A House of Tarot Cards

Craig Conley "Life is only comprehensible through a thousand local gods. And not just the old dead ones with names like Zeus—no, but living Geniuses of Place and Person! And not just Greece but modern England! Spirits of certain trees, certain curves of brick wall, certain fish and chip shops, if you like, and slate [...]

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 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 [...]

Beginner’s Eyes: Looking at the Jacques Vieville

by Debra Rosenthal© 2007 Sometimes the best way to see an image is to just look. Beginner’s mind means trying to stay completely open to the reality before you, and coincidentally not bothering with a lot of tiresome research. A beginner in the eternal "now" can blithely ignore history in order to truly appreciate appearance. [...]

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 [...]

Hunting the “true” Marseille Tarot

by Robert Mealing Detail from the Fool of the Jean Dodal Tarot My Journey into Tarot History My fascination with Tarot history started with the "Visconti" Tarots. They are after all the oldest surviving Tarot decks, and many scholars suggest that they were probably the first. As my interest in Tarot history grew, I started [...]

Of Mice, Monkeys and Men
writing the Fantastic Menagerie book

by Sophie Nusslé Once upon a time, in the early spring of 2005, I was exchanging private messages on Aeclectic Tarot with Karen Mahony of Magic-realist Press in Prague. We were discussing their latest deck project. I had long been a fan of the Tarot of Prague, and like a good fan, had written gushing [...]

A closer look at one of the Marseille decks:
the Jean Dodal c. 1701, Lyon

Jean-Michel David I suppose I should perhaps first begin with a more general view as to what is a ‘Marseille-style’ deck, especially as this one, as so many others, do not originate from Marseille itself. The term ‘Marseille’ seems to have been applied to the style of deck by Paul Marteau, who in the early [...]

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 [...]