Important 20th Century Tarot Decks

Thread originally posted on the Aeclectic Tarot Forum on 15 Oct 2003, and now archived in the Forum Library.

Rusty Neon	15 Oct 2003
A discussion question: Besides the Rider-Waite deck (and its clones and workalikes) and the Thoth deck, which 20th century tarot decks (1900 to 1999) would you consider important decks in the continuing evolution of tarot?

jmd	16 Oct 2003
In my view, the most important deck to have arisen in the 20th century was the Marteau Marseilles. It is this deck which enabled the return to this pattern after a century of Etteilla decks in France, and this deck which has also permitted the interest in earlier renditions of the Tarot. Other important decks include the Crowley/Harris 'Thoth' deck (already mentioned), and two other Marseille decks: the Hadar and the Camoin.

Major Tom	16 Oct 2003
May I humbly submit the Mountain Dream Tarot as a 20th Century milestone in tarot? The Mountain Dream was the first completely photographic tarot deck. It was created by the photographer Bea Nettles between 1970 and 1975. Originally released as a limited edition of 1000 in the seventys, it has been updated and is currently available, again as a limited edition. http://www.beanettles.com/tarot/tarotpages/ordertarot.html I especially like it that Bea Nettles updated to include her children as Pages. :) I see the Mountain Dream as the first tarot deck to show ordinary people playing the roles of the archtypes. That's got to be a landmark in my way of thinking. edited to correct link - thanks jmd! :)

jmd	16 Oct 2003
Major Tom, as your link did not work for me, here is another to the site of the Mountain Dream Tarot...

firemaiden	16 Oct 2003
I was about to say Margarete Petersen, but then I realized she will go under twenty-first century decks!!

WolfSpirit	16 Oct 2003
Well..maybe not important for the continuation of tarot, but I would like to mention the Animal Wise as an innovative tarot: concentrating on the animal qualities, and not a deck with animals acting like people.

punchinella	17 Oct 2003
I cast my vote for Haindl. Relative newbie that I am, I have difficulty backing the vote up with historical argument (I know many view it as a Thoth clone, & therefore perhaps ineligible for inclusion in the canon of 'greats' . . . ) However, to me it feels MAJOR. --It's just . . . THERE, something that simply can't be ignored . . . --Well, I guess the question is sort of difficult, since by asking what's significant to the evolution of tarot as a whole, you're implying that knowledge of what's yet to come (i.e., 21st century) is possible . . . Perhaps it is, for some of us (how do I insert smiley-face?) but alas, not for me . . . P.

Dark_angel	17 Oct 2003
I know not many people like it, but I think that the Adrian Tarot is pretty important. It has a very individual style (I haven't seen a deck like it) and uses traditional symbolism in a wholly original way. It is sensual without being sexual. The multi-layered design of the cards is quite original too; as well as the picture itself, the background and the overlying white line drawings are important in interpreting the cards. And I've never found another LWB that's quite as useful - lots of spreads, proper interpretations rather than keywords, even for the minor pips. Put simply, it's a modern deck with class, and I think it's important because of the simple elegance it possesses, which contrasts with many of the "busier" modern decks. xxx

raeanne	17 Oct 2003
Hi all, I’m sure someone will correct me if I’m wrong, but wasn’t the Voyager Tarot one of the first, if not THE first, of the photo montage decks? It seems to me that once this deck came out it kind of opened the door for all kinds of creative thinking decks. It could be that I bought this deck at about the same time as all the new stuff started happening so there might not be a connection at all.

paradoxx	29 Oct 2003
the Cosmic Tarot, this deck incorperates very modern symbolism (such as modern vehicles) without takign too much away from the core meanings. The 2 and 6 of pentacles feature young men who are waering jeans and in teh 2 ofpent a t=shirt. Itas a very accessible deck. The Tarot Nova-Thsi deck uses symbols from familiar places. Temprence has the tortise and teh hare, justice is balancing apples and oranges, the 5 of swords has visual referene to the title "of mice and men". to top it all off three of the four playing card suits are used for tarot reader accesiblity. Elemental Tarot, This is an interseting deck, instead of the four traditional suites we have the elements being used, the courst are daughter, son, mother, father. each card has egyptain and zodiac symbols associated with it as well as a god/goddess or major arcania association. As for hte Major Arcania, they are adorned with a poem called "The Thunder Perfect Mind"that flows from the fool to the aeon without a problem. (ex. Hanged man XII--the excerpt of the poem used here is "I am the knowledge of my inquiry" and translates the hanged man exceptionaly well.)

punchinella	30 Oct 2003
I've been thinking about this for a couple of weeks now, & correct me if I'm wrong--but wasn't Mythic Tarot pretty innovative when it first appeared? Somehow I get the idea that a mythological overlay had not been done before--that Mythic was the first. Considering how much of this sort of thing we have now--I'd say that would make the deck groundbreaking indeed. P.

The Important 20th Century Tarot Decks thread was originally posted on 15 Oct 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.