Tarocchi di Linus

Creator(s): Nicola Falcioni
Date: 1966
Country: Italy
Publisher: Baldini & Castoldi
Number of Cards: 24
ISBN:
Type: Marseilles
Reference: 








 

Notes:
The cards were an add-on in the issue 3 (12) anno II 1966 of the Italian comics magazine linus . It was the first Italian comics magazine which featured stories for adults.

linus had a leftist cultural stance and it's editorial supported the Italian Communist Party. From the magazine's beginning, the comics section was accompanied by an extensive section dealing with society, politics, mass media, literature and other cultural themes. Among others Umberto Eco and Enzo Baldoni, the Italian journalist and writer killed in Iraq in 2004, worked for linus.

The cards came as an uncut fold-out sheet in the comics magazine. It's 24 cards, 20 of them majors and 4 aces for the 4 suits named coppe, spade, bastoni, denari. On most of the majors the traditional Tarot Marseilles imagery is recognizable and they have the traditional names. There are no cards for Magician, Justice and Chariot, but there is an aditional card "Il Fiore" (the flower) . The cards are non-traditional renumbered.  Instead of an lwb there is a page with interpretations for the cards in the magazine. I don't know if a complete tarot deck of these exists or if they are to find only in this comics magazine.

Le Jeu de Tarot

Creator(s): Chloé Marie Gaillard
Date: 2017
Country: USA
Publisher: Uusi
Number of Cards: 22+2+1
ISBN:
Type: Marseilles
Reference: 
 

Notes:
This is the first in a series of Major Arcana decks by guest artists that Uusi is putting out . Chloé Marie Gaillard is a French self-taught artist currently living in  New Mexico. She studied fashion and worked for Christian Dior.

Each card is signed by the artist somewhere in the picture, they have a number and a French title at the bottom. Strength is 8 and Justice 11.  The deck combines the classic Marseilles imagery with shamanistic motives.

The cards are printed in USA on quality thick art paper, lightly varnished on both sides, they come in a screen printed wrap on recycled, heavy paper stock and with a bag. There are two title cards and another additional card with a short biography of Gaillard. Card size is 75mm x 130mm. The backs are reversible. This is a limited edition of 250, mine is number 3.

Samiramay Tarot

Creator(s): Vera Petruk
Date: 2017
Country: Russia
Publisher: self-published
Number of Cards: 78
ISBN:
Type: other
Reference: 









Notes:
This Tarot deck was created by the Russian illustrator Vera Petruk, who uses the alias Samiramay. There is another Tarot,  The Old Memories Tarot, by the same creator, which uses the same images for the Majors but different ones for the Minors. It also has different backs and a different border and isn't fully colored like this one.

The images are done in watercolors, liners and pencils. The cards are made look vintage with horizontal rippled stripes. It's a self-published deck, that is printed on demand and can be ordered on makeplayingcards.com. It's cards only, they are  shrink wrapped without box or bag.

Each card has zodiac and alchemy related symbols on it. The Minors are pips with a number at the center surrounded by symbols . Each suit has has a token image, which is displayed on the Minors. The suit of Wands shows a salamander, Cups display a set of three leaves, Swords has a violett flower and Pentacles come with a snake.


The Majors have the  usual number in yellow, most times (but not always) at the top center, additional they have most times (but not always) a Hebrew letter in the upper right corner and the corresponding numerical value of the Hebrew letter in the upper left corner. The astrological attributions in the Majors aren't compatible with the Golden Dawn system, but since there comes no booklet with it there is no explanation for the artist's choice.

The backs show a pattern with the Star of David and are not reversible.

Merrimack Tarot

Creator(s): Pamela Coleman-Smith
Date: 1961
Country: USA
Publisher: Merrimack
Number of Cards: 78
ISBN:
Type: RWS
Reference: 

Notes:
In principle this is a Smith-Waite deck made as a cheap novelty fortune-telling deck. Each card has keywords for it's meaning printed below the titles to make for easy interpretation. It also has a fold-out paper to show where to place the cards and what each position means.

