The Tarot Room – Georgianna

Today’s pull from Georgie’s Magic Card Collection is The Gummy Bear Tarot by Dietmar Bittrich. It was published by US Games in 2005.

5 Points About This Deck

1. Theme: Obviously, the theme of the Gummy Bear Tarot is Gummy Bears. Where you’d normally see a human in the image … it’s been replaced by a Gummy Bear.
2. Readability: The Gummy Bear Tarot models itself very closely after the Rider-Waite-Smith Tarot, so if you’re familiar with those cards, you’ll have no trouble with these. It’s clear, straightforward, and quite easy to read.
3. Kid Friendly: This is a fun deck for any age group (I’m old and I love it), but I think it would be especially excellent as a deck for kids. It’s bright, simple, non-threatening, and the characters are made of candy.
4. My Favourite Card: I think it’s the Devil … not that I’m looking to have the Devil energy around, but seeing it in Gummy Bear form makes me laugh. And isn’t that what we should do at the Devil?
5. Packaging: This deck comes in a tin … hardy and strong. I love decks in tins.

Final thought … the Gummy Bear Tarot is adorable. Check it out.

Today’s pull from Georgie’s Magic Card Collection is another new one. It’s I Tarocchi Dei Gatti Bianchi, or The Tarot of White Cats, by Sofia di Vincenzo and Severino Baraldi. It was published by Lo Scarabeo in 2023.

5 Points About This Deck

1. Theme: It’s a cat themed deck, and as a Leo I approve. You might catch a glimpse of a few other species, but this is definitely a deck of cats, most of them white.
2. 8/11: The Tarot of White Cats numbers Justice as #8, and Strength as #11 following the Thoth and Marseille sequencing.
3. Tarot Style: Other than the 8/11 numbering mentioned above, The Tarot of White Cats is very much a Rider-Waite-Smith clone. The images each tell their own clear story, and if you’re familiar with the RWS deck, you’ll have no trouble understanding the main concepts in this one.
4. Languages: My copy is from Italy, so that’s why it’s titled I Tarocchi Dei Gatti Bianchi, but being a Lo Scarabo release, the guide book has instructions in English, Italian, Spanish, French, German, and Portuguese. The titles on the cards are also in all six languages.
5. Artwork: Adorable, bright, cheery, and cute. It’s an RWS clone, but it’s sweeter, pinker, and has a lot more cats.

If you like cats, you’ll probably like this deck. I sure do.

Today’s pull from Georgie’s Magic Card Collection is brand new to me. It was a gift from a friend who just got back from Italy and a visit to Niki de Saint Phalle’s Tarot Garden. As you may have guessed, it’s the Niki de Saint Phalle Tarot.

Seven Points About This Deck

1. Majors Only Deck – The Niki de Saint Phalle Tarot has only 22 cards, the Major Arcana from 0 to 21. But that’s for good reason … see the next point
2. Tarot Garden – Each card is based on the Major Arcana figures created by artist Niki de Saint Phalle for her magical Tarot Garden, otherwise known as Il Giardino Dei Tarocchi. It’s a real place with giant sculptures of all the Major Arcana. The garden is located about an hour outside of Rome.
3. Card Stock – The actual cards are beautiful to touch and to shuffle. They’re shiny, bright, and not too big, but big enough to show off the gorgeous artwork.
4. Artwork – Speaking of artwork – the images are bright, bold, and colourful renditions of the sculptures from the Tarot Garden on a white background … and did I mention they were embossed? Or at least parts of the images are, and all of the titles. It appropriately adds a little sculptural texture to the deck.
5. Titles – Some of the titles break from RWS tradition … #6 is called The Choice instead of the more common Lovers. And The Tower is called The Tower of Babel, thus putting more focus on communication then some other Towers might .
6. Emperor – The Emperor is a castle, a foundation rather than a man.
7. Instruction Booklet – And last but not least, the Little White Book includes notes from Niki herself.

Overall, I love this deck. Its clear, fun, and wise. I know it’s no substitute for actually visiting The Tarot Garden itself, but it’s as close as I can get while sitting in The Tarot Room in Toronto.

