Piers Anthony "Deck"?

Thread originally posted on the Aeclectic Tarot Forum on 02 Nov 2002, and now archived in the Forum Library.

Khatruman	02 Nov 2002
Some years ago, I read Piers Anthony's tarot trilogy, and he included a lot of history of tarot cards in the books, and had his main character actually *entering* the cards. I remember he had laid out a deck and charts at the end of the book, along with images, symbols, etc. Also, his deck had a *fifth* suit, which offhand escapes me, but which I believe was a fifth element of spirituality or the mind, not too sure. The series, I believe, is out of print now, and I cannot find my set of the paperbacks. Was anyone ever ambitious enough to make Piers Anthony's visions into a real tarot deck?

Lee	02 Nov 2002
Hi Khatruman, as far as I know there is no published version of such a deck. -- Lee

Melvis	02 Nov 2002
This is spooky, Khatruman! I just finished reading the second part of the Tarot Trilogy last week, and I've entered the card names from that tarot deck into my computer, just in case I get ambitious at some point in the future and actually create a couple of the cards! ;) I really have no delusions of creating a complete deck...especially since it has 100 cards in it. But I thought it would be a good exercise to see what I would do with the deck. You know, I just can't let a set-up like that go without changing it all around! :D Anyway, the suits from the "God of Tarot" trilogy (and their corresonding 'states' and elements) are as follows: Nature...Energy (Fire) Science...Gas (Air) Faith...Liquid (Water) Trade...Solid (Earth) Art...Plasma (Aura) There are the same number cards in their Minor Arcana as in the regular tarot -- 10 minors with 4 courts in each suit. There are also 30 Major Arcana instead of 22 (The first name below is the 'archetype' of the card, the second is the meaning): 0...Fool...Folly 1...Magician...Skill 2...High Priestess...Memory Infinity Symbol...Ghost...Unknown 3...Empress...Action 4...Emperor...Power 5...Hierophant...Intuition 6...Lovers...Choice 7...Chariot...Precession 8...Desire...Emotion 9...Strength...Discipline 10...Family...Nature 11...Wheel of Fortune...Chance 12...Sphinx...Time 13...Past...Reflection 14...Future...Will 15...Justice...Honor 16...Hanged Man...Sacrifice 17...Death...Change 18...Imagination...Vision 19...Temperence...Transfer 20...Devil...Violence 21...Lightning-Struck Tower...Revelation 22...Star...Hope/Fear 23...Moon...Deception 24...Sun...Triumph 25...Thought...Reason 26...Judgment...Decision 27...Savant...Wisdom 28...Universe...Completion I find the books only so-so for entertainment value, but I think this tarot set-up is intriguing. Peace, Melvis :TSTRE

Ravenswing	03 Nov 2002
katruman-- after much passive searching (there's a great used bookstore near me) i found the trilogy. it's suggested to make a deck by inscribing 3 x 5 cards. i don't see why that shouldn't work. would you like a run-down on the cards/meanings? ravenswing

HudsonGray	03 Nov 2002
Yes, there is a deck, it's in it's third printing, and is self published by Stephen O'Dell & Liz Shandra. I only know this because Steve's my significant other & we just got another 200 printed up! It's called the New Visions Tarot, and first came out in the early 1980's. The first batch sold out in 2 months, the second took a bit longer, but once they were gone there wasn't more planned for a while - as the decks were being sold via new age stores in the Midwest & at the local science fiction conventions mostly. Some of the cards were even featured in the Encyclopedia of Tarot volume 2, so I know word of them got around. Liz & Steve went their separate ways 8 years back, but she just contacted him last year & wanted to do another printing (the present one) which was done in April of 2001. Most of the unsold decks are here (we aren't as active in the SF groups anymore and haven't pushed the deck too much), so I can send one out to anyone who wants to order one. I've got scans of a few cards that I want to put up on Picturetrail (I'll give the address once I can get something there that doesn't take forever to load) and you can see them. There's 100 cards in the deck, the suit of Aura is the extra suit. The artwork is mostly done by Liz, with interpretations by Steve. They made heavy use of the Piers Anthony books, but tried to add a bit more to it (he was writing for story content, they were looking at it as a working deck). We just got the booklet completely reprinted & expanded for it, so that's updated now too and MUCH longer than the first LWB. We've had several people contact us for a second deck, not easy since Liz moved 4 times and Steve moved 6 since the decks were first done, because they wore out their first one. The card quality isn't what Steve & Liz wanted, but it was all they could afford--getting decks printed & cut properly is expensive. They checked around & took what was good for their budget. At the time both US Games & Llewellyn weren't interested in a black & white deck, saying they didn't sell & that they only were interested in a colored one. There isn't any back design. There's no slick surface, so no lamination on them. But they are printed on card stock & have a black border. My deck stood up to a lot of handling in the last 18 years, but I don't misuse mine (I shuffle gently). The deck works great too, the extra cards gives deeper meaning to a reading. I'm going to get him to help me rescan and get some pages up, I'll post the URL soon as they're there, I promise! But that doesn't mean a person can't make their own deck using the same card names, of course!

