Tudor England tarot deck search

Thread originally posted on the Aeclectic Tarot Forum on 25 Dec 2003, and now archived in the Forum Library.

clkingjr	25 Dec 2003
I have been looking for a tarot deck of Tudor England. I have seen many with the "Tudor Rose", but none actually based on Tudor England. Do you have any idea where I could locate such a deck? Any help or guidance you can provide will be appreciated.

Le_Corsair	25 Dec 2003
Welcome to Aeclectic! Feel free to stop by the New Members forum and introduce yourself, lots of people are anxious to meet you! I myself have never heard of such a deck, but there are many people here with more knowledge of tarot decks than myself. There seems to be a deck for nearly every subject under the sun. If no such deck exists, you can be sure that someone, inspired by your mention of it, will eventually make a Tudor Tarot deck up. Bob :THERM

Pagan X	25 Dec 2003
CL, see if these work for you: http://www.spiritone.com/~filipas/Masquerade/Reviews/giulnew.html "Several cards in the deck depict real individuals. The Popess is represented by Mary Stuart, The Emperor by Albert I of the Hapsburgs, and The Pope by Boniface VIII. The Empress (shown above) shows Queen Elizabeth Tudor in her prime, clothed in her coronation gown. Before her is a field of wild oats, beside her are white lilies, and above her a trellis of Tudor roses. Scapini notes that although she was maternally fruitless, she symbolizes “Astrea,Oriana, the spirit of an age of gold, intelligence fecund and fecundating.” http://www.tarotpassages.com/shakespeareoracle.htm "I found the author's assignment of Queen Elizabeth to the Empress a bit odd (the Virgin Queen a symbol of fecundity?), though I understand that, for Shakespeare, she created an environment where he and his work could flourish. Henry VIII as the Emperor is far more universal a counterpart, I think, as he embodies all the positives and negatives of this archetype. I love the illustration of the Hierophant--the image is gentle and holy and reminds me of St. Francis of Assisi. So many Hierophants are either depicted as tyrannical and overbearing or are completely unlike the original image (a Buddha, a goddess). This one manages to hew to traditional imagery, maintaining historical integrity without the attendant negativity. Another card that personally resonates for me is Portia as Justice. I played the wise judge in a Sunday School reading of The Merchant of Venice and have always loved her famous speech ("The quality of mercy is not strained..."). The image of this card captures the way I envision Portia--and Justice--beautifully. Other delightful correspondences include the mischievous Puck for the Devil and the Three Witches in Macbeth for the Moon (shown above). Both the cards' art and attribution show that depth and a light touch can go hand-in-hand. Some of the Major Arcana images are a bit off the beaten track--Prospero as Temperance gives us the unusual sight of a bearded man in that role; the Sun shows a young adult couple dancing. Judgment depicts a man with a book in one hand, scales to his right, a hanging couple to his left, offering an unusually deliberative version of Trump XX."

Cerulean	28 Dec 2003
a few card picks the same as the Romeo and Juliet Tarocco mentioned above--I like Scapini's deck quite well. But I also have the Shakesphere Oracle, easily available through Amazon.com There's a Delores Ashkroft Norwicki Shakespheran Tarot that emerges every once in a while on ebay or you can try tarotgarden.com or amazon.com or abebooks.com There's an Old English Tarot by U.S. Games that seems like medieval paintings. I think you can see the cards at www.tarot.com. Tarotpassages.com or aeclectic.net might have have some samples. Good luck Mari H.

The Tudor England tarot deck search thread was originally posted on 25 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.