…And don’t be surprised if I post some pictures of The Tarot Garden soon, courtesy of my travelling Tarot friend.

Today’s pull from Georgie’s Magic Card Collection is a Playing Card Oracle I made myself.

5 Points About This Deck

1. Card Stock: The deck is made from a playing card deck I bought at a corner store for a dollar or two. The cards are plastic coated and hearty.
2. Major Arcana: As a Playing Card Oracle, the only Major card is the Fool, otherwise known as the Joker – but there are two in the deck.
3. Minor Arcana: As a Playing Card Oracle, the whole deck (excluding the Jokers) is made up of Minor Arcana Cards … Clubs, Hearts, Diamonds, and Spades. There’s only 3 Court Cards though … the familiar Jack, Queen, and King.
4. Readability: Each card is marked with words and symbols, so whether you know how to read playing cards or not, a clear message gets through.
5. Craftability: Everyone can make a deck like this – and I encourage you to do so. Just get yourself a playing card deck, some markers, some stickers, and look up some playing card divinatory meanings online … or from a book … or just make them up. It’s your deck, the rules are your own.

Making your own deck – Tarot or otherwise – is super fun. Do it.

Today’s pull from Georgie’s Magic Card Collection is the Rock Art Tarot created by Jerry Reopen, and published back in 1996/97 by US Games Systems, Inc.

6 Points About This Deck:

1. Concept: Jerry Roelen depicts and adapts rock art images found in petroglyphs, pictographs, and intaglios from around the world and associates them with Tarot archetypes.
2. Artwork: If you appreciate the raw energy of rock art, you’ll probably like the images in this deck – I find them mesmerizing … and the bold, bright colouring really brings them to life (and adds a little fun.)
3. Major Arcana: Many of the names of the Major Arcana are different than most decks, though they do follow basic tradition. Some examples – The Fool is Innocence, the Magician is Illusion, the Hermit is Meditation, and the Devil is Deception
4. Minor Arcana: Suits of the Minor Arcana are different than most decks as well … instead of the Suits of Swords, Wands, Cups, and Pentacles, there are the Suits of Intellect, Intuition, Emotion, and Sensation
5. Court Cards: Instead of King, Queen, Knight, and Page, there’s Mankind, Womankind, Defender, and Peacemaker
6. Readability: Despite the non-traditional elements of the Rock Tarot, between the evocative imagery, key words written on each card, and the comprehensive guide book (or even the little white book if there isn’t a full guide book), these cards are pretty easy to read. Or at least they make clear the energies and emotions around any spread you might pull.

All in all, I really like this deck. If you come across a copy, take a look.

Today’s pull from Georgie’s Magic Card Collection is a deck I made myself. I don’t remember when I made it, probably ten or fifteen years ago. I forgot all about it.

5 Points About This Deck

1. Major Arcana – This unnamed deck is a Major’s Only deck – 0 to 21. Sometimes that’s all you need.
2. Hand Crafted – I crafted these cards with my own hands. As such, they’re a little roughhewn, but get their point across.
3. Artwork – The artwork is varied, apparently taken from magazines and flyers. I personally like all of the pictures, but that’s to be expected since I chose them all.
4. Cardstock and Size – Nice card thickness. They fit well in my hands and are easy to shuffle.
5. How They Were Made – It looks like I pasted cut out magazine pictures onto regular playing cards then painted them with a glaze. Then I painted the backs black with a 4-pointed yellow star in the middle, splashed with glitter.

I absolutely love these cards and am thrilled that I found them. And they make me want to make another set.

Unfortunately though, they’re one of a kind so I can’t really recommend them to anyone. But I do recommend you make a deck like them for yourself.

My friend Tangelo helping out with a reading using Andrew McGregor’s The Orisha Tarot …

For today’s draw from Georgie’s Magic Card Collection, we’ll be looking at The Wild Unknown Pocket Tarot by Kim Krans, published in 2021 by Harper One.

