw this deck online. I was fortunate to be able to get it on eBay. I wish I had more information about it. It doesn’t have a copyright date, and I haven’t found many references to it. If anyone knows anything about this deck, please let write in. In any case, it’s certainly reflects the conventional culture of its time.

Text around the edges of the cards:

Bachelor: Trust, but not blindly. A new acquaintance is trustworthy. An engagement will be broken because of you.

End: There is sunshine behind the clouds. Live your own life. Your troubles will soon disappear.

Worry: Worrying will not help. Do your best. A turn for the better. Inconsequential worries through relatives or friends.

Gossip: You have people near you who are not true to you. Do not talk too much—listen. Unpleasant event but temporary.

Argument: Beware the sorrow you will cause someone by what you are planning to do. Someone is tempting the one you have. A family counsel with you or about you.

Publicity: Resist coming temptations. Notoriety through jealousy. Slander or scandal—be careful.

I was just over at The Tarot Channel blog where I was introduced to the Deviant Moon Tarot, a new deck scheduled to be released next month by U.S. Games. The artwork for this deck is stunning, surreal, dark, and wonderfully frightening. It guarantees to seep into the subconscious. I thought you all might want to read the interview with Patrick Valenza, the deck creator and visit his website. You can pre-order this deck at Amazon and at The Tarot Garden. I’m going to go pre-order mine right now!

Baseball season is here! The San Francisco Giants Opening Day is April 7, and in honor of their biggest fans—my mom and my brother—I thought I would invite you to choose your card of the week from the Tarot of Baseball by Robert Kasher and Beverly Ransom.

When making your selection, don’t worry about what the cards mean. Base your choice on the pictures—the stories they tell and how they make you feel. Let us know what card you chose. Post a comment!

Featured below are cards from the major arcana. The fully illustrated suit cards correspond with more traditional decks as follows: Bats = Wands, Gloves = Cups, Balls = Swords, and Caps = Pentacles. The court cards also follow the baseball theme: The Umpire, The Pitcher, The Coach, and The Manager.

Sadly, this deck is no longer in print, though there is currently one up for bid on eBay. A few used decks are also available on Amazon.

Images from Tarot of Baseball is reproduced with permission from U.S. Games, Inc.

Choose your card for the week from Morgan-Greer Tarot by Bill Greer and Lloyd Morgan. When making your selection, don’t worry about what the cards mean. Base your choice on the pictures—the stories they tell and how they make you feel. Let us know which card you chose. Post a comment!

This deck is very much influenced by Rider-Waite but also offers some unique, subtly different interpretations.

Images from the Morgan-Greer Tarot reproduced with permission from U.S. Games, Inc.

Choose your card for the week from Wheel of Change Tarot by Alexandra Genetti. When making your selection, don’t worry about what the cards mean. Base your choice on the pictures—the stories they tell and how they make you feel. Let us know what card you chose. Post a comment!

Prince of Cups, 9 of Cups, 8 of Swords

10 of Wands, 9 of Wands, Knight of Cups

Anastasia Haysler of Tarot-To-Go introduced me to this deck, and I just love it. When my husband looked through it, he said, “The artist who made this must be a very interesting person.” I have to agree. What an imagination!

This is an all-encompassing deck that includes diverse cultures and reflects the depth and breadth of the earth. It reminds those of us who are living an urban/suburban life that the world extends beyond our immediate community. There are also glimpses into the cosmos.

What I love most about the deck is the way it reflects the expanse of time. Many of the cards illustrate the layers of earth and sea and buried treasures. For example, the contents of the Prince of Cup’s vessel below look like they might slip into the sea and settle on the ocean floor, as shown in the Nine of Cups. How long will they rest there before snagged by a fishing line? The Nine of Wands could be an excavation site where the past is unearthed. These images become more powerful when juxtaposed with images from modern life: a baseball breaking a window, and a homeless man playing saxaphone.

This deck offers great insight and many surprises with each draw. It also comes with a 383 page book.

Images from The Wheel of Change Tarot reproduced with permission from Alexandra Genetti.

