View Full Version : Atavist/Atavistic/Atavism Deck
I recently saw this in my local bookstore but it was in a sealed box. The artwork on the cover was enticing and the notion of atavism and tarot is intriguing. I think it was a UK publication so maybe only available here?
Has anyone come across it?
As I might have predicted, I have gone and bought it! If sales in my local bookstore are anything to go by, so too have many others - more than two piles reduced two copies in less than a week.
It's called 'The Atavist Tarot' by [artist] Sally Annett and [author] Rowena Shepherd.
I find the artwork stunning and the book is fascinating. The images are full of symbolism but it is [what I had so hoped for] when laying out a spread that the images within/and the whole picture come alive.
I'm not experienced enough to comment on the quality of the book but I am finding it extremely interesting and easy to read without being simplistic or patronising. What I particularly like are the pages for each card. They begin with a brief story/analogy [the Hanged Man was superb] expressing the essence of the card; followed by keywords, divinatory meaning, advice, question to be posed and then a lengthy commentary about the design and images entitled 'Concept of the Card' which I found extremely enlightening.
Chapter entitled 'The Attic: The History of the Tarot Cards' is the most straightforward for a beginner I have found. And the final chapter 'The Kitchen: Genesis of the Atavist Tarot Deck and Text' was fascinating.
I do hope others get hold of this set. I am longing to know what you will think of it.
I haven't found a site with pictures for it yet. I doubt many people have it.
I bought this deck last week, and found the Majors really wondreful. The art is almost absract, and something very intresting was that not all the cards are portrait: Some are landscape!
The Minors are terrible though. I was very disappointed by the Minors. They don't even use the same artwork. And I prefer fully-illustrated Minors aswell, so htis deck isn't to my taste really.
This deck is, as far a I can tell, based on the Thoth, and the book is also quite interesting: Veyr useful for anybody who hasn't been stiudying Tarot that long.
Kiama
hannahma
09-05-2005, 23:32
I thought this would have beautiful art, but I found the pictures blurry and very difficult to make out. They're nice and all, but so abstract as to make their esoteric content quite incomprehensible. I could see they were Thoth based, but after laboriously memorizing the meanings of the cards you would have to start all over with this deck.
I must say I was tickled to read the personal stories of the artist and writer. It's always nice to know a bit about the makers.
Still, it took me several days of forcing myself to read the book and study the cards, and eventually I saw that this deck does not speak to me. Well, you can't please everybody.
Oh...i don't know this deck. I'm curious about it - not that intent to buy, if i buy one more deck i'll go bankrupt ;) - does anyone know where i can get some pictures or info? Just for curiosity's sake.
Thanks
~Yuko
velvetwhispers
06-06-2005, 21:06
I don't care for this deck. It seems too far from the orginal deck to really work for me.
Risingsign
11-06-2008, 17:58
I've had this deck for about two weeks now and I love it. It appealed to me from the start. Despite the previously mentioned limitations of the artwork it definitely speaks to me. And I'm enjoying the book, too. I only keep decks I can work with and this one is a keeper.
Oh...i don't know this deck. I'm curious about it - not that intent to buy, if i buy one more deck i'll go bankrupt ;) - does anyone know where i can get some pictures or info? Just for curiosity's sake.
Thanks
~Yuko
Here:
http://www.aeclectic.net/tarot/cards/atavist/
OOppps! Three years later :(