The Parrott Tarot Deck (?)

Thread originally posted on the Aeclectic Tarot Forum on 02 Jul 2003, and now archived in the Forum Library.

Brammetje	02 Jul 2003
Margaret Parrott with Thom Parrott the site: http://www.geocities.com/parrott-tarot/p-tarot.html the book: http://www.geocities.com/parrott-tarot/mdk-text.html the pictures: http://www.geocities.com/parrott-tarot/p-tarot.html ------------------- anyone? opinions.........? peace, Bram

Maan	03 Jul 2003
I think Hedera will soon post in this thread ... she realy made me want to have this deck ;) Its on top of my wishlist at the moment

Ruby7	03 Jul 2003
I have looked at this deck a few times (online at Tarot Garden). Each card has been given a musical note, and I am interested to know more about this. I would like to know about the relevance of the musical note, i.e. how was it decided that this particular musical note should be with this card? Do the notes form a tune or a scale? How are they related to each other? I read something years ago about musical notes and Druidism, something to do with the number 7 (7 tones to a musical scale). I should maybe start a new thread about this but I would like to know about this in relation to the Parrott deck, anyone? Ruby7

baba-prague	03 Jul 2003
I know it tends to come up on ebay quite regularly, but I've never really looked properly at it (okay, I had better admit now that I first thought a while back that it was a deck based on parrots and I went rushing off to look - I LOVE parrots - but then realised it wasn't and lost interest! Blush) However, I'd be interested now to see what anyone who has used it thinks of it.

WolfSpirit	03 Jul 2003
Well it is not a deck full of parrots, but many cards do have a parrot on it on the border (with the musical note). I think it is some sort of word game with their name. It is not really a must-have deck for me, but I think it is a charming deck. It looks playful, reminds me of the swedish witch, a deck that also has a lot of humour but I find very useful for readings nontheless.

Diana	03 Jul 2003
What a perfectly charming deck. And I think it has a lot more to it than meets the eye. Pity that Justice is not VIII, or else I may have even been tempted to buy it. (I save a lot of money this way.... :D ).

WolfSpirit	21 Jul 2003
Quote: Originally posted by Ruby7 I have looked at this deck a few times (online at Tarot Garden). Each card has been given a musical note, and I am interested to know more about this. I would like to know about the relevance of the musical note, i.e. how was it decided that this particular musical note should be with this card? Do the notes form a tune or a scale? How are they related to each other? I just "won" this deck on ebay (holiday time is a good time for bidding, with less people competing :D ) and while I am waiting for the deck to arrive I downloaded the book for this deck (see first post of this thread for the link). The Golden Dawn has assigned musical notes to every tarot card, so they are not chosen by the artist herself. I know very little about music so I cannot comment on the choice of these musical notes. The book may be very interesting, apart from card meanings it has chapters on Golden Dawn, tree of life, elementals and other things.

Ruby7	21 Jul 2003
Thanks Wolfspirit, I will check out the book it sounds like it is full of interesting details. I hope that you enjoy the deck! Ruby7

catboxer	21 Jul 2003
baba-prague: (This may be off topic, but...) Considering your love of parrots, I wanted to ask if you're already familiar with the Catelin Geofroy deck. It's the oldest known tarot made outside Italy (Lyons, 1557), and very interesting. It's probably not reproduced by anyone because only 38 cards remain. However, the artistic skill that went into it is quite high; the woodcuts are very skilfully rendered, and it would be great to see this remnant reproduced and sold commercially. It has 12 surviving trumps, numbered according to the TdM sequence, but the pictures don't look like Marseille images. The best thing about it is the suits -- parrots, peacocks, lions, and (probably) monkeys. The birds and animals on the 26 surviving minors are shown interacting and cavorting in ways that are charming and amusing. I wish somebody would reproduce the minors' pictures in a large size just for their aesthetic interest. Kaplan has a lot of information about this deck in the first two volumes of his Encyclopedia, although it's spread out all over the place.

Solandia	21 Jul 2003
The Parrott Tarot has also been displayed on Aeclectic Tarot for a couple of years.. http://www.aeclectic.net/tarot/parrott/ ~ Solandia

Rusty Neon	22 Jul 2003
Quote: Originally posted by Ruby7 Each card has been given a musical note, and I am interested to know more about this. I would like to know about the relevance of the musical note, i.e. how was it decided that this particular musical note should be with this card? Do the notes form a tune or a scale? How are they related to each other? I haven't checked all the musical notes on the Parrott major arcana cards for which there are scans, but it looks like the musical notes assigned to the Parrott major arcana card are the same as Paul Foster Case (of BOTA) assigned to the major arcana. There is a recent thread on musical notes and tarot cards: http://www.tarotforum.net/showthread.php?s=&threadid=16038 See the list of musical note assignments at the thread. If the Parrott correspondences are not the same, I'd be interested in knowing that.

