Does *anyone* have the Alecsy Kluev "Magic"??

Thread originally posted on the Aeclectic Tarot Forum on 12 Oct 2004, and now archived in the Forum Library.

blackroseivy	12 Oct 2004
I am in love with this deck, & about to pay rather a hefty price (to me!) for it from TG. I would like to know if there is anybody who uses this deck; I am interested because it is, of course, all in Russian! Who here has it, anyone? I think that when I *finally* have the Alchemical Tarot, that one's meanings & so forth can help me with this one.

OakDragon	12 Oct 2004
I don't, but thank you for bringing it up. It's going on my wish list!

Gerbear	12 Oct 2004
I have this deck, won in a lot of decks on ebay. The art in the majors is very good, but it doesn't hold up in the minors. The backgrounds are the same, but the figures seem to be line drawings at best, as if they were meant to be colored in later. My Russian is limited, but I haven't even tried to translate the few needed words, due to my disappointment with the minors. Therefore it has fallen behind most of my other Russain decks in use.

Lee	13 Oct 2004
I actually like the Minors, go figure! But the Hermit as a skeleton creeps me out, so I don't use it. -- Lee

baba-prague	13 Oct 2004
Oddly enough, I have just had an email from, it seems, Kluev himself - out of the blue. He is working on another deck - which I have to say I do not like. It's a sort of Russian Porn Star deck (oh dear). We are writing back to suggest that it might be more interesting to work on something different. We are trying to think how to put this tactfully. edited to add. Actually, now that we have fully translated the email (nicely enough it arrived almost exactly as I saw this thread) it's rather interesting. Kluev describes himself as the tarot person/astrologer, whereas the visual design is done by another person. I assume that this MUST be the same A. Kluev - too much of a coincidence otherwise. Anyway, we will try to get a correspondence going - it's good to have made contact.

Cerulean	13 Oct 2004
It might be just me, but I think A. Kleuv or the designer was having fun with the idea of Undines, Gnomes, Salamanders and Sylphs for each suit/elment as well as suggesting personal alchemy methaphors. In regards to the minors that might help those with this deck. Check out this thread... 1. Fifth post from the bottom, Fulgour has more on this: http://www.tarotforum.net/showthread.php?s=&threadid=28734&highlight=undines Undines for Cups Gnomes for Pentacles Salamanders for Fire Sylphs for Air 2. There's more information about Undines/Gnomes/Salamanders/Sylphs here: http://www.tarotforum.net/showthread.php?s=&threadid=29786&highlight=undines 3.I realize you do not like the Crowley Thoth, but there's similar associations of Undines/Gnomes/Salamanders and Sylphs in the written meanings for each court card... If you need a link to the Magic Tarot with all cards pictured, http://trionfi.com/01/j/i/gambler_ru/d00193.htm Hope this makes sense... Cerulean

baba-prague	16 Oct 2004
Just to update and say that we did get another long email - very interesting. But our correspondent seems to be the person who did the "putting together" of the images on the Kluev - rather than Kluev himself, who seems to have done the conceptualising. Still, very nice to have made contact. If it results in us finding out anything of interest - on the Kluev or on other Russian decks, I'll post it of course.

The Does *anyone* have the Alecsy Kluev "Magic"?? thread was originally posted on 12 Oct 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.