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| The Cosmic Tarot |
The colours are subtle, and subdued, they speak to me of summers long gone, they are early summer morning pink, sunset gold and lazy afternoon blue... they have a watery feeling, that life is flowing gently along, and all you have to do is lie on a raft and float with it down the river. They are not quite real and bring an air of escape, of being lost in a cinema...while the world gos on around you. The film stars featured in the cards make me think of the old movies they used to show one after the other at Christmas time. I don't recognise many of the stars, having never seen much TV, but there are definitely some familiar faces. One I thought I recognised was the Eight of Cups, I thought it was Andy Garcia but apparently it is Martin Sheen... oh well..! The High Priestess is my daughter... absolutely, she has her eyes, her look to a T! One of the things I love about the deck is that the font is actually not a font, it's all hand drawn or written..... and gorgeously done too....
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| Court Cards from The Cosmic Tarot |
The deck seems to be more Thoth than Rider Waite based, which does seem to suit it's overall mood somehow. Justice is at 8 and Strength at 11, rather than the other way round as with the Rider Waite. The minors look to be fairly close to Rider Waite but I haven't studied it enough yet to really be sure.
I will look at some of the cards in more detail in future posts as I use the deck more, but I have my favourites already, and then there are some cards I am not so keen on, I really don't get all the gymnasts and sword fighters in the Minor Arcana although I guess they come from the silver screen era. The Devil has a disturbing odd cheesy kind of smirk, but one card which is just *YUK*, is the Ten of Swords... it is supposed to give this feeling though, so I guess it does a good job..... even so I would prefer something less blatantly ugly.
Cards I am particularly taken by are the Five of Pentacles and The Hierophant. The Five of Pentacles shows people leaving a scene of ruin, war and destruction.... so much of this was flashed across news screens in the past 20 years, to me it speaks of the indomitable spirit of humankind. I always tend to see this card in this light, although many see it as a bad card, to me it spells hope. The Hierophant I love because of the light shining from his eyes, like he is seeing incredible visions somewhere out in the heavens. I like to think of him as Galileo, or Dr John Dee.
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| The Hierophant from The Cosmic Tarot |
Of course I had to make a wee bag to suit it, and I had this scrap of lemon velvet and some purple satin lying around, so...... the deck has a home and its box can be saved for another day....
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| Velvet Cosmic Bag for the Cosmic Tarot |
I just got this deck as well - for $10 - and was surprised when it arrived to see that it was the first FX Schmid version - because I was expecting the USGames edition.
ReplyDeleteI really like it. I think I will actually read with it as well.
When I bought it, it was really because it has been on my want list for so long, so I figured on getting it if only for the collection reasons....so glad I have it, though - and even more thrilled that it is the much nicer older edition.
I wonder if this first edition is much more valuable? Do you know?
I wouldn't think so as both are readily available. They must have printed a lot of them!
ReplyDeleteNice post Winterchild, Sharyn/AJ
YOu did a fantastic job on the bag! Gorgeous!
ReplyDeleteThis deck looks uber-80s to me!! And that's fine. The artwork just makes me think, 'Her name is Rio and she dances on the sand!' I like the deck, but Sean Connery, Charlie Bronson and Clark Gable cards do trip me up a little. :)
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