Orange Luna Tarot - tarot decks

Price: US $14.41

ProductID: alt0508

• The Orange Luna Tarot is the second deck from Nil Orange and Alejandro C. Luna, who created the Visual Zodiac.
• This skilfully-coloured 78-card tarot takes inspiration from the Tarot de Marseille in the major arcana and court cards,
• while the suit cards has new illustrations.

The Major Arcana visually references the Tarot de Marseille, however it is far more nuanced and subtle than the original. Of course the Marseille deck famously has a pip card Minor Arcana whereas the Orange Luna Tarot has a fully illustrated Minor Arcana. This is a wholly original creation of the artists, and ably reflects commonly accepted divinatory meanings. The titles too reflect the heritage of this deck, with The Fool listed by his alternate name The Juggler, The High Priestess is The Popess, and The Hierophant is The Pope. All other cards bear their familiar titles, and the ordering of the cards follows the Marseille/RWS standard.

This is a regular 78 card tarot. It measures 70 x 120 mm which makes it a fairly average sized deck. It fits very comfortably into one's hands and is easy to handle and shuffle. This is facilitated by the high quality of the card stock which is light and resilient, quite flexible, with a very smooth, low gloss finish. However, in the black and white deck this finish may preclude some media from being used (such as pencils and paints) to colour the cards.

The print quality is outstanding with the finely balanced colour compositions and unusual texture of the images being beautifully reproduced. The artist's palette is quite restrained and sophisticated, eschewing loud and bright colours. The tints of dusk and dawn dominate much of the deck – dusty salmon, lavender, smoky blue, soft yellow, and powdery aquas, greens, apricots, and slate.

The artwork is deceptively simple and the fragile line work which abjures chiaroscuro allows the skilful colour schemes to glow. The black-and-white deck reveals the economy of line, while the coloured deck images reveal curious textures most commonly found in silkscreen prints. In some cards such as The Pope and many of the Court cards shadowy architectural features resolve into focus in the background. In other cards such as The Emperor and The Lovers tiny details may be found decorating clothing or the landscape.

The characters in the cards have blank eyes and oft times expressionless faces, save for an occasional frown or grimace. However these blank looks do not detract from the strength of the images. Rather they allow the Seeker to project onto or interpret the pictures according to their own intuition. All the cards have a broad white border. They are numbered 1 to 78 with the number placed in the top left corner - both upright and reversed. The card’s title is given above the illustration. In the Minor Arcana, below the main illustration is a pictographic representation of the title in a colour-coded box, Cups – green, Swords – blue, Coins – yellow, Wands – red. The print on the back - a complex of curving and straight lines, and dots shaped into opposing triangles – is fully reversible.

The Little White Book/Guidebook has not been published at the time of this review, however fans and enthusiasts rest assured that one will be published.

The Orange Luna Tarot is a tasteful and stylish reinvention of the Tarot de Marseille. It is suitable for students of the tarot both new and advanced. In addition to its sound and reliable symbolism and imagery, the details are fascinating and captivating. A beautiful deck for collectors and Seekers. Highly recommended.