Camoin Tarot de Marseilles - the eyes have it

Thread originally posted on the Aeclectic Tarot Forum on 24 Apr 2003, and now archived in the Forum Library.

firemaiden	24 Apr 2003
HI :D I am blown away by this Marseilles deck I just picked up in La Belle France, as instructed by certain persons who know who they are :D The most astounding thing, which I never expected from looking at all the tiny and ubiquituous reproductions of those boring old cards, is to see how expressive and human the eyes are on all of the majors and the court cards. In spite of, or perhaps because of the sort of stiff wood-cut style, the eyes, I find, actually radiate energy; they look in different apparently meaningful directions, -- left, right, up, down, crossed (the devil - LOL) they have different colours -- Temperance has YELLOW EYES, L'impératrice has GREEN EYES. There are only two cards with a direct gaze, (unless you count the pendu, but then again, his eyes are upside down). The direct-gaze cards are.... ...drum roll... ....eerie music... ...more drum rolll... XX Le Jugement and ....more drum roll... VII LA JUSTICE. But I rather find le Jugement is sort of looking off into the distance, so to my perception it is only the Justice card who is really taking on the reader with unblinking clear directness. Should this be significant?? ooooooooooooh yeeeeeeeeeess!! The only other possible direct gaze comes from the face on the the Devils abdomen, and the eyes on his knees, (ROFL) Is it to say that only Justice and the Devil have the clear perception of a direct link to the eye of God? Okay, tell me I am going off the deep end, but in La Justice, I see that smouldering black look in her eyes, which comes of the mix of calm, but deep feeling and thinking together. I see the smokey gaze of one who is holding experience, not judging, but weighing, balancing feeling and thinking; it is like a cool dark energy, a deep calm of standing back, and just being while silently, slowly, looking, taking things in. ALL THAT IN A WOODCUT. What do you say folks? Do I win?

jmd	24 Apr 2003
You had already won!!!! The eyes in the Camoin (especially) are quite remarkable... and they are also used by certain folks as of central importance in Marseille decks (it seems, also, especially with this deck, as implied by certain comments which I forget but made on the Camoin site). Marvellous that you have this deck... Marseille decks are so important, and this one (which is not, after all - and as most Marseille, a true woodcut) one of the more important ones.

firemaiden	24 Apr 2003
Merci jmd! How grateful I am that you are bringing this deck to light and prominance. This is powerful stuff!

Astraea	24 Apr 2003
This deck is one that I've been lusting after -- Jeannette and Lori (www.tarotgarden.com) are looking into finding a distributor in the US. Thus far, it can only be purchased off the Camoin website.

Rusty Neon	24 Apr 2003
Canadians may, for convenience, special order the Camoin-Jodorowsky TdM deck through French language bookstores in Quebec via book wholesaler Raffin. I ordered mine through a French language bookstore in Ottawa. Make sure that you order the deck, not accidentally a Camoin CD Rom or Jodo CD Rom!

Aerin	25 Apr 2003
I have this deck. I ordered it via the Camoin site, along with the Conver woodcut reprint. I chose it very carefully since I didn't want a deck that made me go euch, and some of the Marseille decks on offer have that effect on me. Aerin

DollChica	03 May 2003
I ordered mine directly from the Camoin site and they got the cards to me in about 10 days. This says something good about the company because every piece of mail that comes to me has to go directly through a military postal station in California first, then come to where I am (Japan). Of course, since it came from France and this was right after the French started butting heads with Bush, they had them stored separately from everything else. It was really quite funny. I opened the package right in front of them and said "see? tarot cards..." :rolleyes: The joys of military life. :D

Inana	04 May 2003
This is my first deck, although i dont use it much (only the majors to read). You are right, the faces are very expressive, and you can see how they seem to "change" the expresion when you put them next to different cards. The eyes and the point at where are they looking its one of the things i use more when reading with them. It gives keys on the way how the cards interact.

The Camoin Tarot de Marseilles - the eyes have it thread was originally posted on 24 Apr 2003 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.