I was away from the computer yesterday and am delighted to see the discussion that went on regarding the post: Choose your card for the week of 3/16/08. The Tarot of the Crone, by Ellen Lorenzi-Prince is such an inspiring deck.

Cathy’s question about card meanings varying from deck to deck, and Ellen’s response, which I read late last night, clearly influenced a dream I had this morning. In it, my brother was doing a reading for himself with a Rider-Waite deck, which has been a favorite of mine, and the one I typically read with. The dream took place in the back seat of a car—we were on a road trip, and I was there trying to keep the cards in the spread from sliding all over the place. He picked up the Knight of Wands and said, “What does it mean?” I asked him to tell me what he saw, and he enthusiastically delivered an interpretation that had nothing to do with the traditional meaning of the card. (I wish I could remember what he said!) My response was, “Well, there you go. You don’t need me to tell you what the card means.” The dream morphed and some of the cards were lost and then the whole deck. We reached our destination, and I anxiously searched under the seats and through bags and suitcases. Other decks kept turning up in different sizes and themes, but all I could focus on was finding my missing Rider-Waite. I woke up and looked at my tarot altar. For the first time yesterday morning, I had placed non-Rider-Waite cards there. The reading I did with the Tarot of the Crone moved me so much that I wanted to preserve it and simply put the Rider-Waite deck aside. I’ve got tons of decks that I love to play with, but I’ve been holding on a little too tightly to that classic RW.

Like many readers, when I give a reading, I always first encourage the seeker to tell me what he or she sees, and I really do believe that there isn’t one “right” interpretation. And yet, if I’m honest with myself, I must recognize that I’ve been unconsciously and irrationally thinking about the RW deck as the definitive deck.

The discussion yesterday, along with my dream, has made me think about the connection between reader and deck creator. The deck creator is a special kind of reader who visually manifests their interpretation of the tarot. He or she may embrace or redefine the ideas behind more traditional decks—and certainly there is no one “right” way to go about it. I suppose this is obvious, but I’m really feeling it in my heart and am excited by all the different visions in my collection.

Anyway, I love Tarot of the Crone because it is so original—and haunting as Jan said—and worth a second look as Carly said. I think the uniqueness of the philosophy behind this deck is what has stirred us all.

Image from Tarot of the Crone is reproduced with permission from Ellen Lorenzi-Prince. Image from Rider-Waite Tarot is reproduced with permission from U.S. Games, Inc.

Choose your card for the week from Tarot of the Crone by Ellen Lorenzi-Prince. When making your selection, don’t worry about what the cards mean. Base your choice on the pictures—the stories they tell and how they make you feel. (Clicking on the cards will take you to larger images on the Tarot of the Crone site.)

I love this deck—it speaks to my soul, and the artwork is gorgeous. It was very hard to select only six cards to share with you, but hopefully you will get a taste of how original Ellen’s interpretations are. (I definitely prefer the Tradition card below to the Hierophant!)

This deck replaces the court cards with the Faces of the Crone: Beast (Page), Witch (Knight) Grandmother (Queen), and Shadow.

The second edition of Tarot of the Crone was recently released and can be purchased at The Tarot Connection Shop. It comes with a beautiful pouch  in the color of your choice. The Tarot Connection also has a PDF you can download for free. It includes text that Ellen has written for the deck—even better, you might want to purchase the companion book.

Let us know which card you chose—post a comment!

Images from Tarot of the Crone are reproduced with permission from Ellen Lorenzi-Prince.

Let us know which card you choose—post a comment!

The Sun brings matters into the open, and makes them visible. It symbolizes clarity and enlightenment, exuberance, warmth, and vitality.  I’ll gladly take an extra hour of sun over an hour of sleep! How about you?

The Sun cards are from the following decks: Row 1—Universal Waite, The Bohemian Gothic Tarot, Tarot of the Southwest Sacred Tribes, Row 2—Thoth Tarot, Russian Tarot of St. Petersburg, Feng Shui Tarot.