 Front & oldest part of the museum was formerly the Château d'Issy of the Princes of Conti. While it's been a few years since I went to the Musée Français de la Carte à Jouer, it is about time I shared some photos of the tarot and Lenormand cards that I viewed during my visit. The pièce de résistance is one of the oldest known tarot cards, a 15th-century hand-painted gold-stamped work. I also share photos of some fascinating antique playing cards. There are many cards in their collection as you might imagine.
2 Comments
 Catching up on some reading during my staycation! 36 Secrets, A Decanic Journey through the Minor Arcana of the Tarot by Susie Chang is an incredible work, which she says was inspired by astrologer Austin Coppock’s 36 Faces, but here she focuses on the astrological decans that were assigned to the tarot’s Minor Arcana by the Golden Dawn.
In the book, Susie explores her one year “decan walk” of the Minor Arcana tarot cards. I haven’t seen this subject tackled like this before and I am inspired to do my own decan walk. I highly recommend this to intermediate tarot students and beyond if you're interested in learning astrology connected to the Minors.  Lua Tarot Review The Lua Tarot has been featured in PARQ Magazine, a Portuguese trends magazine dealing with art, photography, fashion and urban lifestyle.
“Portuguese American deck creator Maree Bento’s Lua Tarot is unusual in the way it manipulates obscure 19th Century engravings and is an attempt to create deck which appears at first glance historical yet is contemporary in its diversity and inclusiveness...” Read the full article in English by Tarotist Roger Winstanley.
Last year I acquired this biography on Paschal Beverly Randolph, 19th-century Black American trance medium, occultist, writer, and sex magician born October 8th, 1825. (Sun in Libra, Moon in Leo, and a Venus Jupiter conjunction in Virgo—fascinating given his work on the occult and sex magic!)
This biographic tome is dense and detailed, making it a slow read for me, but it's so interesting full of incredible accounts of Randolph’s life. John Patrick Deveney, an academic occultist, wrote in depth about Randolph’s spiritual and magical methodologies and philosophy in a scholarly yet accessible way. This biography (no, history book!) at 600 pages also offers mini-biographies of other spiritualists of his time, which shows the extent of the circles that Randolph participated in. Beyond scholarly, this is a historical and fascinating account of a mage whose work is considered to be the forerunner of modern occultism, along with Madame H. P. Blavatsky and Aleister Crowley, whose works & societies were in part influenced by Randolph.
The Lua Tarot shipment arrived on Monday and I made this short video introduction of my copy for your perusal. The video is less than 10 minutes long. (If you haven't received your pre-order yet and want to be surprised, don't watch the video. ;)
I did a walkthrough of the cards and shared a little about my process. I also talk about the Medusa shield that lives inside of the box lid, which I didn't write about in the book! I did a quick flip-through of the booklet as well. The first edition, first printing of the Lua Tarot was officially made available to order as of October 27th, 2020. Thank you for your support! Please let me know if you have any questions. Have a Blessed Samhain and Happy Halloween!  Incorporating multiple decks in a layout can bring some fun and unique dimensions to your readings.
I love the Sovereign Oracle, by my dear friend Theresa Pridemore, and enjoy using it in this way. In this particular reading I am combining it with my proof copy of the Lua Tarot. I received an incredibly potent reading with this combo I wanted to share! UPDATE (Oct. 11, 2021): Jim Maynard didn't release a 2021 PDF version of the Celestial Influences calendar, as we had hoped, but I'm glad he is enjoying his retirement. I had thought someone would have purchased the rights to reprint, but alas. I'm updating this post with alternatives that have worked for me as a replacement to his calendar.
I’ve enjoyed Jim Maynard's Celestial Influences calendars for years and he’s retiring after 46 years of making this wonderful calendar. Quicksilver Productions (what he publishes under) says that they are trying to find a publisher to take over the calendar for 2021! I really hope they can find someone who can do as good a job as they have. When I first found out that there wasn't going to be a 2020 release, I went in search of another astro calendar. I thought this would be easy, but as it turns out, it wasn't because Maynard's calendar was an extraordinary and reliable resource. *Update: Sold Out in my shop.* I am thrilled to be hosting the Nosotras Tarot! I have not sold another's deck creation before, but I felt compelled to invite Elisa Riemer and Paula Mariá to sell their gorgeous tarot deck in my USA-based shop. One reason I wanted to host this was because I am really struck by the collage artwork and overall energy of the deck. There are so many interesting and magical details throughout. Plus, I love finding decks with titles in Portuguese! I'm Luso-American and it's lovely to support fellow Lusitanic collage artists and tarotists. Read on for my review of the deck.  Front of the coffin box. Lo Scarabeo is celebrating 30 years with this limited numbered edition of 1,987 copies to honor the year they were founded in Italy. The gorgeous, colorful artwork is by Fabio Listrani, artist of the Night Sun Tarot.
LS says this limited edition is printed on the highest quality paper. It is, indeed, a thicker card stock, but it's also glossier than their standard decks. At first glance, I like how the suit colors are similar to the Albano-Waite Tarot's coloration system. Happy Samhain! Here is something a little different—a leisurely browse through some Halloween decks in my collection. A kind of creepy fun Show and Tell. Grab a cup of something hot and spiced—this one is almost half an hour long. I hope you will enjoy this video of me chatting about some wicked tarot and oracles.
Here are the decks mentioned in the video:  Smith-Waite Tarot in a tin vs PCS Commemorative Set Recently, I bought the Smith-Waite Tarot Deck Centennial Edition in a tin and compared it to the Pamela Colman Smith (PCS) Commemorative Set (2009) on video. In the video, I went through the whole set. There is the major difference in size and similar card stock feel, but the artwork and color of the decks are identical.
I like the deck that comes with the commemorative edition, but I avoid using it since I see it as a collectors edition and want to keep it in the best condition possible. I'm really enjoying the mini size and portability of the cards in a tin. It is smaller, but it loses no detail. And, it feels good in my hands! (See video and picture of size comparisons below.) A "show and tell" of the recent Lauren Forestell & Le Fanu Lenormand collaboration.
http://gameofhopelenormand.bigcartel.com/ Here's Le Fanu's wonderful blogpost about the cards: http://mycuriouscabinet.wordpress.com/2014/02/16/the-destroyed-dondorf/ The original Llewellyn edition has been OOP for a while, however, Galde Press has been printing the 2nd edition of the cards since 2008 and there are still a few left, as of this posting.
The Buckland Romani Tarot's suit names have replaced the standard RWS. Koshes (Wands), Koros (Cups), Chives (Swords) & Bolers (Pentacles). The 2nd edition's print quality is superb and the colors are beautifully saturated with very clear images. I just received my copy of the Flonz Victorian Lenormand by Katherine Andrews and did an unboxing video, walkthrough, and initial review.
This is a very special deck. What makes it unique is the stamped Lenormand images. What makes it remarkable is that the stamped images were hand drawn by Katherine herself. Flonz is the stamp-maker and as you will see his work is precise. |
|
RSS Feed
