Fantasy Showcase Tarot!

Thread originally posted on the Aeclectic Tarot Forum on 16 May 2005, and now archived in the Forum Library.

Kiama	16 May 2005
Hi all, Well, I've wanted this deck for years, and here it finally is - I won it on an Ebay auction a few days ago. What can I say about it? Firstly, I've often wished more collaborative decks would get printed. There's something so special about them - all that uniting together to create something stuff, etc. But within one deck you get to sample so many works from different artists - it really is a treat for the eyes. And the Fantasy Showcase Tarot is definitely that. Whether the cards are cartoony and humourous, or whether they are watercolour masterpieces, the visuals in this deck are bound to please, amuse, and stun. Especially the psychedelic art that pops up here and there, standing testament to the era in which this deck was created (between 1969 and 1980.) Many cards aren't just pretty faces either, like you might expect from sci-fi/fantasy artists who don't necessarily know much about Tarot. Many of the cards have a unique thing to say, a new take on the card's meaning for instance. They really have thought about these cards, not just looked at a RWS deck and copied it. Somebody's drawn Jimi Hendrix as the Page of Swords; the Knight of Swords exclaims "Oh! What an ugly day!" in a speech bubble whilst grinning broadly; the Empress wears a dress of rainbow colours, painted sunsets over flowers - an entire artist's pallette; and veeeery tiny on the Hermit card, we see somebody climbing up the cliff face, towards that shining beacon... Little things like this stand out in the cards, and make it a treat and a journey to behold. The deck does have extra cards - XXII: Separation, and XXIII: The Farrier; and four 'Ladies' as an addition to the Court Cards. These can be taken out easily though, and you can read the deck without them. (And personally, I think many of the Ladies make excellent Queens.) Not all the cards have titles or numbers on them - though many of them you can guess very easily, either by counting Swords, Cups, Coins and Wands, or by looking for similar symbology to most traditional decks. To the Tarot enthusiast, doing this should be no problem (and quite a fun game to play too!) whilst for the beginner it may prove troublesome. The backs are damn ugly, but I don't really care about deck backs, and the entire deck is very well made and packaged. All in all, I'm rather in love with this deck! Any other opinions on the Fantasy Showcase Tarot? Kiama

Lillie	16 May 2005
I bought it many years ago, when it could still be bought new! I don't know what happened to it! Given away, lost in a move... Shame, I wish I had it now. I have thought about it, trying to figure out where it went. I hope I gave it away rather than lost it. I remember I didn't much like it at the time. I was dissapointed with a lot of the art, and also the way there was no real coherence, every picture was a thing on it's own with no realtionship to any other cards or the same suit or whatever. I also felt that it did not take tarot seriously enough. There was too much humour and a little bit of mockery in there. But I was quite young, and had only just got into tarot, and was taking it far too seriously myself! Strangly enough, a lot of the cards stick in my mind. The maze (Is that the moon?) in particular. Yes, I wish I had it now. As the song says... You don't know what you've got till it's gone. Well done kiama, for getting what you wanted, and I am glad you like it more than I did. It was rather wasted on me at that time.

Kiama	17 May 2005
Lillie wrote: IStrangly enough, a lot of the cards stick in my mind. The maze (Is that the moon?) in particular. Yep, that's the Moon, and another example of a little innovation in the cards. :D You're right, there is a bit of mockery in the deck, and in the LWB the writer points out that the deck offended many Tarot enthusiasts in its early days of being put together, simply for this reason. But me, I love satire - it gives a whole new spin on things with its dark humour. It's the Emperor's New Clothes syndrome I think. I can also see how the lack of coherence between cards could bother people... it's all down to personal taste in the end. Personally (maybe because I've seen so many coherent decks) I find it very interesting to have a deck that is so varied. :D Kiama

Sulis	17 May 2005
I've never heard of it before. I've just found some images though - it looks lovely; I really like that High Priestess. http://www.aeclectic.net/tarot/cards/fantasy-showcase/ Love Sulis xx

Annabelle	08 Jun 2005
My copy of the Fantasy Showcase tarot finally arrived in the mail today!! I bought it through eBay last week. I agree with everything Kiama said . . . this is a marvelous deck. I'm really enjoying it already. While I'm not sure I see the need for the two extra major arcana cards, I love the addition of the Ladies. And I'm happy to see so much humor in the cards...the 4 of Pentacles (featuring a rat) and the King of Wands (featuring a duck) both made me laugh out loud. All in all it's a surprising and refreshing tarot deck. I consider myself lucky to have it in my collection.

The Fantasy Showcase Tarot! thread was originally posted on 16 May 2005 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.