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.

Tarots Universels

Creator(s): Segio Toppi
Date: 1991
Country: Italy
Publisher: Lo Scarabeo
Number of Cards: 22
ISBN:   
Type: other
Reference:  Encyclopedia of Tarot, vol. IV, pp. 570, 571








Notes:
Sergio Toppi (1932-2012) was an Italian illustrator and comic-strip artist

The original edition of the Tarocchi Universali from 1988 was limited and numbered; this is a later, smaller-format edition that is not officially released as a limited edition.

The deck has Italian titles. It included a title card, a card with a poem and came with two little leaflets in Italian only. The double-ended back design shows the bird from the Magician card.

The 723 Tarot

Creator(s): Paul Afong Jr.
Date: 2001
Country: USA
Publisher: self-published
Number of Cards: 22
ISBN:
Type: RWS
Reference: artist's page

Notes:
Paul Afong is an artist and graphic designer, he did the line work for each original painting in a very small scale, and subsequently enlarged it. The backgrounds were created by finger painting with acrylic paints. The deck was named 723 Tarot, because the artist's birthday was July 23^rd. The card numbering is traditional; Strength is eight and Justice is 11.

The 723 Tarot is a limited edition of 50 copies signed and numbered by the artist, mine is number 49. They come in a red fold over cardboard cover with a matching band that slips over the case and on which the deck information is printed.The backs are plain black.

Manierando Tarot

Creator(s): Massimo Biondi
Date: 2012
Country: Italy
Publisher: self-published
Number of Cards: 22
ISBN:   
Type: other
Reference: artist's page








Notes:
Massimo Biondi is a Marradi based artist. His most recent personal exhibitions were presented in 2004 in Capalbio, 2006 in Florence and 2007 in Udine. Followed by an exhibition of a series of paintings (twenty-two works) revisiting in a metaphysical-surrealistic viewpoint the Major Arcana. The exhibition took place in the Palazzo Medici Riccardi in Florence from November 30th 2012 to Jenuary 2nd 2013.

The paintings were printed up into a deck of cards. The artwork is collage, with the use of different materials and the bold graphic mark, combined with an elegant creative ability. To the traditional iconography of Tarot, Massimo Biondi also adds the element of hands, which are the protagonists of the interpretation of each card.

Dante Tarot

Creator(s): Giordano Berti, Andrea Serio
Date: 2001
Country: Italy
Publisher: Lo Scarabeo
Number of Cards: 78
ISBN: 978-3933-939951  
Type: other
Reference: Encyclopedia of Tarot, vol.IV, pp. 305, 305






Notes:
This Deck is named after the Italian philosopher and poet  Dante Aligheri (1265-1321). The Dante Tarot is a themed art deck, not a standard tarot deck. The 22 major arcana cards combine ethical, philosophical, and spiritual concepts, as expressed by Dante in his Convivio, with the traditional tarot images.

The Major Arcana is almost entirely renamed, reflecting the Renaissance list of virtues and ranks of celestial authority:

0 - Need  (Fool)                          I - Intellect  (Magician)
II - Philosophy (Priestess)           III - Wisdom (Empress)
IV - Government (Emperor )         V - Hope (Hierophant)
VI - Love (Lovers)                        VII - Direction (Chariot)
VIII - Justice (Justice)                  IX - Prudence (Hermit)
X - Luck (Fortune)                       XI - Strength (Strength)
XII - Charity (Hanged Man)           XIII - Death (Death)
XIV - Moderation (Temperance)     XV - Authority (Devil)
XVI - Virtue (Tower)                      XVII - Thrones (Star)
XVIII - Angels (Moon)                   XIX - Domination (Sun)
XX - Archangels (Last Judgement) XXI - Principalities (World)

The suit of Bricks (Pentacles) traces Dante's life, depicting influential characters, his work, and his marriage. The other three suits correspond to the sections of the Divine Comedy.

 Flames (Swords) depict the main events shown in Dante's Inferno. The cards feature Charon, Cerberus, the suicides, and the King of Flames -Dante’s meeting with the Devil, which is the culminating event in the Inferno.


The suit of Clouds (Pentacles) shows slices of Purgatorio, the place where souls come to reflect their earthly sins. Lights (Cups) representing Paradiso-the ascension into heaven.

The backs are not reversible, and depict Dante seated at his desk, writing the Divine Comedy with a feathered pen. The LWB gives background information on Dante and explains how the works of Dante were integrated into the framework of the tarot. The artwork is surrealistic and created in pastels.

