Twenty Years of Tarot:
The Lo Scarabeo Story.

Pietro Alligo et al, 2007 – review by EC Publishers Lo Scarabeo arouse a variety of feelings among tarot aficionados. Their decks are immensely popular, but have their detractors; some feel they are too “commercial”; some feel their decks “stray too far” from “true tarot” – whatever that is; some feel their decks are too [...]

Journeys in Tarot Creation

by Lee Bursten My friend Jean-Michel David has asked me to set down some thoughts on my experiences as a tarot deck creator and author. During a three-year period, from 2003 through 2006, I authored the Zodiac Tarot (art by Luca Raimondo), the Gay Tarot (art by Antonella Platano), The Tarot of Dreams Guidebook, and [...]

The International Tarot Award

Lifetime Achievement Award for Outstanding Contributions by Jean-Michel David About the Award and how it came to be The International Tarot Award originated as the Lifetime Achievement Award with the International Tarot Society (ITS). I remember at the beginning of 2003 looking forward to who was going to be the next recipient later that year, [...]

The Jean Noblet Tarot,
restored by Jean-Claude Flornoy

by Robert Mealing Over 350 years ago, in the fashionable Faubourg Saint-Germain section of Paris, France, a cardmaker named Jean Noblet produced what was probably considered a fairly ordinary deck of tarot cards. Tarot historian Michael Dummett suggests that “A million is probably a highly conservative estimate for the number of Tarot packs produced in France [...]

When the Devil is not the Devil

by Jean-Michel David Some weeks back I was looking through the shelves and display of Oracle, a local shop in Sassafras in the Dandenong Ranges just outside of Mebourne – a great shop to visit, by the way – and my eye was drawn to a rather unusual statue that reminded me so much of [...]

The Square & Compasses Tarot Deck

by Colin Browne creator of the S&C Masonic Tarot To the best of my knowledge this was only the second specific Masonic deck produced and the first that specifically stayed within the basic Craft Degrees. The reason I chose to produce this deck was that I could not find an existing deck that I was [...]

Working with Children: Tarot creations

by Roxanne Flornoy (with an addendum by Jean-Michel David) www.tarot-history.com Jean-Claude Flornoy and I live at the foot of a Medieval village in Western France. The town’s historical interest make it a favourite destination for teachers who wish to organise an instructive school outing for their classes. Diverse local options allow a fairly wide choice [...]

As Time Goes By…
or my adventures with the Tarot Lovers’ Calendar

by Major Tom Schick My experience with the calendar has as much to do with my experience with Aeclectic as to be inextricably linked. I joined Aeclectic in Spring 2001, keen to talk about the photo-collage deck I was creating, that is, Major Tom’s Tarot. So named because it was all about me but that [...]

Prague — ways of looking

by Karen Mahony Magic Realist Press A head on a carved stone pillar in the Old Town. Going through immigration on a trip back to the UK last year, I was standing behind an attractive girl whom the officer was attempting to chat up. “Prague,” he said, looking at her ticket. “I’ve heard it’s beautiful.” [...]

The Mysterious “Cary Sheet”

by Robert Mealing www.tarothistory.com A Very Brief Bit of Tarot History The historical search for the birth and development of Tarot cards is for many a fascinating preoccupation. Even though here at the dawn of the 21st Century we have learned a lot about the development of Tarot cards, there are still many mysteries to [...]