The Tarot Room – Georgianna

My Five Fave Decks in Regular Rotation Right Now:

•Thoth Tarot by Aleister Crowley and Lady Frida Harris – The Thoth is my first and still favourite deck of all time, and the one I’ve been using for public readings these days.

•The PoMo: A Post Modern Deck for Navigating the Next Millennium by Brian Williams – We’re in that next millennium now and this deck of re-visioned post modern art classics is a surprisingly powerful (and often amusing) guide.

•The Pulp Tarot by Todd Alcott – I just got this deck recently … you can see my review here. The more I get to know them, the more I love these images.

•Il Giardino Dei Tarocchi Tarot Cards by Niki de Saint Phalle – Another fairly new deck in my collection … here’s my review. It’a a stunning Majors-only deck, straight to the point and full of colour

•Science Tarot, a collaborative project: I’ve had this deck for years now, it’s a regular go-to for questions regarding the state of our world.

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.

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 extra special to me. It’s a copy of my first Tarot deck … The Thoth Tarot designed by Aleister Crowley and painted by Lady Freida Harris. It’s published by US Games in association with AGM AGMuller.

8 Points About This Deck

1. Deck Size – there are a number of different versions of the Thoth Tarot, varying in size and colouring
   •small version – 5X9 cm
   •medium version – 8X11 cm (my copy printed in 1983)
   •medium version – 7X11 cm (my copy printed in 2023)
   •large version – 9X14 cm
   There might be more, but these are the ones I have and know about. The small deck is fabulous for carrying around. It fits nicely in my hands and I just love it … but I have to say that the words printed at the bottom of each card are a little fuzzy (or at least mine are). The large deck is beautiful!! But it is a little big for regular readings, and is difficult to shuffle. For me, at least for regular readings, the medium size is just right.
2. Colours – There’s been colour corrections done on the 2023 deck to apparently bring the images closer in line to those of the original watercolours by Frieda Harris. This change startled me at first, but I’ve grown accustomed to it now, and think the new (or should I say original) version is beautiful.
3. Court Cards – After thirty years, and many other decks, I’m still blown away by how dynamic and gorgeous the Court Cards are in this deck … every one of them.
4. Card Names – If you’re accustomed to the Rider-Waite-Smith Tarot, you’ll find some differences in the Thoth Tarot. First off, the Suit of Disks replaces the Suit of Pentacles. As well …
   • •Knights replace Kings
   • •Princes replace Knights
   • •Princesses replace Pages
   • •The Magus replaces The Magician
   • •Adjustment replaces Justice
   • •Lust replaces Strength
   • •Art replaces Temperance
   • •The Aeon replaces Judgement
   • •The Universe replaces The World
5. Ordering – The Thoth Tarot identifies Adjustment/Justice as #8, and Lust/Strength as #11 (opposite to the RWS Tarot).
6. Non-Tarot Associations – There are astrological and kabbalistic associations noted on each of the relevant cards.
7. Keywords – There are keywords noted at the bottom of each of the Minor Arcana (excluding the Aces and Court Cards).
8. Symbology – The Thoth Tarot highlights symbolism from all around the world and multiple spiritual/religious paths. Crowley intended it to be a compendium of the world’s spiritual and magical ideas.

There’s so much to say about this deck that 8 points is just not nearly enough, but that’s where I’m going to leave it for now. I’ve got nothing but positive things to say about The Thoth Tarot. It was my first deck, and after all these years, it’s still my favourite.

For the first instalment of Georgie’s Magic Card Collection, we’ll be looking at the Albano-Waite Tarot, Special Edition. It was first published in 1968, then republished in 1991, and regularly since then. I don’t know what year my deck is from, but it’s definitely not an original.

Five Points About This Deck:

1. The deck is a Rider-Waite-Smith Clone. Pamela Colman Smith’s pictures are simply recoloured in bright, bold, and vivid colours … Sixties’ style I guess. I like the colours, though I can imagine some people might consider them gaudy. Well, actually, I consider them gaudy … but that’s part of why I like them.
   
2. Given that it’s an exact copy of the Rider-Waite-Smith deck, but with new colours, the Albano-Waite Tarot is an easy deck for beginners to use while learning to read. There are many, many books, and courses, and websites, etc. with info on what the RWS images traditionally ‘mean’ when they appear in a reading. Having so much literature/teachings around the images on this deck makes it especially accessible for newbies.
   
3. And for the more practised reader, the different colours not only make for fun art, they offer a different perspective on one of the most commonly read Tarot decks in North America. You might be very familiar with the RWS Tarot, but seeing cards you know so well with newly coloured skies, or clothing colours you’re not accustomed to, can really change the tone/mood of the message in that card. Colours are often an important part of a reading, and I really like how the colours in the Albano-Waite shake things up and get me reconsidering my usual take on an image.
   
4. With all the bright colours in the pictures of this deck, I appreciate how clean and quiet the backs of the cards are, all in white with a small gold sun. Classy.
   
5. There are lots of these decks around at reasonable prices. No need to spend a ton for an excellent deck.

So that’s my quick take. I like the Albano-Waite Tarot, and recommend it to anyone who enjoys a good RWS clone.

I have a lot of Tarot decks. Not as many as some people I know, but a lot, over 200, maybe closer to 300. None of them are brand new (or even new at all), as I haven’t gone card shopping in a few years (it can be addictive once you start noticing how many amazing ones are out there). But seeing all the decks I have sitting on my shelves and in the drawers, I thought I might want to look at each one again, more carefully, with new eyes, like when I first got it.

In some cases, it’ll likely feel as if I’m actually seeing it for the first time. I’m not proud of it, but there have been times when so many new decks were entering my world at once that I didn’t really give them the focus they deserved. In other cases, I’ve used a deck so often it’s tattered and worn, and probably should be replaced … but never thrown away, I don’t think I could ever do that …

But back to my point. I’m going to start doing short reviews, or quick takes on each of my Tarot and/or Oracle Decks. I’m not going to go into great depth on any of them, probably just highlighting 3 to 5 elements of each one that I particularly like (or maybe don’t like as much). Some decks will be classics, others, less so, or even far, far less so. It should be interesting … for me at least. And hopefully you’ll like it too.

Expect the first instalment of Georgie’s Magic Card Collection soon. And have a good day!

Here’s a brand new deck from my very own city … the ETA Tarot!

It’s a collaborative deck from Emerging Toronto Artists featuring the artwork of 80 artists, 76 of whom are from Toronto, with 4 international artists to round things out.

Take a look at the video below and/or visit the ETA Tarot project page to learn more.

And if you’re in the Toronto area, watch out for the group art show November 10-16 at Freedom Factory. Hope to see you there!

I’m a big fan of collaborative decks, and this new one by 78 Tarot Astral (the 4th collaborative deck they’ve made), looks like it’s going to be another good one!

Take a look at the video below, and/or visit the 78 Tarot Astral project page to learn more …

Fans of collaborative Tarot decks might want to take a look at the 78 Tarot Project curated by Kayti Welsh and featuring images from 78 different artists from around the world.

The Kickstarter video below explains the project, but if you want to see a complete set of these gorgeous cards, visit the 78 Tarot Project website.

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Fans of Dorothy and The Wizard of Oz might be interested in this Tarot Kickstarter project – The Shadow of Oz by Anna and Mark, the Illogical Associates.

As the creators of The Wizard of Oz inspired comic book Dorothy, Anna and Mark seem especially suited to making this deck a reality, and they’ve gathered together a truly impressive group of comic book artists to help them.

Take a look at their video below, and visit The Shadow of Oz project page to learn more.

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