The Tarot Room – Georgianna

As promised, here’s the first picture from my travelling Tarot friend’s visit to Niki de Saint Phalle’s Tarot Garden in Italy.

Number Six in the Tarot is usually called The Lovers. Niki called it The Choice …

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 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.

My favourite metaphysical shop in Toronto – The Hermit’s Lamp …

Here’s a picture of Mandrake as found in the Ortus sanitatis from 1491. (Or at least my attempt at drawing her.)

I found it on the fabulous site Public Domain Image Archive.

Isn’t she a perfect Empress? …

One of my very favourite mugs ever …

Look at what someone gave me!! A set of Tarot Embroidery patterns! It’s the whole Major Arcana, plus a few mystical extras.

I probably could have waited to post about them till after I actually did some magical stitching, but I didn’t want to. It’s too fun.

Not sure when, but I will be posting my embroidered results when I get some done … stay tuned.