Life in the Garden - do you know this deck/book?

Thread originally posted on the Aeclectic Tarot Forum on 08 Dec 2003, and now archived in the Forum Library.

baba-prague	08 Dec 2003
I am grinning like a cat (as they say) because I love coincidences. My copy of Forest of Souls just arrived (thanks to the AT person who traded it with me!) and so I began reading it at once - very keen to read this book, and I came across the sentence - "One of my favourites is Life in the Garden, by Eric Zimmerman and Nancy Nowacek." (Rachel Pollack is talking about decks you can make stories with) Well - that stopped me in my tracks because how many "Eric Zimmermans" can there be? Could this be the Eric I know in New York? So I want searching on the web and YES - it IS the Eric I know (and haven't communicated with since I left London, hence the lack of knowledge about what he is doing). I LOVE this sort of serendipity. What a lovely surprise! Now all I want to know is, does anyone here have this deck/book (it is a book with loose-leaf pages) and if so, what do you think of it? Tell me it is good please :-)

Cerulean	08 Dec 2003
Small phrases are mixed up such as Eve woke and saw The angel blew his trumpet in the sky If the Devil had been around, things would have been different Adam dealt him a mighty blow... And they watched the night descent on the garden. There are small typographical motifs that are not illustrations, but might be an endnote on a few of the cards, I recollect. The box and cards seem charming, but I don't think it''s over 30 or so cards to form a semi-humorous story. It's not bad at all and perhaps as a writer, you would find it inspirational or fun to construct something similar. Mari H.

baba-prague	08 Dec 2003
Thanks for that Mari. I've been looking on the web but haven't found very much - except that it's out of print. I have a feeling that this will have been constructed more as a game than really as a tarot-like deck (Eric lectures and writes on computer games design). I will write to him, but just wanted more information and opinions first. I was really surprised to find the reference in Forest of Souls - I think Rachel Pollack obviously sees this having potential for some more profound work. However, I have a feeling it might be designed to be quite jokey (again, knowing one of the personalities behind it). I used to be very interested in Concrete Poetry and constructivist narratives (stories where you to some extent construct it yourself) so this has sparked a real interest for me. If anyone else has any comments I'd love to hear them - especially if you've used these cards for serious work - or serious play :-)

The Life in the Garden - do you know this deck/book? thread was originally posted on 08 Dec 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.