There is no mention of Rider-Waite-Smith anywhere on the box or in the instructions but the imagery is the exact artwork of Pamela Colman Smith. It is brightly colored and the colour doesn't always stay in the lines.  The back has a brownish tiled-looking mosaic pattern on it and is not reversible. It was printed in Hong Kong in 1961 and distributed by Merrimack Publishing Corp.

Elisabeth Haich Tarot

Creator(s): Elisabeth Haich, Oswald Wirth
Date: 1983
Country: Germany
Publisher: Drei Eichen Verlag 
Number of Cards: 22
ISBN: 3-7699-0408-7    
Type: Papus-Wirth
Reference: Decker/Dummet A History of the Occult Tarot p. 185-187

Notes:
Elisabeth Haich (1897-1994) was an internationally recognized sculptor, painter and author of several books on spirituality. Together with Selva Yesudian she was instrumental in popularization of yoga in Central Europe.

She created 22 cards in the style of the Oswald Wirth deck to accompany her book Tarot. Die zweiundzwanzig Bewußtseinsstufen des Menschen, which was first published in 1969.

Her book does not advocate the use of Tarot to predict the future, nor  Tarot readings for any other purpose. She simply explains her mystical interpretations of the Major Arcana. Haich claimes that Tarot cards were created by initiates of prehistoric times and her interpretations of the cards make some use of Hindu ideas.

She aknowledges Oswald Wirth as the artist who originally created the set of Major Arcana,  which came with the book. For the edition printed in 1969 Haich reproduces his design, but without the borders and Wirth's ideograms. In the reprint of book and cards from 1983, the ornamented borders returned and the colors are a bit different.

Both editions have blank backs and very thin cardstock.

Creator(s): Elisabeth Haich, Oswald Wirth
Date: 1969
Country: Germany
Publisher: J. Fink Verlag 
Number of Cards: 22
ISBN:     
Type: Papus-Wirth
Reference: Decker/Dummet A History of the Occult Tarot p. 185-187

Sacred India Tarot

Creator(s): Rohit Arya, Jane Adams
Date: 2011
Country: India
Publisher: Yogi Impressions
Number of Cards: 82
ISBN: 978-81-88479-78-8 
Type: RWS
Reference: artist's page

Notes:
Rohit Arya works and writes in India, and Jane Adams is an artist in the UK; they started to work on the project in 2001, exchanging images and ideas by email.

The Sacred India Tarot combines Tarot and Indian mythology. The Major Arcana depict the archetypal forms of the gods and goddesses of India. Initially, the project was called the Hindu mythology, Tarot, but the name was changed because the cards also draw plenty of Jainism and Buddhism.

The Suit of Staves (Wands) is inspired by the Indian epic Ramayana. The love story of  Shiva and Parvati is shown in the suit of Lotusses (Cups). The Suit of Arrows, based on themes from the Bheeshma episode of the Mahabharata. The author uses arrows instead of swords, because Indian myth is primarily an archer culture, swordsmanship being mythically of no account. The Suit of Disks (Pentacles) depict scenes from the life of the Buddha.


The allocation of the elements to the Cards in the Sacred India Tarot is:

Page - Air

Knight - Fire

Queen - Water

King - Earth

Staves (Wands) - Fire

Arrows (Swords) - Air

Lotuses (Cups) - Water

Discs (Pentacles) - Earth

The deck comes with 4 extra cards. There are two "blessings" cards called Ganesha and Babaji and there are alternative death and world cards.  The accompanying book provides information on the background of the Indian gods and goddess forms. The cards are in a box in the insert, which contains an image of Babaji, which can be pulled out and used as an altar.

Rumi Tarot

Creator(s): Nigel Jackson
Date: 2009
Country: USA
Publisher: US Games
Number of Cards: 78
ISBN: 978-0-7387-1168-3 
Type: RWS
Reference: aeclectic

Notes:
The Rumi Tarot has a traditional structure: 78 cards, traditional titles (with exception of the High Priestess, which becomes the Priestess, and Strength which becomes Fortitude), the four suits are entitled Swords, Cups, Staves and Coins, with the Court cards entitled King, Queen, Knight and Page. The minor arcana show a mix of both pip styling and small RWS-like scenes. 