Margarete Petersen Tarot

Creator(s): Margarete Petersen
Date: 2001, 2004
Country: Germany
Publisher: Königsfurt Urania
Number of Cards: 78
ISBN: 978-3-898756273 
Type: Mixed
Reference: Encyclopedia of Tarot, vol.III, pp. 421, 425




Notes:
Margarete Petersen is a Berlin based painter who began painting Tarot cards in 1979. It took her about twenty years to complete the deck.

There are feminine undertones in Margarete Petersen's imagery but there is no apparent fundamentalist feminism.

Some of the Major Arcana have been renamed: The Magician/Magic, The Chariot/Chariotess, The Hermit/The Crone, The Hanged Man/Trial, Temperance/Mediatrix, and Judgment/Renewal. The Court Cards are Mother, Father, Daughter, and Son. The suits are Flames, Cups, Feathers, and Coins.

The cards are large (3 3/4" by 5 1/2"). The reversible backs have an orange pattern. The deck and accompanying LWB come as a set in a box with a lift-off top.

Dali Tarot

Creator(s): Salvador Dali
Date: 1984, 2004
Country: Germany
Publisher: Königsfurt Urania
Number of Cards: 78
ISBN: 978-3-898756433    

Type: Mixed
Reference: Encyclopedia of Tarot, vol.III, pp 578, 580-581

Notes:
This deck was first published by Distribucions d’Art Surrealista and Comos Naipes of Spain in 1984. It consists of collage compositions which incorporate the works of other artists. Amanda Lear claimed to have assisted Dali in the completition of the collages.

Dali adds his own touch to each design by using washes of color and semi-abstract shapes and adding his abstract signature onto the cards, incorporating them into each design.

The Major Arcana bear German titles on top and Spanish titles below and are numbered I through XXI from the Magician to the World. Justice is numbered VIII and Strength is XI.

Hebrew letters are assigned to the cards starting with Aleph at the Magician through Resh at Judgment, and Tau is assigned to The World. The Fool is unnumbered and has the Hebrew letter Shin.  Planetary and Zodiacal associations are somewhat different from those usually found.

The four suit emblems are painted into the designs. Wands are painted as green staves with small leafs,  Swords are depicted as blue double-edged broadswords, Cups are painted as yellow lotus-patterned chalices and Coins are illustrated as flat disks of yellow with  pentagrams.

The Court Cards are titled in Spanish. The Suits Bastos, Copas, Espadas and Oros refer to Staffs, Cups, Swords and Discs, respectively. And the Court Cards Sota, Caballero, Reina and Rey are Page, Knight, Queen and King.  

Röhrig Tarot

Creator(s): Carl Röhrig
Date: 2010
Country: Germany
Publisher: Königsfurt Urania
Number of Cards: 78
ISBN: 978-3-86826-527-9    
Type: Mixed
Reference: Encyclopedia of Tarot, vol.IV, pp. 494, 497







Notes:
Röhrig created the 78 tarot pictures from 1990-1992. The first German edition of the tarot deck was published in 1993 by Aquamarin Verlag. It came with a book by Francesca Marzano-Fritz. In the first edition the Hanged Man and the Princess of Cups show genitalia. In all later editions they wear panties.

Mine was the 2010 edition, which came with a book by ROE & Kirsten Buchholzer. The cards are large size, 90 x 162 mm and, despite looking like a collage, they are created using an air brush technique. The artist included sketches and writing on the cards—mostly on lined notebook paper renderings, but also on the component images themselves to incorporate keywords and foreign language titles.

Each of the Major Arcana cards depicts a Hebrew letter, astrological glyph, and rune symbol. These are explained in the accompanying book. The Major Arcana have elements of RWS : Strength remains in position VIII and Justice in position XI; there is Temperance instead of Art, and The Judgment instead of The Aeon — although The Magus does not change to The Magician.

The suits are Disks, Swords, Cups, and Wands, with the Court titles following the Princess, Prince, Queen, and Knight tradition. At the top of each fully illustrated Minor Arcana card, the suit name is displayed in light gray,  while the keyword is superimposed in dark black. For the most part, the Minor Arcana share the same names as the Thoth Tarot, i.e. the Five of Cups is Disappointment, the Nine of Wands is Strength.

The backs are non-reversible, and depict a surreal image of water or space in blues, violet, and silver.

Marie-Claude Purro Tarot

Creator(s): Marie-Claude Purro
Date: 2006
Country: United Kingdom
Publisher: Adam McLean
Number of Cards: 22
ISBN: 
Type: Marseilles
Reference: artist's page

Notes:
Marie-Claude Purro is a self-taught artist, who was born on in 1962 in Fribourg, Switzerland. 1993-1994 she lived in Portugal, where she painted the 22 major arcana of the Tarot, which she exhibited in the little town of Praia de Mira, as well as, upon her return to Switzerland, at the "Espace Galerie Placette" and at the "Café des Grand-Places".

