About this item
- Based on Shakespeare's many and varied plays, the Shakespearian Tarot deck shows Romeo and Juliet as the
- Lovers, Hamlet as the Hanged Man and Lear the Hermit. Each card has a quote from a Shakespeare play which
- matches the image.
Specifications
Name
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Shakespearian Tarot
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Creators
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Dolores Ashcroft-Nowicki,
Paul Hardy
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Publisher
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Aquarian Press 1997
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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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Mixed
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Suits
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Court Cards
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The Fool
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is 0
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Strength
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is 8
|
Justice
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is 11
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Card Size
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2.37 x 4.37 in. = 6.03cm x 11.11cm
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Card Language
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English
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Card Back
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Non-reversible
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Back Design
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Orange-yellow colour, with a vase with vines and flowers coming out of it.
|
Reviews
ible and
have an almost silky surface. They are unusually
narrow and fit snugly into the hand which makes them seem
to demand to be held. The backs depict a woodcarving
in warm browns. They are not reversible.
The
pictures are in rich colours but have been greatly reduced
to fit onto these small cards thus losing some detail
in the process. They appear less vibrant than the
pictures online.
The major arcana follow the Rider Waite
system. They include some truly inspired cards such as
the Magician as Prospero saying "Now does all my
project gather to a head" and the Tower as the Tower of
London seen from the inside as the princes are hurled out
of it. Temperance has an allusion to the song in
Much Ado about Nothing: "Sigh no more, ladies, sigh no
more,/ Men were deceivers ever" which will forever bring
the Branagh version of this play to my mind. All
these cards cause me a stomach-clenching feeling of
instant recognition.
Unfortunately, the minor arcana are
l
ess clear. Dolores Ashcroft-Nowicki had far more
trouble with these, she tells us in the book, and this is
evident in the cards. Cups and pentacles are Crowns and
Orbs respectively, or they probably are. We are not
told what the correspondences are, and at times there
seems to be some confusion between these suits. The ten
of orbs has Romeo and Juliet on it, as ‘the happy
ending card’ which sounds like the ten of cups. The
seven of crowns is about choosing and not being taken in
by illusions which sounds like the seven of cups.
All the suits have some connection to sovereignty
which restricts the meanings somewhat. Most of the
meanings sound rather definite and divinatory and tend
towards the negative.
Despite these niggles, this is an
amazing deck. I love the sensuous-feeling cards and some
of the wonderful (if small) pictures. I am also
enjoying reading the book. However, I haven’t been able to
decide as yet what place the Shakespearian Tarot will
occupy in my tarot collection.
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