The images are based on Rumi and Sufi beliefs, some of the features of the Rumi Tarot court cards are taken from the fifteenth-century cards of Mamluk design. Each card  has a verse from Rumi at the bottom.

The suits of the Minor Arcana symbolize the four Aristotelian elements and are corresponding to the alchemical mysteries of the Sufi path.  The basic positioning of the Trump figures and elements looks like in RWS Tarots, but everything from costume to architecture is Arabic.

The original paintings for the cards, done in tempera, are the same size as the cards themselves, also for the Minors, done in miniature portrait style.  The background color for the Major Arcana is blue, for the Minor Arcana and Court Cards it is green.

The box set comes with the 312 page companion book and a black organdy pouch. The book gives some history and background on Rumi and Sufism, offers a complete guide to the Tarot’s divinatory meanings, and also associates one of the 99 names of God with each card.

Tarot de Alma Ajo

Creator(s): Alma Ajo
Date: 2010
Country: Spain
Publisher: self-published 
Number of Cards: 22
ISBN:    
Type: other
Reference: artist's page

Notes:
The art is a combination of surrealistic paintings and collage. The cards are numbered, Strength is 8, Justice 11, the titles are in Spanish. The deck came without book or lwb.

The deck exists in a standard version and as hand-colored version. The hand-colored decks have  paint and glitter applied to make each deck unique. There are 20 decks of each version. Mine is number 6 from the standard version.

Tarot Rikit

Creator(s): Lynyrd-Jym Narciso
Date: 2010
Country: Philippines
Publisher: self-published
Number of Cards: 22
ISBN:  
Type: other
Reference: aeclectic

Notes:
"Rikit" means "pretty" in the Tagalog language of the Philippines. The deck features Southeast Asian themes, influenced by Austronesian, Indian, Chinese, and even Moslem cultures - with main focus on  Indo-Malay-Filipino indigenous feel. The cards have traditional titles and are not numbered.

This majors only deck is a signed and numbered limited edition of 50 copies, mine is number 48.

Tarot 2-12-1-3-11

Creator(s): Lynyrd-Jym Narciso
Date: 2010
Country: Philippines
Publisher: self-published
Number of Cards: 22
ISBN:  
Type: RWS
Reference: tarotgarden

Notes:
The 2-12-1-3-11 is a "faux-vintaged" reproduction of the RWS majors. Faces, hands and sometimes whole persons are blackened, what made the images look like photo-negative.

The title of the deck  reads BLACK, when you substitute the number with the letter at the position in the alphabet given by the number.

This miniature deck is a limited edition of only 50 copies. Mine is number 35.

Tarot of PsyChicks

Creator(s): Lynyrd-Jym Narciso
Date: 2010
Country: Philippines
Publisher: self-published
Number of Cards: 22
ISBN:  
Type: other
Reference: aeclectic









 
Notes:
This Majors only deck shows women dressed in the theme of each major arcana card. It is a miniature deck, which came with the Tarot Rikit, and isn't available separately.

The cards are numbered, but have no titles.

It is a limited edition, mine is number 33.

Il Tarocco di Colombo

Creator(s): Amerigo Folchi
Date: 1991
Country: Italy
Publisher: Italcards
Number of Cards: 78
ISBN:
Type: Marseilles
Reference: Manteia issue #7 p. 10





Notes:
This deck is dedicated to Christopher Columbus and his discovery of the Americas. The Fool depicts a 16th century print of Columbus.

The suit of wands corresponds to the element Fire, in this deck it is associated with the discovery and exploration of the new continent.

Cups corresponding to the element Water and is associated with the vast dimensions of the Ocean.

Swords corresponds to the element of Air and is associated with the Spanish colonisation of the new continent.

Pentacles corresponds to Earth and is associated with wealth and natural resources of the Americas.

