Transformational Tarot?

Thread originally posted on the Aeclectic Tarot Forum on 11 Nov 2002, and now archived in the Forum Library.

Everlearning	11 Nov 2002
Anyone out there familiar with a different (not Arnell Ando) Transformational Tarot? I believe it's a 100 card deck, and it's by Gotthold. I've heard that it exists, but that's all I know about it! Thanks for any help!

Lee	11 Nov 2002
Hi, Everlearning, welcome to the Forums! :) I like your handle. Just by coincidence, I've just recently ordered this deck! When I get it (a few weeks), I'll post my thoughts about it. I'm not sure if you've seen the following reviews/scans: http://www.tarotpassages.com/transform3.htm http://www.wicce.com/sgotthold.html http://www.themysticeye.com/pics/transform.htm I'm not sure how I feel about the extra Major cards (especially with names like "Universal Will"), but I think the 16 extra Court cards sound intriguing. And I really like the artwork on the Minors, particularly the 10 of Pentacles which you can see in the Mystic Eye link above. The deck/book set is kind of expensive at $50. I found a used copy of it for less. -- Lee :)

Everlearning	12 Nov 2002
A million thanks for your quick response and helpful links, Lee! I took a quick look and I'm sure I'll spend way too much time with them over the next couple of days! It's clearly a deck with an enormous Waite influence, but it looks like it's not "just another".... This is a deck I'm considering for purchase, so I'd appreciate any follow-up opinions or info.

faunabay	12 Nov 2002
This is really interesting!!! I never knew this deck existed until a couple of weeks ago and I've been thinking about getting it as well!! Great minds think alike I guess!! :D I found it on another site though. Let me find it again and I'll post the addie. I think you can buy it through this site too. I found it at http://www.astroamerica.com/t-trans.html Although I think the reveiws Lee listed tell you more about the deck. Oh and you can buy the deck only for $29.95 or the deck and book set for $49.95 on Joan Bunnings site. And she doesn't charge for shipping. :)

Lee	13 Nov 2002
I just received it! I obviously haven't had time to read the book or anything, but I wanted to post my first impressions. First of all, while the $49.00 price tag when new gave me sticker shock (I bought a used copy for less), I have to say I'm very impressed by the packaging. The publishers have used top-notch materials. It comes in a large box (10 inches high). The book is paperback but with very thick cardstock for the covers, and the title and author and a little design in color are printed on a separate plate, like a bookplate, and glued to the cover. The book is 178 pages and seems quite extensive (book is also 10 inches high). The 100 cards are in their own box, and this is a great box -- very thick cardboard, with a lift-off lid. Then there's a folded-up color poster, about 18 x 11.5 inches, which shows all the cards in a certain order, which order is apparently significant for Gotthold's theories. Shirley Gotthold is the author, identified in the book as a reader/counselor who lives in Santa Cruz, CA, and the artist, Peggy Gotthold, is her daughter. The cards are fairly large, 5 x 3-1/4, and they look better than they do on the scans, much brighter. They have that sticky, glossy coating that's on the Cosmic Tribe and Glastonbury decks. I'm quite pleased with the initial appearance. Now I'll read the book. -- Lee

