Egyptian decks & AET/Laura Tuan

Thread originally posted on the Aeclectic Tarot Forum on 29 Dec 2002, and now archived in the Forum Library.

Cerulean	29 Dec 2002
I was lucky, thanks to a wonderful friend, to see a travelling Egyptian exhibit. I hoped Egyptian decks were discussed here...the details on the Ancient Egyptian (AET) by Clive Barrett was wonderful. I also read small paperbacks on Egyptian gods and goddesses on my trip... I was eager to find at least ONE deck that at least aligned Sekhmet with Strength. Sekhmet has a powerful story in the small paperback "Legends of Ancient Egypt" by M.A. Murray. While I have a few beautiful visual tarots, not many are well-documented in English. AET seems to be exceptional that way and its Golden Dawn influences seems to help me, actually. She appears in her red dress with a lion head and serpent headdress and the explanation makes sense. So far, I Tarocchi Egiziani, or the Egyptian Tarot of Laura Tuan, seems not to be popular here. This is a lovely tarot, but she uses Etteilla numbering and ordering...so my modern sensibilities try to rework my new learning. For example, in Laura Tuan's tarot, Sekhmet appears as XI, La Forza, with the similar lion head and serpent headdress. But her gown is not red, but the soft green of creative growth. The Italian book seems complete, referring to the right legend, but Laura Tuan's system is unfamilar to me. There's also rather ecletic assignment of summer dates under her card. I understand Marseilles/Etteilla numbering is not like the Golden Dawn style of tarots, but I suspect a steep learning curve for myself. A large card format--at least six inches tall. Some of it is wasted on title and keyword detail. In contrast, AET's scenes seem to have been shrunk down. But more space could have also been used for the scene, less for the title information...at least for me. I hope someday to see more complete English language books--and maybe a bigger format for the card scenes in my Egyptian tarots. Mari H.

truthsayer	29 Dec 2002
mari, this is the first time i've noticed this deck. i didn't here at AT but did find it at tarot garden. it looks like a beautiful deck but i don't like it enough or know enough about it at this point to buy it. i do like egyptian style decks and would be interested in any observations. my fav is the nefertari even though i am fond of my sphynx and ancient egyptian by barrett.

Musie	29 Dec 2002
Hi Mari, I have the Ancient Egyptian Deck by Clive Barrett - I absolutely LOVE IT! I also agree with you that the Sekhmet is just perfect for Strength! I can never imagine strength without thinking of Sekhmet. She definately tamed the beast within herself in her myth. Sekhmet is the Lion Goddess! She is truly a goddess of a woman's inner power. "I am woman, hear me roar...." I think Clive Barrett has really got an excellent grasp of Egyptian philosophy and incorporates it beautifully in his deck. I find these cards excellent meditation tool as well and more than one card has graced my altars already :) I don't have the other Egyptian decks, though they look beautiful, but not as intuitive for me. I really like decks with themes and scenes that tell little stories. Clive does this well. I love his work and am praying that his Norse deck will be reprinted for the masses again.

Macavity	30 Dec 2002
This is a very informative re. the AET. Thank you Mari! (Fwiw, I'm probably more interested in Ancient Egypt than in Tarot per se - Sacrilege! :) I also have the Nefertari and Silvana Allasia's Egyptian Tarot. I hope to collect a few more including the AET. I do use: http://www.spiritone.com/~filipas/Masquerade/Reviews/historye.html as a pictorial reference - Or another shopping list, maybe? The potential for association of Deities with Tarot is fascinating. Good to know that the AET thinks carefully about such things. :) I do think some of the "Egyptian Tarots" went a bit (imo) awry! From time to time, I work on my own (electronic) Egyptian Deck, but which tries to right some of these (perceived!) wrongs. Oddly enough, I have Sekhmet (strictly Tefnut?) firmly ensconsed as my own "Strength" archetype. I rather like this notion of a "Feline's Revenge" too - A large CAT dictating terms to a human being for a change? Shades of being here at home? LOL. I also gave the dreaded baloon-like "Typhon" thing the boot off my "Wheel" (though it does seem rather traditional) and prefer Set for the "Devil" card. I think at least the Nefertari improved in this area, with a much more plausable Ammit(?) "devourer of souls" from Book of the Dead scenes. Ah, but they still do seem to occasionally miss out onsome rather "better" ideas... Grrr :D Mac. Well off topic now - But nice to find some kindred Spirits...

Cerulean	02 Jan 2003
I finally found his beautiful, free and good introduction to tarot with the Ancient Egyptian, by Clive Barrett, with many sample pieces from his concise book and illustrations from the deck: http://www.mythographica.com/ From the home site, I click on to the tarot button on the far left hand side, then choose the ancient Egyptian: on the top portion of the next page that comes up, he has listings of different Egyptian topics from the deck. For some of you who have felt that scenes or archetypes of the tarot links to mythic stories in different cultures, Barrett's synopsis is very very good. The highlights of an Egyptian resurrection story and an Arthurian style parallel is even noted---I had liked this very much in the small book that accompanied the deck. I'm using it to compare my other Egyptian tarots...thank you very much, Mr. Barrett...I'll be certain that I recommend this deck highly when I can... Mari H.