The deck came in a solid box with an LWB in four languages (English, Italian, Spanish and French). It is a limited edition of 3000 copies, mine is number 2804.

I Tarocchi nei Colori della Toscana

Creator(s): Amerigo Folchi
Date: 1992
Country: Italy
Publisher: Italcards
Number of Cards: 22
ISBN:
Type: Marseilles
Reference: Manteia issue #7 p. 10 






Notes:
Tarot comissioned from Folchi by an Italian watchmaker. Each card consists of images from the Marseilles Tarot deck, placed on colorful backgrounds that include buildings from the Tuscany region of Italy, and includes a picture of a watch blended in to each scene.

The card name is in the top border in Italian and English. What appears to be the name of the city or town is in the bottom border and the specific building shown is identified under the city name in Italian and English.

The non-reversible backs have a row of watches and a signature of Folchi.

The deck is published in a limited edition of 3333 copies, mine is number 3231. The cards came in a lidded cardboard box.

Gilgamesh! Tarot

Creator(s): T Byron G
Date: 1995
Country: USA
Publisher: self-published
Number of Cards: 22+2
ISBN: 1-879352-40-0   
Type: other
Reference: Manteia issue #16 p.14





Notes:
The Gilgamesh! Tarot is a limited edition of 800 decks. The title has no connection to the Sumerian Gilgamesh myth but refers to Byron's novel Gilgamesh!

Each deck is handmade and there are versions with five different backs, mine is the "Stone Sentinel", the others are "Seal-Ring", "Floating Flower", "Christal Ball" and "Civilized Insect". The sets are identical except for the backs of the cards.

The Fool is numbered as 21 and The World  22. The cards have subtitles reflecting the meaning of the image. The backs are oil paintings, the front images are computer designed. There are two extra cards, a "Tree of Life Card" and the title card. The deck came in a plastic sleeve with a signed label.

The Word of One Tarot

Creator(s): John Cooke, Rosalind Sharpe, Alice Cooke Kent
Date: 1992
Country: USA
Publisher: Catalyst Enterprises
Number of Cards: 78+1,22,22
ISBN: 0-9634800-2-2
Type: other
Reference: Manteia



Notes:
John Starr Cooke was an American mystic and spiritual teacher who influenced the development of the counterculture movement that emerged in San Francisco during the sixties.

 T- The New Tarot for the Aquarian Age came into being, when a group of people gathered around John Starr Cooke, in 1962-63 received instructions about how to create the tarot from using an Ouija-board. John Star Cooke and his co-worker, Rosalind Sharpe, created an actual deck, that was published in 1969. 


John Starr Cooke died  in 1976. In 1979 his sister Alice Cooke Kent published Communify - A Game consisting of a black and white edition of the majors from "T" together with two other black and white major arcana decks.

One of the other two major sets is called The Atlantean Tarot, whose imagery was drawn by John Starr Cooke himself, and inspired by his wife's dreams. The second, named Medieval Gypsy was drawn by Rosalind Sharpe and is based on John Star Cooke's study of the traditional European tarot patterns.

In 1992 a re-edition of the three decks was published under the name of The Word of One, which includes not only a full 79-card color reprint of T- The New Tarot, but also a colored edition of the Medieval Gypsy Tarot plus the negative printed Atlantean Tarot.

The Atlantean Tarot represents the Major Arcana as they might have appeared in earlier ages, the cards represent the collective unconscious, and correspond to the matriarchal age. The Medieval Gypsy Tarot represents the patriarchal age, and is John Starr Cooke's interpretation of early French and Italian Tarot designs.


The Atlantean and Medieval decks could be used separately or combined into the larger deck, since all the cards have the same back design.

T- The New Tarot has no numbers on the Majors, they have been renamed, and the imagery is non-traditional. The pips arrange the suit symbols into geometric patterns. The suits are serpens (wands), pears (cups), blades (swords) and stones (pentacles) The court cards use different  kinds of symbolic objects as part of the design.

The packing is a solid cardboard box, which also contains the 70 page booklet .