Lee	14 Nov 2002
I've read a few chapters and skimmed through the rest, so now I can say something about the book. Gotthold's whole approach is numerological. In fact, this would be a great deck to study if one wanted to learn about how to apply numerology to Tarot. The way she's structured the deck is really quite interesting. There are six new Majors: The Master, Galactic Force, The Androgyne, Mystical Life, Transcendent Mind, and Universalized Will (I'll always think these titles are silly). Then there are 16 new court cards: Teacher-Students, Reformers, Oracles, and Sages. This all fits together in a cool way. Everything is based on the numbers 1 to 9. So there are nine rows of 11 cards each (the Fool stands outside the 99-card arrangement), starting with the Majors numbered 1-9. Each row contains all the cards in the deck which reduce to the number of that row. So each row containes three Majors, four numbered Minors, and four court cards. All the cards in each row represent some aspect of the number of the row, for example the cards in the first row all relate to the number 1. But, you will say, there's only eight rows of courts. The answer is, the 10's take the place of what would be the ninth row of courts. Here's the breakdown: 1. Magician, Wheel of Fortune, four Aces, four 10's. 2. High Priestess, Justice, Judgement, four 2's, four Pages. 3. Empress, Hanged Man, World, four 3's, four Knights. 4. Emperor, Death, Master, four 4's, four Queens. 5. Hierophant, Temperance, Galactic Force, four 5's, four Kings. 6. Lovers, Devil, Androgyne, four 6's, four Teacher-Students. 7. Charioteer, Tower, Mystical Life, four 7's, four Reformers. 8. Strength, Star, Transcendent Mind, four 8's, four Oracles. 9. Hermit, Moon, Universalized Mind, four 9's, four Sages. In other Tarot literature I've read several attempts to try to make the Majors make sense numerologically, and they all seem forced somehow. By structuring her extra cards the way she has, Gotthold makes it all fit into a neat pattern, and I'm kind of impressed by it. Of course, the Tarot traditionalist in me is shrieking in outrage, but at the same time, the side of me which likes tidiness thinks it's kinda neat. Of course, in order to make it all work, one has to limit the interpretation of certain Majors to fit into the structure; for example, 5's are change, so the Hierophant now represents a bridge from the outer reality to the inner reality. Fortunately, the cards are labeled not only with the card's number but also with the 1 through 9 number it relates to (and reduces to), so you always know which of the nine groups that card is a part of. Each chapter takes a number, 1 through 9, and discusses each of the cards relating to that number. There is a strong spiritual tilt to her writing, which may or may not appeal. She is always referring to Divine Will or Divine Intent. She favors using the Tarot as a tool for self-development and disdains "fortune-telling." Thus, while she goes to a lot of effort to explain how she sees the cards, she doesn't provide divinatory meanings per se. There are no spreads, either. She does describe a reading she's done for a client, in which she writes down his question, spreads out all the cards face down, and has him pick one card. Then she tells him various things the card might mean and they both discuss how it might relate to his question. Then he'll choose another card for a different aspect of the question, etc. This is basically the "ask a question, pick a card" method which James Wanless, the creator of the Voyager deck, advocates. On the positive side, Gotthold does advise us to develop our own meanings for the cards, and that a card may have completely different meanings from one reading to another based on the client, the question, the other cards, etc. At first I thought the text might be a tedious read, but it's turning out to read pretty easily. Here is a quote which shows something of what she views as the purpose of the deck: "Throughout this book the emphasis has been that we are living in a time of transition, where our values and structures are undergoing radical changes. The Transformational Tarot deck is designed to help us meet such challenges, particularly because of the Major and Minor cards that have been added, for they represent significant new age material. As such, they help stretch our minds, encourage us to respond to the unexpected, and shake us out of the mental doldrums. In a subtle way, the entire Transformational Tarot deck is intended to challenge our minds, to free us from any limitations we may be used to, and to open us to the next evolutionary stage in our growth. For now we must bring our minds to the level of development our hearts have reached so that we may fulfill the plan for human life." Overall, a very interesting approach. I have to admire the thoroughness of her carefully-worked-out system. I'm going to continue working through the book and see what I can get out of it. As faunabay mentioned, the deck and book are available separately, but I can't imagine why anyone would want one without the other. If anyone's interested in getting the set, I suggest you act fairly soon. It's available now, but it was published in 1995, and it seems like just that kind of thing which when it runs out, won't be reprinted, and then will become very difficult to find. -- Lee

faunabay	14 Nov 2002
OH MAN!!! Now I really want it!! Thanks alot Lee! :D

Everlearning	14 Nov 2002
Thank you for taking the time to post such detailed info, Lee! You can use that as your outline when you write your review. I don't know much numerology, maybe it's time to learn some. I need to think about this a bit, I'm such a stick-in-the-mud traditionalist, and I'd hate to find myself throwing a beautiful deck against the wall. (There's something to be said for knowing some of one's own bad traits!) Maybe I'll leave Santa Claus a hint. Again, many thanks for your thoughtful input, it's greatly appreciated. ~ Everlearning

Lee	16 Nov 2002
I'm sure I'm trying everyone's patience by now, but I have just one more note on this set! :) I've read through most of the book, and unfortunately I don't feel that Gotthold has adequately justified the inclusion of all the extra cards. As Michele Jackson wrote in the review I linked to above, the concepts behind them could just as easily be assigned to already-existing cards, without the need to add more. I also don't care for either the art or the titles of the new Majors. The Master card is particularly odious, or at least the card is. Anyone who doesn't like the Osho Zen Master card will really dislike this one. It shows a giant man seated on a giant throne, while lots of little people genuflect before him. However, I do have an affinity for the art on the rest of the cards, particularly the Minors. They are perhaps not the most exciting cards, but I like their openness and airiness and their far vistas. I find them very suggestive. I think I'll try putting aside the extra cards (don't tell Shirley Gotthold), putting aside the book, and see what I can get from simply looking at the cards. I think her new court cards are more interesting than the Page-Knight-Queen-King ones, and they could easily encompass standard meanings for the courts, so I'll try leaving out the standard courts and using her new ones. So in other words, it's back to 78 cards. I also found her preoccupation with the metaphysical self-development theme to be limiting. Now, others might feel differently than me so don't let my ruminations necessarily turn you off the book or the extra cards. -- Lee

The Transformational Tarot? thread was originally posted on 11 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.