Cerulean	28 Jul 2003
I love the deck but I'm a keyword Italian reader. Now the unlaminated cards are still sturdy after much fingering---still it's a pretty mystery. Egyptian tarots are my favorite mystery tarot fiction. De Vecchi takes a rival place in my love of Italian-published fantasy tarots. If you feel you can take on the Etteilla numbering and pretty colors and Italian-based titles of Egyptian gods and goddesses--it's not an expensive deck, so that's why I sometimes still just look at it. AET by Clyde Barrett is an interesting comparative deck with others that have Egyptian themes...but I planned to still delve into the Egyptian fiction in December with Sylvia Alasia's book and deck set by Lo Scarabeo...it's Jean Pitois's information, which may at some point fit into other tarot studies...or may not.

Myrrha	29 Jul 2003
The six samples of Laura Tuan's cards on Tarot Garden show the same ordering as the Grimaud Etteilla, the keyword divinitory meanings (from what I can figure out through recognizing some of the Italian words) seem similar on the majors but quite different on the minor arcana. Many cards of the Grimaud Etteilla have distinctive top and bottom sections, and many of them "point" with their hands and feet, or with other design elements. It really seems designed for the kind of reading where many cards are laid out on a grid and they change meanings when they are reversed and in relation to other cards, while the Laura Tuan art, in spite of the top-and-bottom keywords seems more suited to modern tarot layouts. The artwork is really beautiful, I just wish she had done more with the minors, not scenes but some unexpected touches and more differences among the pips. http://www.giordanoberti.it/english/html/articoli_ma_che_tarocchi.htm shows some Egyptian tarot cards designed by Eliphas Levi and they are quite similar to the Laura Tuan cards in style, although black and white and I wonder if they were an influence although IIRC the Heirophant card in LT is very different. Myrrha

Storm	04 Aug 2003
Hi, I've been away a while, my last post was about me waiting to receive my Athurian Legend cards...well, I got them and they have been lovingly stored with my packs of ~beautiful but can't read~ ..at the present tme. Now! on the spur of the moment I have bought The Ancient Egyptian Tarot, they should be here tomorrow, I would like some views, please, on your thoughts about them..are they good?? Am I being daft, just ordering cards because I like them..I do quite well reading my Universal cards, but would like a change..I am new at reading..only a few years..but enjoy it immensely.. Thank you. Storm

Cerulean	04 Aug 2003
1. Ancient Egyptian, Clive Barrett It's a nice set with mythical figures in the majors, daily scenes in the minors. If you feel drawn to Egyptian styles for fun or curiousity, this works very well. If you are tarot-wise or otherwise wanting something interesting and different, yet not too outside a tarot structure, I'd say this is good as well. I've read reviews that say RWS fans will like all the illustrations and will enjoy reading with it. I like it for reference. 2. Egyptian Tarocco, Laura Tuan Etteilla's summarized meanings via James Revak's Villa Revak still is a puzzle to me. My look at some historical divinatory descriptions for some Italian tarocchi is still a learning/study point. De Vecchi sets are so pretty and the cards are on this wonderful textured stock...actually seem to handle pretty well. I'm very pleased. 3. Pseudo Egyptian, astrology/tarot, Caligstro One of Laura Tuan's books in Italian for the Dotti Tarocco hints as a system that reminds me of a book by Muriel Gardener (?--I may need to correct her last name) where tarot minors are worked into a decanate (roughly 10 day) astrological assignment to astrological signs. This is a historical occult (?) or astrological (?) take off...I've seen the Caligstro do something roughly similar, but it assigns different minors to different dates and astrological signs. 4. Jean Baptiste Pitois (Papus?)/Sylvia Alasia Sylvia Alasia's book and system for her Egyptian deck is coming out in December. I don't know if its a pseudo, Etteilla or it's own system. I like the pictures in the Nefertari/Sphinx and the on-order Mignon Egyptian, but don't know the categories of her meanings...maybe her own system as well. I'd like one or two of the above to be similar... :) but it's still a learning point.

Cerulean	07 Aug 2003
This is an online summary of ghostwriter Paul Christian's tarot work in his guise as "Jean Baptiste Pitois". There is also information about him in "History of the Occult Tarot" by Dummett, not likely to be complimentary. But at least there's some information...the writer of this website uses the Rider Waite. It might be fun to compare the Lo Scarabeo Egyptian Tarot or any others that you have---although supposedly the system is closer to the Ibis Tarot style of decks? http://wolf.mind.net/library/tarot/tarotcontents.htm P.S. I would label this as 'archiac Egyptology' circa 1800s. It may be of interest to understand how some people took these ideas into card designs.

The Egyptian decks & AET/Laura Tuan thread was originally posted on 29 Dec 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.