Which deck do these describe???

Thread originally posted on the Aeclectic Tarot Forum on 29 Oct 2001, and now archived in the Forum Library.

Firemoon	29 Oct 2001
Hi, I've been doing tarot for years, and am most familiar with the popular Rider-white deck and the Crowley. I'm presently doing a theater piece in which 7 of the major arcana are mentioned. It deals with an occurrence around the turn of the century on the British Isles. The descriptions exactly match no tarot deck I've seen or worked with. Here are the descriptions themselves: 1. The wheel of fortune turns from the mad seas of chaos, coronation, degradation. 2. Triangle of effulgent light raining meteors red and white whose solar iridescence fails to penetrate the night of a castaway loose on the deep. 3. In the uncertain light of a pallid moon the eye shapes empty chimera. 4. As lightning strikes the sea-girt the lamp's snuffed out in a widdershin route. 5. Three by Seven in a madcap dance, the world blazes destruction. 6. Black legs rooted deep in earth his fishscales skim the water, the devils batwings beat the air his face flames laughter 7. The fool in triumph bestrides the world. All forms and ranks inverted while bedlam triumphs and moon calves bay at God himself corrupted. Wheel of Fortune, The World, The Tower, The Devil and The Fool are obviously represented, but which deck? Does anyone know??? The second above, with the Triangle of effulgent light and the meteors are maybe a rendering of The Hermit, or Judgment. I'm not sure. Let me know if it rings a bell for anyone. Looking forward to hearing from you. Firemoon

Thirteen	29 Oct 2001
Guessing... first one is Wheel of Fortune, of course. Quote: 2. Triangle of effulgent light raining meteors red and white whose solar iridescence fails to penetrate the night of a castaway loose on the deep. Pretty sure this is The Hanged man. "Castaway on the deep" would imply water, neptune; the idea of no light penetrating, of him being isolated and in the dark--all Hanged man. I have a suspicion, by the way, that I've seen a hanged man card with metors--it might be the Mandala Astological tarot. That's the one with symbols instead of people and perfectly square cards Quote: 3. In the uncertain light of a pallid moon the eye shapes empty chimera. The Moon. All about illusion. Quote: 4. As lightning strikes the sea-girt the lamp's snuffed out in a widdershin route. Tower, probably. That's the only card with a lightning strike in it. Quote: 5. Three by Seven in a madcap dance, the world blazes destruction. 3x7 is 21. That would make this the World card. That connects with the "madcap" dance as there is a dancer at the center of the world card. But it's pretty bleak for the world card. Quote: 6. Black legs rooted deep in earth his fishscales skim the water, the devils batwings beat the air his face flames laughter Devil. Quote: 7. The fool in triumph bestrides the world. All forms and ranks inverted while bedlam triumphs and moon calves bay at God himself corrupted. Probably Fool. Again, a very bleak Fool card.

The Which deck do these describe??? thread was originally posted on 29 Oct 2001 in the Talking Tarot board, and is now archived in the Forum Library. Read the active threads in Talking Tarot, or read more archived threads.