Finnish tarot deck

Thread originally posted on the Aeclectic Tarot Forum on 21 Feb 2004, and now archived in the Forum Library.

Kissa	21 Feb 2004
Hi, I think many of you will love this one: http://www.maritaliuliatarot.com/eng/index.php The set is available for sale! The shop site says 35€ shipping inluded. There's actually an exhibition in the Amos Anderson Art Museum in Helsinki called "Tarot", showing the 78 pictures of this deck. You can go to www.amosanderson.fi and then scrowl down a bit on the "Exhibitions now" page. Kissa

Centaur	21 Feb 2004
Kissa, Some of these cards are really nice: I particularly like the Lovers, the Tower, and The Devil. I do not like the World though... it looks like the woman is on some form of hallucinogenic. Haha. I am not really that fond of computer-generated decks and real photographic work, but I agree that some of the images are lovely. Thanks for sharing. C

Moonbow*	21 Feb 2004
Hi Kissa A really nice deck, I like the Empress, Lovers and Three of Cups amongst others. There are more and more photographic type decks out there now and the more I see the more I like. Moonbow*

Kissa	22 Feb 2004
Thanks Centaur and Moonbow for watching! Any more opinions? Kind of bumping the thread up ... ;) Kissa

jema	22 Feb 2004
i haven't looked at all cards yet but i quite like the swords suit. reminds me of a calmer and perhaps simpler verison of Cosmic tribe. some of the majors are too alike though. like the chariot and the wheel. but interesting it is. i will keep my eyes open if i see it somewhere.

Marion	22 Feb 2004
Hi Kissa, My biggest difficulty with the site is it takes so long to view all the cards.. but that's minor and the layout is nice. I think it is a very unified vision, which to me is important in a tarot deck. The artist has a very strong visual sense and is representing at some of the archetypes in a modern yet timeless way. Many of the cards appear to reflect an ambiguous sexuality which enhances an aspect of the feelings of the deck for me. I rarely like photographic decks mostly because they seem to fix the images in time too solidly. The artist has often avoided this trap. Is she well versed in Tarot? I ask because some of the meanings are a bit different. 10 of Swords as 'threat' seems to fit neither the GD nor the Marseilles nor Thoth traditions. I like all of the swords except the image on the 5 which does not seem to reflect the energy of that card and the Queen. The rest of those are excellent. I especially liked the 6 and 3 of swords. To me the wands 7 through 10 are brilliant. Being a fire person, I always notice this suit. 6 and 7 and Prince of cups are brilliant. Some of the cards in this suit are too stuck in time though and some are to me rather unsuitable. The 6 and 7 are startling images and a true re-imagination of the energies. The 6 and 7 of coins are excellent. I really do not care for the rest of the rest. So, what do I think? She is brilliant but I wonder how much tarot she knows. For some reason she is really in tune with the 6 and 7 energies.

Aure	22 Feb 2004
I didn't like the fact that she's changed a couple of card names. I'm not very keen on photographic decks, so... What I found especially funny about the deck was that there were some finnish musicians photographed in the cards! I didn't look at all the cards but maybe there are more 'celebs' in the other cards as well. I find it bothers me to identify the people in the cards.

Moongold	22 Feb 2004
Kissa, I only had time to look at the Major Arcana, and thought they were quite beautiful. I particularly like the Chariot and Temperance, and was intrigued by Moon. You don't often see Moon represented by a male. I also loved the Witch (High Priestess). Will come back another time to look at the minor arcana. Moongold

Kissa	22 Feb 2004
Hello jema! Been a while we haven't been surfing at the same time! I hope you are doing ok. The set is sold in Japan where it seems very popular and it is also sold in the museums where this exhibition is shown (in Denmark before Helsinki). In addition to the author's website of course, The whole package is a new weird yet interesting concept and the author wants to create a "Tarot World", which includes Tarot SMS and images for mobile phones, interactive website with a forum and the possibility to save all your readings in your account etc. Although all the cards can be viewed freely on the artist's site, you need to buy the set to enter this more private world as you need a keycode only available from the set book. I don't know what i think of that. I haven't made up my mind yet whether it doesn't bother me or i hate it ;) (have eaten in the meantime, it's always more efficient to think with a full stomach)... Well, I guess the way of seeing it is that for 35-40€ (honest price for a self published set) you get a bonus (full utilization of the website). Ppl not interested in the art of this artist wouldn't be interested in online readings with her cards and there are many other sites where you can get free readings anyway... Ok, so it is not a bad system and it is not making easy money with tarot, I'm clear with myself ... ;) Nice thing to be able to think loud on a screen ;) Kissa Edited to add: while I was eating, may more answers came!!! ;) Thanks all of you for watching. I have to go to sauna now :) I will take more time to answer properly later on. Just wanted to add I read somewhere the artist had a long experience in tarot.

Marion	22 Feb 2004
Quote: Originally posted by Kissa Just wanted to add I read somewhere the artist had a long experience in tarot. Thanks Kissa, It wasn't so much i thought she didn't, I just wondered. Hi Jema! from me as well. Long time no see, and always happy to see that pretty little owl pop up.

The Finnish tarot deck thread was originally posted on 21 Feb 2004 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.