About this item
- The Victorian Romantic Tarot is based on original engravings from 19th century artists, perfectly collaged to create fully-
- illustrated, Rider-Waite-based Tarot scenes. It's available for order in gold and standard editions.
Specifications
Name
|
Victorian Romantic Tarot
|
Creators
|
Alex Ukolov,
Karen Mahony
|
Publisher
|
agic Realist Press 2006
|
Deck Type
|
Tarot Deck
|
Cards
|
78
|
Major Arcana
|
22
|
Minor Arcana
|
56
|
Deck Tradition
|
Rider-Waite-Smith
|
Minor Arcana Style
|
RWS-Based Scenes
|
The Fool
|
is 0
|
Strength
|
is 11
|
Justice
|
is 8
|
Card Size
|
3.07 x 5.04 in. = 7.80cm x 12.80cm
|
Card Language
|
English
|
Card Back
|
Reversible
|
Reviews
the companion book to the ictorian Flower Oracle
designed by the
formidable team who are the Magic
Realist Press, namely Karen Mahony and Alex Ukolov. These
two have now brought
out this new Tarot deck,
their fifth, which I come to purely as a reader. I have
had no input into this project-but I
would
have been immensely proud if I had.
This is
a Tarot deck in the Rider-Waite tradition, and as
far a from being a clone as is possible. It contains
the
usual 78 cards, of which 22 are Major Arcana
and 56 are Minor Arcana, the latter divided up into
the suits of Swords,
Wands, Cups and Pentacles.
But the Major Arcana are not actually numbered, so
it's entirely up to you whether
you perceive
Strength and Justice as 8 and 11 respectively or the other
way round. The Major Arcana have the
usual
names.
Each card is printed on good-quality
cardstock, neither flimsy nor rigid, and has an
intricately-designed back which
could be used in a reading that
involves reversals. The colour printing can only be
described as exceptional ; there is
nothing gaudy or
harsh on the eyes but the colours are too vibrant to be
described as muted. The whole range of
colour is
used, my own favourites being the superb turquoise (Ace
of Cups, The Chariot, The Star), and the
fresh
leafy green (The Empress, The World). As author of the
companion book to the Victorian Flower Oracle, I am
pleased but not surprised to see beautiful flowers on many
of the cards, the roses tumbling out of the huge
basket
on The World card, for starters.
And what of the artwork ? Many Victorian passions and
obsessions are here. There is medievalism , one example
being The Lovers, who are Dante and Beatrice. There is
also orientalism, the love of the exotic, especailly
anything Egyptian; the Emperor is an Egyptian
pharoah. The Classical world appears on several cards; my
favourite of these is the Eight of Wands, a
marvellously dynamic image of Hercules racing the Ceryneian
Deer. And
no self-respecting Victorian deck could
be without its nymphs and fairies; this one has
quite a few. The Judgement
card is most unusual in
this respect, showing not an angel with a trumpet but
Oberon and Titania with their diminutive
cohorts.
Then there are a great number of genre pictures
depicting, among other things, children, circuses, a
tragedy at sea, the pathos of the poor. There are dramatic
scenes and tranquil scenes, historical scenes and
domestic
ones. There is sorrow and drama,
playfulness and humour.
As Karen points out,
the depiction of women throughout the deck varies
enormously. There is the elegant Queen of
Wands and the
woman in the Ace of Cups who is really a fae. There are
several women from the poor sections of
society, some
eeking out a living as best they can and some doing
rather better than that-the whiteface on The Fool
card, for example, and the circus troupe on the Four of
Wands. There is a Russian princess and there is a
lion-trainer. In short, any stereotyped picture we have of
Victorian women is challenged ; there aren't many
prim and
proper ladies here and there is only one passive woman,
the slave-girl in the Eight of Swords, included
because her passivity is essential to the card's meaning.
At this point, I'd like to focus on
some specific cards. Whilst deriving inspiration from
Rider-Waite, the creators of
this deck have not been slavish
to that tradition. The Magician is very old, a
venerable-looking man with a long white
beard. We read that he
is Faust, the seventeenth-century magician reputed to
have sold his soul to the Devil in
exchange for
magical skill. The Hierophant is one of the few
Hierophants I am able to relate to ; gone is the stern
Pope-figure, and instead we see an Islamic teacher, pupils at
his feet. We are presented with a sombre, hardworking
environment that is very much at ease with
itself, watched over by a clearly benevolent man. One of
the decks' most
powerful cards, appropriately, is
Strength. We are used to the image of woman with lion but
here is a woman
surrounded by both lions and
lionesses ! The woman is a lion-trainer : brave, skilled,
totally calm. Tellingly, she is not
subduing the
beasts, nor is she being intimidated by them. She is
working with them in a spirit of total respect and,
consequently, reaping the rewards. The image works as a
striking piece of art-adapted from an engraving that shows
Daniel in the Lions' Den-and it works as Tarot.
This marriage of Victorian art and Tarot meaning is one
of the strongest
aspects of this deck. Though
there are many very attractive images, and some pretty
ones ( such as Six of Cups
showing young children
entranced by the first snowfall of winter), no image is just
here as eye-candy.
I hope it has become obvious
that these cards are a joy to read with, containing
enough that is traditional
whilst offering images that
are well-chosen, deep and multi-layered. There are
several spreads given in the
companion book ; I found
"Looking Back, Looking Forward" particularly insightful.
But I've also found
meditating with these cards to be
an interesting and rewarding experience. As artwork,
they provide much enjoyment
and are deepening my love
of , and appreciation for, Victorian things in
general. And I can see all sorts of opportunities
here for
creative writing-selecting a card at random, for example,
and then running with the image as image,
not
worrying too much about the usual interpretation and
possibly diverging from it in all sorts of weird and
wonderful ways.
Another creative exercise would be to
select five or six, say, cards, line them up and then
just launch into a narrative. This
could be either
written or spoken ; I sense the latter could be
particularly effective with a group of children.
Could a
beginner use this deck ? I think so. It's traditional
enough to give a grounding in Tarot, specifically
Rider-Waite, while being much more aesthetically pleasing (no
offence to Pamela Coleman-Smith). I suspect
the many
Victoriana freaks out there would snap this up, Tarot
knowledge or not.
Note : For lovers of Limited
Editions, there is a Gold version, still available at the
time of writing (late October 2006).
The images
are the same, except that there is an extra Lovers
card-more physical and obviously erotic than the
Dante
and Beatrice- and the gold has been added very subtly,
not in the form of gold foil but in the form of gold
ink. In short, an edition best appreciated by
candlelight. Whilst the Standard Victorian Romantic can be
purchased
in many places, the Gold Edition is only
available from Karen and Alex's studio in Prague.
|