About this item
- A Rider-Waite style Tarot, these reworked cards are artistically unusual and coloured with rich, strong hues. The artwork
- of the New Century Tarot is very striking, particularly in the the major arcana.
Specifications
Name
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New Century Tarot
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Creators
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Rolf Eichelmann
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Publisher
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US Games 2003
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Deck Type
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Tarot Deck
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Cards
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78
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Major Arcana
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22
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Minor Arcana
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56
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Deck Tradition
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Rider-Waite-Smith
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Minor Arcana Style
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Unique Scenes With Suit Symbols
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Cups, Swords, Wands, Pentacles
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Court Cards
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Page, Knight, Queen, King
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Card Titles
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The Fool
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is 0
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Strength
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is 8
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Justice
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is 11
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Card Size
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3.23 x 4.37 in. = 8.20cm x 11.10cm
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Card Language
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English
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Card Back
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Works as though reversible
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Back Design
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Whimsical abstract line design in red and blue with black accents on deep purple ground
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Companion Material
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Little white booklet in English.
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Reviews
Eichelmann's art in the New Century Tarot definitely has impact, with its distinctive, original style and consistent use of strong colour. It is peopled with bold and compelling figures, set in natural landscapes sombre, but majestic. All cards have a patterned tapestry-like backdrop running down the centre behind the main figure or suit element, and the colours of this backdrop change for each major and each suit. In the far background, all majors have a palisade of reddish trees silhouetted against a navy sky, the foliage of which changes subtly for each card. To me, the cards have a medieval atmosphere, and remind me slightly of the Dante Tarot - though this deck has more finely featured people and is set in a more realistic world.
Symbolically, this deck is a reworking of a 'standard' Rider-Waite style Tarot. The cards have standard titles. Page, Knight, Queen, King. Swords, Cups, Wands, Pentacles. The major cards have kept their main symbols and titles, but artistically they have been renewed by placement in a natural background of natural detail and rich colour. These minors are lively illustrated pips, showing the correct number of suit symbols in a differing pattern on each card. The tapestry lies behind the suit symbols, then a pared-down Tarot scene is in front of or entwined with that. The court cards are a little bare, and with fewer cues for interpretation beginners may find them harder to interpret than usual.
Of all the cards, I like the Wheel of Fortune and the High Priestess card the most. The treatment of the High Priestess, in her reddish gown that is just translucent enough to show through her body and the stars of the backdrop, is stunning. The rest of the majors are also compelling, though I noticed a difference in the quality of the major and minor arcana. Where the majors are consistently very detailed and powerfully coloured, the minors do not appear to have quite received equal time and attention. They are interesting and skilful enough, but they don't have the power of the twenty-two majors.
In the hand the cards are large, quite squarish and printed on stiff, fairly matte cardboard. The backs have a reversible, organic pattern of black, blue, purple and red, while the faces are elegantly bordered in dark blue with an inner border in gold ink.
On the whole I found this to be a fresh transformation of a Rider-Waite style Tarot by a talented artist. While I didn't find it groundbreaking in insight, it is arty, compelling and eminently useable, especially if you're fond of cards with brilliant colour. One for the reader who is past the beginner stage, or the keen collector.
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