6 Points About This Deck

1. Artwork – The artwork in The Wild Unknown is hand drawn natural imagery made with no tools, ie. rulers and such. It’s gorgeous, and feels very personal. Colours are sparse, making their impact even more powerful when they do appear. As Krans says in the accompanying book, “I wanted the imagery to speak to a world of wild nature and mystery … a place where the darks are truly dark, and the lights are bright and expansive.” She succeeded.
2. Booklet – For a pocket-size deck, this fully illustrated 207 page (also pocket-sized) booklet is impressive, with a description of each card, as well as an explanation as to how the deck came to be, some general info on Tarot, and a number of spreads to get you started.
3. Court Cards – Instead of Page, Knight, King, and Queen, the Wild Unknown names its Court Cards Daughter, Son, Father, and Mother, again, creating a more personal feel to the deck.
4. Tarot System – This deck follows the Marseille or Thoth ordering of the Major Arcana with Strength being #11 and Justice #8. And though the card descriptions basically follow the Tarot ideas of the Golden Dawn, the Wild Unknown is not a clone deck. What’s most striking about it is that there are no humans in any of the cards. Oddly, I find that refreshing.
5. Readability – Despite there being no humans pictured in this deck, the Wild Unknown is quite readable, and offers very human advice. Even without looking at the definitions in the booklet (which are very helpful, by the way), with the darks being dark, and the lights being bright, all the trees and animals in each card make clear what it is they’re trying to say.
6. Pocket-Size – There’s a full-size version of the Wild Unknown deck as well, first published in 2012. I have that deck too, and have always really liked it … but I’m very much enjoying this pocket size version. It fits so nicely in my palm, it’s easy to shuffle, doesn’t take up much space, and I love the tin box it comes in. This little version has reignited my love for this deck.

All in all, the Wild Unknown is a beautiful set of Tarot cards, whatever size you choose.

Today’s pull from Georgie’s Magic Card Collection is the Learning Tarot Deck from Witchy Cauldron. My copy was published in 2022.

6 or So Points About This Deck

1. Learning Tarot – This Rider-Waite-Smith styled deck is appropriately named Learning Tarot, as it’s definitely meant to help new readers learn the cards. It’s available in multiple different languages.
2. Key Words – A rather lengthy set of key words for both upright and reversed positions is printed on the front of each card.
3. Affirmations – Each of the Major Arcana cards has an appropriate affirmation printed on the front.
4. Chakras and Astrology – Each card identifies both its astrological associations and affiliated chakras.
5. Yes/No – Also on each card, is the word – Yes, No, or Maybe … just in case you’re looking for something definitive (or definitivish).
6. Image – The images for Learning Tarot are from the Rider-Waite-Smith deck, but are relatively small as they share space on each card with all of the above listed descriptors.

For someone new to Tarot, this deck would be great for practising and getting to know the cards. It allows you to throw them down without having to have a book with you to look things up each time. Eventually, you’ll probably want to move on to a deck that highlights the images more … but who knows. To each their own.

I kind of like this deck. The cards are hearty, the messages are clear, and it comes in two fantastic boxes. As a new reader, I would have loved it. As someone more seasoned, I don’t really need all the notes, and the images are a little small, but it’s fun anyway, and I’m happy I have it.

I’m a little embarrassed to admit it, but I was watching Matlock the other night. Not the new one even, but the old one. The one with Andy Griffith from the ’80’s.

I’m making this admission here in The Tarot Room because the episode was called The Psychic (season 3, episode 13 with Camilla More).

The story line was fun … a psychic gets a vision that someone would be killed and that she was going to be accused of murder, so she goes to Matlock for defence before the killing even happens.

But it wasn’t the plot that grabbed me. It was that about half-way through, in a scene in an office of a psychic fair, there on the bulletin board were a bunch of cards from the Thoth Tarot.

I got a screenshot …

I haven’t really got anything to say about this sighting, except that I was thrilled to see my favourite deck there on the screen. I don’t see this deck in the wild too often. No comments were made about it, and I don’t think Tarot was even mentioned in the episode, but the cards were there. I liked that.