The Tarot Room – Georgianna

The next pull from Georgie’s Magic Card Collection is Morgan’s Tarot, created by Morgan Robbins, and illustrated by Darshan Chorpash. It was first released in 1970, but my copy is from 2009, and published by US Games. It’s one of my favourite decks ever.

5 Points About This Deck

1. Artwork: Late 60’s, early 70’s style black and white line drawings. Clean, clear, and somewhat psychedelic. The cards most often include card names or phrases below the images.
2. Tarot Structure: There is no Tarot structure. Despite the name, Morgan’s Tarot is not a Tarot deck, though it is oracular. Instead of 78 cards, there are 88. There are no Major or Minor Arcana divisions, and no Court Cards. There are no numbers on the cards, or on the card descriptions in the Little White Book (LWB). In fact, the cards aren’t even alphabetized in the LWB. You’ve gotta just keep looking around for the card description you’re interested in. But it’s worth the hunt.
3. Theme: I guess the theme is what it says on the publisher’s card: Transmutation through Union of Opposites. As you may have surmised, Morgan’s Tarot was influenced by the late 60’s new age movement, and various spiritual traditions, especially Tibetan Buddhism.
4. Readability: Despite lack of clear structure, the cards in Morgan’s Tarot are quite practical and straightforward in their messaging. Some card examples: If There’s a Judge, it’s You, or; Your Mission is Not Yet Complete, or; Always Remember This; … or simply Boo!!!. The LWB describes them all (kind of).
5. Let George Do It: One card in particular sticks out to me (given my name is Georgianna, aka George) … Let George Do It … not sure I like the message, but I do like having a specifically George-card in the deck.

Go visit the Morgan’s Tarot webpages to see the various cards, and pull a free auto reading for yourself while you’re there. I love this deck.

In honour of another visit from my friend and colleague, Kitty Tangelo (a powerful reader in his own right) … today’s pull from Georgie’s Magic Card Collection is The Baroque Bohemian Cats’ Tarot by Alex Ukolow and Karen Mahoney. It was published by Magic Realist Press/Baba Studios in 2011.

5 Points About This Deck

1. Cat-centric: I’ll start with the obvious … as one should expect, The Baroque Bohemian Cats’ Tarot is full of cats. All the central characters are Baroque Bohemian Cats, and each and every one of them is fantastic.
2. 79 Cards: Instead of the traditional 78 cards, the Baroque Bohemian Cats’ Tarot has one extra – The Fortune Teller. The Fortune Teller is a majestic and mystical black feline, clearly in touch with the psychic realm. You can use this card as a significator, or a simple representation of perfect virtue (ha ha … Tangelo told me to say that last part about virtue, I don’t really believe it)
3. Artwork: Warm, rich, luxurious … and of course very baroque. And did I mention the cats? Photographic manipulation, not actual cats in costumes, was used to create the images in this deck. It was all digital magic, and as such, the creators of this deck warn ‘Please don’t try really dressing any cat, they don’t like it!” (For the most part, I’d agree with that, but I have a copy of Fashion Cats that suggests a different perspective …)
4. Readability: The Baroque Bohemian Cats’ Tarot follows the classic RWS Tarot structure, so if you’re familiar with that, you’re already prepped for this deck. Not to mention, the images are strong and tell their own story, with or without knowing any system. If in doubt though, the Little White Book (LWB) provides helpful direction.
5. Major Arcana: Though all 22 of the traditional Major Arcana cards are represented (plus one, the above-mentioned Fortune Teller) … none of the Majors have numbers on the cards. They’re numbered in the LWB, just not on the cards themselves. This doesn’t change much, just thought I’d mention it.

All in all, I love this deck! And it comes in a good box, strong, sturdy, and opens from the side.

And one more thing … while looking at the Bohemian Cats’ website, I noticed that a new Bohemian Cats’ Tarot is in the works … The Bohemian Cats’ Theatre Tarot. You know I’m going to want that.

Today’s pull from Georgie’s Magic Card Collection is Vanessa Tarot by Lynyrd Narciso, According to the Little White Book (LWB) that came with the deck, my copy was published back in 2006 by US Games (but it looks to still be available … and reasonably priced)