HudsonGray	03 Nov 2002
IT"S UP! We got the pictures scanned in, 6 to a page, 3 pages worth showing a sampling of the major & minor arcana. Go to http://www.picturetrail.com and type in falconsmew in the selection box. The three pages are shown there. Hope they meet with your approval! The deck costs $20 each plus $2 postage.

Fiona Blackwolf	03 Nov 2002
I am interested in the deck but will be unable to purchase it until after the holidays. Do you have alot of them?

Ravenswing	03 Nov 2002
hudson-- looks real good. i don't see the problem with the b&w-- look at the BOTA deck. and, like the BOTA, you could color this one in too. make a unique personal deck... how/where do you order it? raven

Melvis	03 Nov 2002
Ravenswing, I was thinking the same thing! I'd like a deck that I can color in myself, but the BOTA doesn't really do anything for me. I like it a lot Hudson! Do you have a Paypal account? I'd like a deck, too! Peace, Melvis :TSTRE

HudsonGray	04 Nov 2002
No Pay Pal yet (not up on ebay yet, I'll probably get one then), but a check is ok. We've got about 40 decks here right now, and no scheduled events to go to till about April, so I don't think we're going to be running out of anything for a bit, certainly not before the holidays! We've gotten some really nice feedback on the decks over the years. Someone at the last event actually SQUEALED in glee when they saw them, they'd lost track of who had done the deck & how to get another one. Said they'd run through 2 separate decks already & wanted another (it's nice to make someone so happy!). I don't know if we're supposed to list email on the board here, but if you want to send us a message, use falconme@execpc.com and I'll email back the address. You can color in the cards really easily, though it isn't absolutely necessary. They work just fine black & white.

Jewel	04 Nov 2002
oh-oh ... I might have to order this deck and buy the books ... lovely deck! And like Ravenswing and Melvis I also thought what a beautiful deck to color!

Khatruman	04 Nov 2002
Wow!!! more here than I actually hoped for on the possibility of this deck, and I am well pleased with the deck Hudson is offering. Actually, it is better than what I thought, being black and white and sort of like the B.O.T.A. deck. I still have my colored pencils from my BOTA that I didn't fill in. I think it will be a wonderful study of the cards to make decisions on what colors to use. I did see the suggestion for making 3x5 index cards for the deck, and I did actually do that, with card names and key words on the cards. The problems I had were two: first, shuffling index cards and the thin stock and square edges make them very uncardlike, and also, being seriously artistically challenged, I didn't even attempt pictures, and my plain, worded cards just didn't resonate at all. Heck, if we get enough people to buy the deck here, perhaps we can start a thread in the deck study section and look at possibilities for deck coloring. Peace!

Khatruman	04 Nov 2002
Hey, I just noted something on my original post: Quote: Originally posted by Khatruman Was anyone ever ambitious enough to make Piers Anthony's visions into a real tarot deck? And this deck Hudson has is called... New Vision Tarot???? Hmmm, seems this question was ripe for the asking. Peace!

The Piers Anthony "Deck"? thread was originally posted on 02 Nov 2002 in the Tarot Decks board, and is now archived in the Forum Library. Read the active threads in Tarot Decks, or read more archived threads.