The cards are 4 1/8" (10.5 cm) high * 3" (7.5 cm) wide. It is a borderless deck with non reversible backs.

Limited edition of 100 copies, mine is number 83.

Tarot of the Sweet Twilight

Creator(s): Christina Benintende
Date: 2009
Country: Italy
Publisher: Lo Scarabeo
Number of Cards: 78
ISBN: 978-0738718545 
Type: RWS
Reference: aeclectic

Notes: 
The Tarot of the Sweet Twilight is a beautifully illustrated deck that portrays themes of sadness, and. melancholy.

The deck follows the RWS pattern, there are 78 cards divided into trumps and four suits, Justice is numbered VIII and Strength is XI. The fully illustrated suits are named and numbered in the normal manner and the courts include the standard Knave, Knight, Queen and King.


Major Arcana cards use Roman Numerals while the pip cards use Arabic numbering. The backs are reversible.

Each card features the multi lingual titles favoured by Lo Scarabeo on an dark blue border.

The LWB by Barbara Moore, doesn’t provide keywords but rather “jumping off points” for personal interpretation.

Phantasmagoric Theater Tarot

Creator(s): Graham Cameron
Date: 1998
Country: USA
Publisher: US Games
Number of Cards: 78
ISBN: 978-1572811959 
Type: RWS
Reference: Encyclopedia of Tarot, vol.IV, pp. 456, 461

Notes:
The Major Arcana have  traditional names with the exception of the Hierophant, which is called the Grand Master. In the Major Arcana the card name number is spelled out in the top border and the name is in the bottom border. Those Major Arcana associated with a zodiac sign have them worked into the image, but those associated with planets or elements do not. The Majors also have a puzzle piece in the lower right corner that indicates whether the "influence" of the card is masculine, feminine, or both.

 The suits are Swords, Wands, Cups and Coins. Each suit takes place in a different setting: Swords are in the mind, Wands are at the circus, Cups are in the desert and Coins are in a village.

78 cards, a title card, an informational card ans a LWB, in a standard cardboard tuck box.  The cards are oversized ( 13.7 cm  x 8.8 cm ).

Lost Tarot

Creator(s): Dominic Murphy
Date: 2012
Country: United Kingdom
Publisher: self-published
Number of Cards: 54
ISBN:     
Type: other
Reference: artist's page






Notes:
The artist called his deck  "Lost Tarot", because it has in addition to the conventional 22 Majors another 32 cards, which are according to Murphy the "lost tarot occult cards from the misty past" or " Strange Arcanas from the ancient legends of Atlantis".

Some of the additional cards show occult and alchemical symbology, others seem to be sort of "free associations" to the keyword "tarot" that came to the artists imagination. For example there is a "Kaplan" card, which may refer to Stuart Kaplan, author of the  Encyclopedia of Tarot.

The original paintings are watercolour on watercolour paper done in a  surrealistic style. The cards -size 64mm x 89mm- are digitally printed and came in a plastic box .

There is no LWB and there are no explanations to the cards on the artist's website.

Wonderland Tarot

Creator(s): Rodney Howington
Date: 2012
Country: USA
Publisher: self-published
Number of Cards: 22
ISBN: 
Type: other
Reference: etsy








Notes: 
All 22 cards in this Deck  have an Alice in Wonderland / Through the Looking-Glass theme. They have been  produced on  semi-gloss card stock.  Cards are 3.75 x 4.75 standard tarot size. They also include a signed authenticity card and a handmade draw-string tarot bag: Made from red fleece, black drawstring and wood beads.

Tarocchi di Connessione

Creator(s): Jessica Angiulli (Vocisconesse) 
Date: 2006
Country: Italy
Publisher: Museo dei Tarocchi, Hermatena
Number of Cards: 22
ISBN:
Type: other
Reference: Museo dei Tarocchi







Notes:

Limited edition of 500 signed and numbered copies.

Many of the cards, which are numbered and titled both in Italian and English are renamed. Thus the Empress becomes Re-generating, the Emperor - Cultivating, the Chariot is renamed Direction, Judgment is Conscience and so on.

“Tarocchi di connessione” means “connection tarot” and emphasize the idea of “connecting” figures, symbols, meanings, events, thoughts, memories…that is inside TAROT, and also a peculiarity of visual language through images/pictures: putting together images and figures forming properly created to form a system of interactive meanings.
This is a personal interpretation of the 22 Major Arcana, with dreamy, symbolic, surreal, pagan, magical, mythical influences.

-Vocisconnesse