5 Points About This Deck

1. Size: Vanessa Tarot is compact, or some might say small, with the cards only 6 X 10 cm (2.3 X 3.9 “) … which is a lovely size for smaller hands – easy to hold and to shuffle, and you don’t need a lot of space to lay out a spread
2. Artwork: The art is sweet, sassy, chic (in a cartoony sort of way) and dare I say, ‘girly’. Yeah, it is girly, really, really girly .. and I love it! Bright cheery, and non-threatening, but not without a bite.
3. Woman-centric: Going along with the really, really girly aspect of Vanessa Tarot, like the last deck I reviewed (The Muse Tarot), there are very few males pictured in this deck … even the Kings are Ladies.
4. Tarot System: Vanessa Tarot pretty well follows the RWS/Golden Dawn Tarot structure, just with a modern and female twist. The medieval imagery is replaced by contemporary situations that are clear and evocative. It’s quite readable, but if you do need help with a card meaning, the LWB offers helpful descriptions of each.
5. Box: You might have noticed by now that I’ve got a bit of an illogical obsession with the boxes my Tarot decks come in … they shouldn’t matter, but they kind of do. Anyway, Vanessa Tarot comes in a delightful little purple metal tin that I think was the reason I bought it in the first place all those years ago. I stand by my choice.

So … if you’re in the market for a fun, and adorable, girly-type deck, check out Vanessa Tarot. I like it a lot.

Continuing on with the creativity theme (see: Sakki-Sakki Tarot Review and The Creativity Spread), for today’s pull from Georgie’s Magic Card Collection, we have the Muse Tarot by Chris-Anne. It was published in 2020 by Hay House.

6 Points About This Deck

1. Artwork: The images in the Muse Tarot are vibrant, very pretty, and boldly feminine. There are no borders on these cards, leaving more space for the dynamic collage-style imagery.
2. Gender Theme: There’s no doubt that this is a woman-centric deck … men, of course, can use it, but it’s definitely aimed toward the feminine.
3. Kings: The Muse Tarot replaces the four King cards with four Muses. These Muse cards are all horizontally oriented. By being different than the other Court Cards, the side-ways orientation seems to give the Muse cards a little more authority when they show up in a spread … but maybe that’s just me.
4. Suits: Instead of Cups, Swords, Wands, and Pentacles, the Muse Tarot has the suits of Emotions, Voices, Inspiration, and Materials.
5. Readability: Though the images in this deck are absolutely unique and inspire their own story-lines, ultimately, the Muse Tarot follows a Golden Dawn/RWS structure familiar to many readers. If in doubt though, the rather thorough instruction booklet should help you along.
6. Random Stuff: The box is great, the backs of the cards are as pretty as the fronts, and the cards are of hearty stock. All around, it’s a beautiful deck.

And if you go to the Muse Tarot’s website, you’ll find all sorts of other extra goodies, including a chance to pull a card, read and/or listen to descriptions and meditations for each card, prompts to inspire you even more, as well as various creativity-oriented spreads. Check it out … there’s lots to play with over there.

Continuing with the theme of creativity (see the Creativity Spread from the other day), today’s pull from Georgie’s Magic Card Collection is The Sakki-Sakki Tarot by Monicka Clio Sakki. My copy was published in 2004 by Mpress.

5 Points About This Deck

1. Artwork: So sweet, adorable, and fun, but not at all sugary. In the Little White Book (LWB), Sakki says that “the artwork has been assembled from a collage of pre-existing drawings, icons, and ‘sensitive inks’”. (Had to look up sensitive inks just now … interesting.) The result is bright, diverse, amusing, colourful, and unique imagery. I like it a lot.
2. Heads: At least in the Minor Arcana, sometimes there are heads on the people, sometimes no heads. It’s not meant to be macabre … but rather allows you to fill in the human details with your own imagination.
3. Tarot Reading System: Though the images are unique, and tell their own readable story, the Sakki-Sakki Tarot is structured around the Rider-Waite-Smith Tarot system. For additional clarity, the LWB includes astrological and kabalistic associations for each card, and a little description of what each means.
4. Extra Card: What makes the Sakki-Sakki Tarot especially aimed towards creativity is the inclusion of a 79th card in the deck … the Artist Card. Meant to be used as either a 23rd Major card, or a Significator, The Artist Card represents the Artist in all of us. It’s the part of us creating our own worlds, as well as artworks that attempt to express those worlds.
5. Small Run: The Sakki-Sakki Tarot was printed as a limited run, so it may not be easy to find. At the website, it says that it’s out of print, but maybe you can find it around. If you do, I’d seriously consider getting it. It’s delightful in every way.

Oh … and not a point about the deck itself, but if you go to the Sakki-Sakki website, you can pick a card for a free one-card automated reading. I pulled more than one.

Following up on my post about, Call Me Miss Cleo, for today’s pull from Georgie’s Magic Card Collection, we’ll look at Miss Cleo’s Tarot Power Deck. It was published back in 2001 by Radar Communications Inc.

