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Reviews: Tarot Decks
Tarot & Cartomancy
Deck & Book Reviews
by Bonnie Cehovet, TE
Tarot Master
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The Victorian Romantic Tarot
The "Victorian Romantic Tarot", by Karen Mahony and Alex Ukolov (Magic Realist Press), is a stunning melding of traditional Rider-Waite-Smith formatting seen through the eyes of the art of the Victorian age. This whole project started when Karen and Alex discovered an old edition of a book of engravings that was published in Germany in the late nineteenth century. Falling into the category of Victorian Classicism, the paintings were more than technique - they told stories.
It was also clear that these engravings represented the type of art that Arthur Waite and Pamela Coleman Smith, the designers of the Rider-Waite-Smith deck, would have been familiar with. The search began to find as many books of quality engravings as possible to form a solid foundation for a Victorian based Tarot deck. The result is a stunning deck that will take the reader back to Victorian times in a very gentle manner, and, as theme decks tend to do, opening up a new path for interpreting the cards.
The structure of the deck is the traditional Rider-Waite-Smith structure, with the Major Arcana retaining their traditional titles, but remaining unnumbered (which may be of help with the Strength VIII - Justice XI versus Justice VIII - Strength XI controversy). The suits are the traditional Wands, Cups, Swords, and Pentacles, with the Court Cards entitled King, Queen, Knight, and Page.
The cards are 3" by 5", of good quality, glossy cardstock. The backs have a 1/4 reddish/brown outer border, and a smaller reddish-brown inner border. Between the borders, and within the smaller border, is a design in silver and white. It would not be possible to tell if a card had been drawn int he reversed position or not.
The card faces carry a 1/4" white border, with the card title in gold lettering across the bottom of the card. The Minor Arcana carry the number (in text) and the suit across the bottom of the card, while the Court Cards carry the title and suit.
The coloring in the cards is full range, with a depth of intensity. The imagery is where this deck departs from the Rider-Waite-Smith tradition. The influence of majority of Victorian daily life shows clearly, with other cards reflecting Ancient Egyptian, Biblical, Classical Greek, Gothic, and Medieval influences.
The Fool is an excellent example of Victorian times, picturing what is termed a "white face" clown, wearing neat make-up (similar to that of a mime artist), but outrageous clothing. An accomplished acrobat, this Fool is posed on one leg, ready to take a leap off of his red platform. The ringmaster stands behind him, and a small dog dressed in a red cap and blue shirt dances at his feet. In the background we see an audience composed of all ages.
I was immediately drawn tot he Magician - shown as a white bearded elder, wearing a red cap and gown, shown sitting in his laboratory reading his books by candlelight. The card is patterned after the character of Dr. Faust. There is an incredible amount of energy, as well as overtones of occult and magick, in this card.
The Emperor shows an Egyptian theme, worlds away from the Mother Nature theme of the Empress. The Emperor is represented by an Egyptian Pharaoh, remote looking, and powerful, with his gold crown and necklace, with a gold staff in his right hand.
The Hierophant in this deck is portrayed as being much more "human" than he is in most decks. Here we see an elderly, white bearded Islamic scholar, teaching two small boys, who, as the authors note, do not seem afraid of anything.
The Chariot is quite an interesting card, with four female figures. As the authors note, the driver and her deputy show intense expressions, but the other two figures appear much more relaxed. The Chariot is Baroque in style, and is drawn by fierce, winged lions.
Justice is a stunning card, showing a nude female figure standing, with a sword in her left hand and the scales of Justice in her right hand. Under the scales of Justice we see an obviously frightened male figure - the current focus of those scales! In their notes, the authors indicate that the figure of Justice is an angel, and she has just vanquished a devil!
The Sun is depicted as a lovely woman, wearing a pink dress, riding a white horse through a lovely glade of flowers while she holds a hoop of spring flowers over her head. Flying ahead of her we see a delightful cherub.
The Aces in this deck were interesting, in that they are depicted two figures on each of the cards, which most decks do not. (Think of a hand coming out of the clouds here!)
The Eight of Wands is truly a magickal, visionary card, depicting a male figure running along side of a white stag, with clouds in the background. The representation is that of Hercules racing the Ceryneian Deer.
The Three of Cups is a delightful tableau of three female figures, one of which is writing in a book (which resides over a bright red cloth), one of which holds a paint brush and palette, and one of which wears a gold robe and holds a harp in her right arm. The three ladies represent the three classic muses of the Arts - music, painting, and poetry.
The Nine of Swords carries quite an erie quality to it. We see a female figure, dressed in a white nightgown, walking across a roof (and walking very near the edge!). In the background we see the spire of another building. The woman depicted in this picture is sleepwalking.
The companion book to this deck is quite inclusive. There is a short version of Tarot history, along with an explanation of what Tarot is, the Tarot divisions (Major Arcana, Minor Arcana, and Court Cards), the significance of numbers, keeping a Tarot journal, using spreads, and the place of significators and reversals.
Each card is presented with a black and white scan, keywords and phrases, suggestions for defining reversals, a discussion of the card as it appears in a reading, and the background of the card imagery. Sources are given for the imagery, and a quote is included for each card.
At the end of the book is a short bibliography and listing of Internet resources.
I found this deck to be an intriguing one - one that would be able to be used by someone new to the Tarot, as well as someone that was familiar with it. A unique inclusion in this book was two different versions of the Lovers card, one from the standard deck, and an alternative, more erotic version from the Gilded Edition. This is an in-depth, well presented, highly usable deck that would make an excellent addition to any Tarot library.
© April 2007
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Bonnie Cehovet,
Tarot Educator, Reiki Master/Teacher
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Bonnie Cehovet is a Tarot Educator, a professional Tarot reader with over ten years experience, a Reiki Master/Teacher and a writer. Bonnie holds a Bachelor's Degree in Psychology from the University of Hawaii, Manoa campus, and is certified as a Tarot Educator with the American Board For Tarot Certification.
She has served in various capacities with the American Tarot Association, to include Secretary on the ATA Board. She is co-founder of the World Tarot Network, and Vice President (as well as Director of Certification) for the American Board For Tarot Certification.
Her articles and reviews currently appear in the World Tarot Network newsletter (www.worldtarot.com),
The Meta Arts Magazine (www.themetaarts.com),
the Aeclectic Tarot site (www.aeclectic.
net/tarot),
and on her own site,
www.tarot.
thecrystalgate.com.
For the past three years she has edited her own monthly Tarot newsletter - Gateway to Tarot. She also has articles appearing in the 2004 and 2005 "Llewellyn Tarot Reader".
www.americanboard
fortarot certification.org
www.tarot.
thecrystalgate. com |
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