Tarot for the Elements
Thread originally posted on the Aeclectic Tarot Forum on 07 May 2005, and now archived in the Forum Library.
| Glaucus |
07 May 2005 |
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I'm interesting in finding a nice combination of four decks to match the four classical elements. I would love it if the decks matched their natural element (no thematic associations, e.g. a sexual deck for fire) as much as possible and welcome all suggestions. Here's what I came up with so far.
Earth:
Secret Forest - you're literally inside a gigantic forest when you see this deck, it's like a whole other world.
Forest Folklore
Flowers/Herbs Tarot decks
Rock Art
(Earth seems to be the easiest to find!)
Wind:
I've seen lots of Angels decks, is there one that deals specifically with birds or maybe weather?
Fire:
The hardest one! For the life of me I can't find a good fiery deck, even one that just screams RED. The only listed "Phoenix" Tarot I could find is a RW clone and has nothing to do with firebirds.
I did find the Oracle of the Radiant Sun, which was as close as I came to the Sun itself while it's a heavy astrology deck.
I guess Egyptian decks for the desert?
Water:
Tarot of Mermaids I suppose. I haven't found a deck for the fishies, or even one with dolphins.
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| Gwynne |
07 May 2005 |
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Perhaps for Fire, the Dragons Tarot by Lo Scarabeo? It's fairly new, but what I've seen of it, I love!
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| Tarot Sparrow |
07 May 2005 |
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Hey, I would have also suggested Tarot of Mermaids for water. Have you seen the Fractal Firebird Tarot? It might work for fire...even if a lot of it isn't in fiery colours. Just a thought.
http://www.zianet.com/maria/tarot/decks.htm
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| Strange2 |
07 May 2005 |
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To represent Wind, I find the artwork in the Tarot of the Spirit deck to be very ethereal and shifting, with the colors and shapes blending like clouds in the wind. The minor arcana actually uses Wind for the Swords suit (as well as Fire for Wands, Water for Cups, and Earth for Coins).
For a deck to represent Fire, perhaps the Dante Tarot. In that deck, the Flames (Swords) depict the main events shown in Dante's Inferno, which seems appropriate!
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| hannahma |
11 May 2005 |
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what's wrong with the Tarot of the Four Elements?
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| Ilithiya |
11 May 2005 |
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Great idea, Glaucus! Let's see - out of mine:
Earth: Crystals and Gemstones and Archeon. Can't really explain why I'd put the Archeon here, except for that it has an interesting cavern-type vibe to me, and seems to fit.
Air: Tarot of the New Vision. To me, it's a very airy deck -the colors are bright but aren't overwhelming, the quality of the art is very fine (vs heavy), and if I were to tag it with a single word, it'd be "Clarity". (I often use it that way as well.) Alternately, I'd pick the Ukiyoe - semi-illustrated pips that all float in the air with a nice sky taking up 3/4 of the background, with minimal foreground.
Fire: Golly. I don't think I have one that I'd consider a Fire deck. Eek! Time to get more decks!! Perhaps the Nefertari? Liber T (spark of creative fire)?
Water: Myers Art Nouveau, or the Spirit of Flowers. They both seem to be receptive decks; the Myers Art Nouveau has a flowing feeling, and the Spirit of Flowers is a gentler, intuitive kind of deck.
Illy
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| FaerieStorm |
12 May 2005 |
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The best FIRE deck I can come up with is the COSMIC TRIBE Tarot deck--it's so full of energy; it's almost wild and chaotic in nature. It has a kind of unbridaled passion about it. But I find it a little difficult to work with.
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| Glaucus |
13 May 2005 |
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Thanks everyone, we looked through every one of your suggestions and here's what we decided on ultimately:
Earth:
We're having a big fight between the Forest Folklore and the Archeon Tarot. While FF gives the inherent earthy motif, the Archeon definitely gave a sensation of being underground in a crude cave with the figures. Nothing felt open or airy about this deck, but very secretive, esoteric, and mildly claustrophobic. The FF however lovely also gives everything a rather blissful, dreamlike quality with no sense of violence, so the two balance each other out.
Air:
Ananda Tarot. WOW WOW WOW. The skyscape visions are just the kind of thing we wanted. This is a deck where utterly nothing seems to touch the ground and you're constantly looking up. We were fearing we might have to settle for Angels but this blow everything else away.
Fire:
Really tough call. We settled on the Cosmic Tribe because, although graphic and difficult to work with, it's so bright and its Wands suit has a literal fire burning in almost every card.
Water:
Crystal Tarot. Every card from the way it is painted looks like it's been immersed underwater, and there's so much sea-green and blue in the images, we compared to finding the paintings from the Titanic or murals from Atlantis while you're deep-sea diving. Runner-up is the Atlantis Tarot for being expicitly about water but a bit too mythological for our tastes.
BUT we did look into the Fractal Firebird and Four Elements Tarot, and if there were two decks that conveniently trumped the price of the four, these are it. Each card of the FF is an element wash of colour with the only difference being the fractal imagery. The Six of Fire screams PHOENIX. The Four Elements Tarot divides the elements into their own bordered cards and maintains symbols instead of scenes. Great job.
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The Tarot for the Elements thread was originally posted on 07 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.
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