5 Points About This Deck

1. Miss Cleo: Despite her name and picture being on the box, Miss Cleo (or Youree Dell Harris) had nothing to do with making this deck. It’s possible, of course, that she used it to read with, but it was designed and created by J.F. Lambert and Seth Stevens. There’s an introduction in the LWB that shows Miss Cleo’s signature at the bottom, but I don’t know …
2. The Box: Though a box wouldn’t likely sway me for or against a Tarot deck, there are boxes that are good enough (regular tuck boxes), and then there are ones that I like. The Miss Cleo deck comes in the type that I like – a hardy two piecer that opens by lifting the top off. And for some childish reason, I really like the red tag on the front that says “As Seen On TV’.
3. Artwork: The deck artwork follows a kind of ancient Egyptian motif, I guess to go along with the myth that Tarot originated in Egypt. It’s bright and simple, a little cartoony, with very well cut workers, kings, queens, gods, and goddesses. I actually quite like it.
4. Arcanas/Readability: The Major Arcana looks to follow the RWS sequencing and style, while the Minor Arcana switches things up a bit. The suits are Staffs, Cups, Swords, and Coins, and though they follow a basic RWS-type model, there are some novel takes on the images. For me at least, I find this deck quite easy to read. The images are clear and straightforward in their storytelling. But, if you’re in doubt, the instruction book that comes with the deck is quite helpful.
5. Extra Cards: Unlike most decks, there are two extra cards included with 1-900 and 1-800 numbers on them … I guess that’s in case you can’t figure out what your reading means and want some help? I didn’t try the numbers, and am not recommending that anyone else does.

Despite my feelings surrounding the Psychic Readers Network, and the questionable part Miss Cleo herself played in the whole saga, I actually like the Miss Cleo’s Tarot Power Deck. I got mine on eBay about 15 years ago and notice that there still seems to be a lot of inexpensive used ones around. If you see one, you might want to give it a try.

Our next pull from Georgie’s Magic Card Collection is the Elora Tarot Deck. It was curated by Shelley Carter, and published in 2013.

5 Points About This Deck

1. Compilation Deck: The Elora Tarot is a compilation deck, ie. a deck created by multiple different artists. In this case, Shelley Carter gathered sixty-five artists from the Elora, Ontario area, to create a 78 card deck.
   I like compilations decks. Different artists bring different perspectives to the cards. Some are traditional, some completely novel, and others are somewhere in between. All those differing perspectives shake things up, forcing us to abandon by-rote interpretations, and to look a little more carefully at the actual images before us.
2. Artwork: With 65 different artists, this deck is definitely eclectic. And I love it. From photography to ceramics, oil painting to collage, watercolour, stained glass, sculpture, computer programs … so many different mediums. (ha ha – ‘mediums’, get it?) As a little gallery of Ontario artists from 2013, it’s amazing. As a Tarot deck, it’s amazing too.
3. Card Size: The cards in the Elora Tarot are large – about 5.5X3.5”. Though they might not be as easy to shuffle as some smaller cards might be, they give plenty of room to show off all the beautiful artwork. I’m glad they made these cards big.
   And while we’re talking about card size, I just want to mention the box the cards come in as well. It opens from the front with a velcro tab, and allows you to insert (or remove) the cards from the long side of the box, rather than the short. It might sound like a silly thing, but I really like it.
4. 4 of Pentacles: Not to ignore the other cards in the deck (I like so many of them), but I thought I’d mention the 4 of Pentacles, aka, Quest for Stability in particular. I mention it not only because I like it, but to give a shout out to its designer, Andrew McGregor, my friend, and owner of Toronto’s fabulous metaphysical shop – The Hermit’s Lamp. (I just wrote about the shop the other day)
5. The Happy Squirrel: Okay, so I’m going to single out one more card – The Happy Squirrel. Though not part of the original Tarot arcana, The Happy Squirrel was made famous in a Simpsons’ episode long ago (season 6, episode 19 – Lisa’s Wedding). Since then, it’s found its way into a number of Tarot decks, and I’m always happy to see it.

Love Love Love this deck … it’s gorgeous and thought provoking.

Today’s deck from Georgie’s Magic Card Collection is the Fradella Adventure Tarot. It was designed by Frank Fradella with art by JP Dupers. My copy was published in 2002 by US Games.