WolfSpirit	22 Jul 2003
Quote: Originally posted by catboxer baba-prague: (This may be off topic, but...) Considering your love of parrots, I wanted to ask if you're already familiar with the Catelin Geofroy deck. It's the oldest known tarot made outside Italy (Lyons, 1557), and very interesting. It's probably not reproduced by anyone because only 38 cards remain. However, the artistic skill that went into it is quite high; the woodcuts are very skilfully rendered, and it would be great to see this remnant reproduced and sold commercially. Does anyone know if there are pictures of this deck on-line somewhere ?

Hedera	27 Jul 2003
Thought I'd bump this thread because I like the Parrott deck - and I know someone else who does, too! Right, Maan? ;) So, have you noticed yet that all of the majors have one or more sets of stairs in them somewhere? Even the people in Judgment have little steps to climb out of their graves. I wonder why she did that? (let's see if we can do for the Parrott what you and Yaboot001 did for the Phantasmagoric Theatre)

Maan	27 Jul 2003
yes your right Hedera ;) Thanks again by the way Hmm i did not notice the stairs. Must give that one some thought. What got me thinking is that on the box it is clearly written that it is based on the Rider Waite Smit. But the minors are toth based. Some a direct copy and some inspired by it. Strange. And then there are the four extra cards. I like them but i don't know if i will use them in readings. Do you use them? Does anyone uses them? Love Maan BTW the little parrott's on the bottom of the cards are hilarious....especially the dead one on the death card!

Hedera	27 Jul 2003
Yes, that RWS-comment on the box is weird. It is a very straight Thothy deck. I thought I would take the extra cards out (who needs *more* court cards! ;) ) but I forgot at first, and then the Mentor of Cups showed up in the very first (new deck-) reading I did with it, in the 'what will our relationship be like' position! :D And that's such a lovely card, I love that girl with the green hair. The card seemed to be saying: 'I'll teach you to have a good time and to party and sing!' Anyway, these courts are actually a joy to read, as most Thoth court cards, IMHO. I'm really off to bed now. Think I'll take my little Parrott deck with me... ;) More fun stuff tomorrow!

falconwing	28 Jul 2003
Greetings @ll, I also enjoy this colorful deck!! There are soooo many symbols in there...and - of course - I _love_ those little funny parrots at the bottoms...they describe the meanings of the cards soooo well and funny!! I am grateful for the book-link in this thread. I havn't come across that one yet. FalconWing

Hedera	28 Jul 2003
Falconwing, could you let me know if downloading that book works for you? I keep getting broken links, can't read big parts of it.

WolfSpirit	28 Jul 2003
I saved the text of the book as a text document and then opened it in Word and saved it as a Word document. I don't know if this was the easiest way but it worked for me, but I have just plain text no pictures or anything (but i have the real deck in front of me anyway). If you have problems with downloading I could mail it to you in an attachment.

Maan	28 Jul 2003
O Wolfpsirit could you please send me that document too.:* I keep getting errror rapports and had to re start the computer again and agian. Love Maan

WolfSpirit	28 Jul 2003
Yes sure :) But I think I need an email address to send it to, I don't think I can send attachments in a pm.

Hedera	29 Jul 2003
Oooh, please please please, could you send it to me as well? hedera@tarotforum.net Would be so great to be able to read the whole thing.... Thank you! :)

Maan	29 Jul 2003
OOO thank you I will pm you my email address Many, many, many more thank you's Love Maan

WolfSpirit	29 Jul 2003
If technology does not fail you should both have it soon in your mailbox... :D

Hedera	29 Jul 2003
Thank you, WolfSpirit, you're a gem! :) :) It sure looks complete; several hundred pages..... Now all I need to have the perfect weekend is a new printer cartridge! ;)

Maan	30 Jul 2003
I've got it As i am at my parents right now, i'm in luck and can use there printer ;) (Shh Hedera there are not 'several hundered" page, just 58 ;) )

Hedera	30 Jul 2003
It said on page one: 1/748 or something. Perhaps I got the whole thing times 6? No wonder my computer has been acting up - if it multiplies all incoming information by 6....:D

Elle	13 Aug 2003
I love the bright colors and illustrations in general of this deck...I can feel an obsession forming...can't stop thinking about how pretty these cards are...all the symbols... Haven't seen them in person, only on DivinationSystems.com. Are they just as lovely in the hand? Warmest and the most curious, Elle

Hedera	14 Aug 2003
Even more so.... They're really fun and playful, and although they have symbols up the wazoo, they don't feel too 'serious'. It's there if you want it, but you can also just look at the pictures. And of course, the parrots are great, especially those on the minors!

The The Parrott Tarot Deck (?) thread was originally posted on 02 Jul 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.