Jeu de la Princesse Tarot

Creator(s): Johannes Trismegiste
Date: 1843*, 1876*, 1983
Country: France
Publisher: Dusserre
Number of Cards: 78
ISBN:  
Type: Etteilla
Reference: Tarot Garden
 





Notes:
The first version of this deck was designed 1843 by Lorambert under the pseudonym Johannes Trismegiste. It was published with Jules Laisne and appeared  in a book called L'Art de tirer les cartes, revelations completes sur les destinees au moyen des cartes et des tarots, d'apres les methodes les plus certaines (The Art of Rreading the Cards, complete instructions on fortune-telling by means of cards and tarots, according to the most reliable methods). It was reprinted unchanged in 1850.

In 1864 there appeared a new edition called Jeu de la Princesse Tarot. The designs of the cards remained the same, but some titles and inscriptions of the trumps and names of court cards and aces where changed to a more ancient Egyptian style to emphasize their supposed origins, e.g. number 3 was called Anubis. The production was continued by Wattillaux (1874-1908).

Dussere reprinted one of the Wattillaux Jeu de la Princesse Tarots from around 1876, which was preserved in the National Library in Paris as photoreproduction. A modified version of this deck has been reproduced in 1996 by Lo Scarabeo as the Esoteric Ancient Tarots.

The cards were numbered consecutively from 1 to 78, following the system started by Etteilla to emphasize that the cards were pages of an ancient book. The cards have a central image surrounded by a large border with two lines of text at the bottom. The first is the card title the second line it’s divinatory meaning. At the top of the card is a reversed printed line with the reversed divinatory meaning.

In spite of their titles the cards do not portray convincing Egyptian iconography instead they incorporate symbology from such sources as Genesis and the Hermetic creation myths of The Divine Pymander.

Tarot of the Holy Light

Creator(s): Christine Payne-Towler, Michael Dowers
Date: 2011
Country: USA
Publisher: Noreah Press
Number of Cards: 78 
ISBN:  
Type: other
Reference:  artist's page





                                      Notes:
The Tarot of the Holy Light is a traditional Continental-style deck full of images like they are used in alchemical and hermetic texts. The associations for the trumps from this deck are keyed to the ideas taught by Ettteilla and Papus. The Pips and Court Cards are distributed in a classic astrological pattern. The signs, planets, and elements that rule them are marked on each card.

The traditional names have been used for the Major Arcana, with the following exceptions: Magus (Magician), Priestess (High Priestess), High Priest (Hierophant), and Tower of Destruction (Tower). Justice is VIII, with Strength at XI. The suits are Wands, Cups, Swords, and Disks. The Court Cards are Queen, King, Knight, and Page.On the Queen of Swords are the Initials of Christine Payne-Towler.

The card backs are done in black and white, with a Sun  in each corner.  At first glance the backs are reversible, but by looking closer one could tell if they were upright or reversed. The backs show some sort of a doorway into the cosmos, with the Sun representing the material world, and the Moon representing the celestial world. 

The box features art by Patrick Dowers, which is in a very different style to that of the deck. The cards themselves are 3” by 5”, with a linen texture. The LWB contains brief, Etteilla-based interpretations and spread suggestions. It is a limited edition of 1224, only 200 were signed and numbered. I have an unsigned one.

Hermetic Tarot

Creator(s): Godfrey Dowson
Date: 1979, reprint 2006
Country: USA
Publisher: US Games
Number of Cards: 78
ISBN: 978-0-913866-92-4
Type: Golden Dawn, BW
Reference: Encyclopedia of Tarot, vol. III, pp. 594, 596-597








Notes:
The deck is based on the works of MacGregor Mathers, Aleister Crowley, Paul Foster Case. Eliphas Levi and G.H. Soror Q.L.

The Kings, Queens and Knights illustrate the signs of the zodiac. The 36 numbered cards (2-10) of the four suits illustrate the 36 decans of the wheel of the zodiac. The astrological year began for the Golden Dawn with the star Regulus at 0 degrees Leo, rather than with 0 degrees Aries; thus the 5 of wands, the first decan Leo, is considered the first in the sequence. The zodiacal signs, sometimes accompanied by an elemental sigil, appears at the Major Arcana, the court cards also have elemental sigils.

The pips include the Hebrew names of guardian angels assigned by the Golden Dawn to the cards.