5 Points About This Deck

1. Concept: The Fradella Adventure Tarot is based on the heroes and villains in Frank Fradella’s Cyber Age Adventure series. Knowing the characters from that series would definitely provide added insight to any reading done with this deck, but with the help of the LWB (little white book) and some focus on the images, I think the Fradella can be read by anyone with some Tarot background.
   Unfortunately, the two web addresses listed in the LWB no longer point to any site, and look to be for sale. Maybe it’s an opportunity …
2. Artwork: Bright, colourful, vibrant, and full of comic-book action (as one might expect from a collection of Superheroes) – I like it.
3. Card Stock: I know this is a little strange to mention, but the card stock is a somewhat thicker than that of most decks I have. The shuffling is a little stiff because of it (at least for me). It might be a good thing in the long run though, especially if you’re using the deck a lot. The cards are hearty.
4. Major Arcana: The Major cards of the Fradella Adventure Tarot follow the RWS model, but of course, replace the medieval imagery with Superheroes.
5. Minor Arcana: Instead of Wands, Swords, Cups, and Disks (or Pentacles), the Fradella Adventure Tarot gives us Staves, Blades, Masks, and Discs, but otherwise follows the familiar RWS/Golden Dawn concepts.
   One thing to note … because each of the Minor cards features a different hero or villain, the distinction between the Minor cards and their suit’s Court Cards is a little hazy. The main difference being that the numbered cards in a suit typically show an action, while the Court Cards are more about the character themselves. Either way though, the ideas pictured on the Minor cards are pretty straightforward, whether you know the characters or not.

The verdict overall … I like the Fradella Adventure Tarot. If you can get the guidebook meant to accompany the deck, it might be even better, but the deck alone is a lot of fun.

A great tip for getting to really know your Tarot cards, whatever deck you use, is to draw them. This is true whether you’re good at drawing or not (however that might be determined). The learning happens either way. It’s about looking at the cards really carefully, not about making fine art.

I’ve been reminded of this lesson lately while redrawing the Cards of the Day for The Tarot Room, as well as while drawing on my newest wooden Tarot box. As is the case whenever I draw images from my decks, I’ve noticed things I had forgotten, or maybe had never noticed in the first place.

It could be a colour that jumps out – like the gray sky in the RWS Ace of Wands, or the fish-scaled shoes worn by the King of Cups. It might be a symbol, like the butterflies on the Queen of Swords’ crown, or the water flowing behind the High Priestess, the Empress, and the Emperor. It could be anything.

There are so many things to notice … and if you’re a practiced reader, you’ve probably considered most, if not all of the symbols, and colours, and key words from your favourite decks. But at least for me, getting ‘beginners’ eyes’ again as I try to etch the card pictures onto a page, always reignites my enthusiasm for the deck I’m drawing, and teaches me something new.

And for beginners … drawing your cards is a fantastic exercise to use to get to know your deck. The whole trick is that it forces you to look. And at least for me, Tarot reading at its core is about reading the stories in the pictures on the cards. The more you carefully look at those pictures, the richer your stories can be.

Give it a try. And if drawing all 78 cards in a deck is too daunting, try just drawing the cards you pull in a reading. Or just one card from a card of the day … or whatever might work for you. But try it. It’s fun.

Today’s pull from Georgie’s Magic Card Collection is The Medieval Scapini Tarot by Luigi Scapini. Though it was published by US Games in 1985, it’s meant to embody the spirit of the 15th Century renaissance period, the time when Tarot first came upon the scene …

5 Points About This Deck

Artwork: Scapini’s work is gorgeous – rich, detailed, evocative of the old Italian decks. My deck has a faux gilt for the backgrounds of the Major Arcana and Court Cards, as well as on the card backs. Though this is nice, I can just imagine how beautiful it would be if the gilt wasn’t faux (I don’t mean real gold, but shiny paper gold). Even so though, the artwork on these cards is really beautiful.

Card Size: The Medieval Scapini Tarot is tall and slim, 13cm x 7cm (about 5X3” or so) – a little tall for smaller hands, but not too unwieldy, and quite elegant looking. But despite the fact that I sometimes have difficulty shuffling big cards, for this deck, I kind of wish the cards were a little bigger. The artwork has so many marvellous details, I’d love to see them all more clearly … but maybe that’s just an issue with my eyesight.

Major Arcana: The images on the Major cards follow the Visconti Tarot style for the most part, but with a few exceptions. For instance, The Star and the Moon cards definitely lean more towards the Rider-Waite-Smith concepts than otherwise.

Minor Arcana: Unlike the Visconti decks, The Medieval Scapini Tarot has fully illustrated Minor cards, or at least images that tell more of a straight ahead story than the Visconti-style decks do. And they’re as beautifully drawn as the Majors, just with less gilt. While the artwork is still very Visconti-like in the Minors, the images reflect the occult ideas of Papus, Oswald Wirth, and Arthur Waite.

Readability: Though the images on the cards allow for fairly clear interpretation, and one could read them without having knowledge of a particular Tarot system, the LWB (little white book that comes with the deck) gives you a complete description of each card, with suggested definitions. It’s a small book with tiny font, but it holds a lot of info, and I found it quite helpful.

All in all, I’d say The Medieval Scapini Tarot is a wonderful deck with a nice mix of medieval and modern imagery. I should use it more often. I do wish though, that the cards were bigger. They’re really beautiful.