Ciro Marchetti Decks - questions for owners

I have all 3. I read with all 3. The ToD cards may "feel" flimsy, but they seem to wear very well. The Victorian Romantic and some of the other MRP / Baba deck also "feel" flimsy, but those keep on shuffling and they seem to hold up really well with use according to people who have had them since they were first published, so I feel that the card stock should not be worried about. I personally like the softer feel of the ToD and it is my personal favorite to shuffle.

The Gilded is fabulous for beginners since the art is simplistic. Like people have said, Ciro was quite new to tarot when he designed that deck. I bought the Gilded because people kept saying how wonderful it was, and I figured I wanted to experience it for myself. I got the Legacy deck at Reader's Studio 2010, and that quickly became a favorite. Then I kept reading that people often recommended the "Tarot of Dreams" as their favorite, so I bought that at BATS (Bay Area Tarot Symposium) last Aug from Dan with Tarot Garden. That is probably now my favorite, but I really love the Legacy also. I haven't pulled the Gilded out for a while, so I think I might just do that. Also, I ended up sitting next to Ciro for a lunch at RS10 and he mentioned that the Gilded is one of the very best selling decks of all time. Obviously RWS is #1, but at that time, the Gilded was #2 on the most sales of all time for a deck, and that's pretty impressive also!!!

If you haven't pulled Ciro's cards for a reading, I recommend going and doing a spread. I believe you will discover great wisdom. FYI: I have a ToD spread sitting right behind me that I pulled a couple days ago. It's still sitting out because I'm still getting wisdom from it.

Ciro does not have many of his ToD left. He self published that one, where Llewellyn published the other 2. If you are thinking about it, buy it. It's only $30 and it's going to go up in value when it hits OOP since it's such a cool deck, so it will be much more expensive in the future.

http://www.aeclectic.net/tarot/cards/tarot-of-dreams/

Just my 2 cents...

ETA: I just saw that Gilded Strength card re-done. WOW!!!

Pam O said:

...Just my 2 cents...

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Thank you so much, Pam! Your "2 cents" was worth "Hagrid's" weight in gold.

MoonGypsy said:

My dear sweet Auracana! You are finding out that Ciro's art is in a special league of it's own.

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MoonGypsy said:

i am really thrilled, dear aurarcana, that you are giving Ciro's decks another chance. Ciro Marchetti is a Visionary and Artist of the highest degree, IMHO, and he is in a league of his own.

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MoonGypsy said:

i usually am not a big fan of most "digital art", as you say, either...but i don't view Ciro's art as typical digital art. Like i said, it is in a class of its own. i view it as ART. You are like me in that we both LOVE color...and Ciro's art shimmers with such vibrancy...
i just don't know how else to express how much i love his work.
i am so much looking forward to his new Oracle deck, "The Oracle of Visions", when it becomes available for purchase. Hopefully, it will be sometime in April.

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You have always praised his work, especially when we have discussed the use of colors in decks, so I can see how a deck like Tarot of Dreams becomes an explosion of color, especially in a spread.

I was looking forward to The Oracle of Visions out of sheer curiosity, and am anticipating the release date even more now.

MoonGypsy said:

The first time i took my LE version of Tarot of Dreams out of the package and started looking at it in the light, i shivered all over and tears streamed down my face, due to the intensity of light and color....the Sheer Beauty of it.

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Thanks for this comment about your first impressions. Sounds like an emotional and powerful experience [hugs]. I'll be happy with the mass market edition since an LE is unlikely to fall into my lap.

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Pam O, I ordered the Tarot of Dreams this morning and just got confirmation that it is on the way already!

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cirom said:

Oh absolutely I do smile...... and laugh and cry... This whole Tarot journey has progressed in parallel to my learning curve on general art work. As such I look back on earlier work and can't help but cringe. I see many faults and room for improvement, which I hope I have addressed in follow up work and will continue in future projects.

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If I compare the web sites I created and worked on from 1998 (when I took my first web design class) and compared them to what I work on now, I would feel the same way. I remember adding each element for a font color around each line of text, and now I can create style sheets or even use programs that will build that for me. Technology and computer programs have advanced so much, so it's unfair to compare and contrast your projects creating using software over the years.

cirom said:

The Gilded Tarot and the varying responses to it are a case in point. It is way down the list of work I'm personally happy with at least from a technical point of view, yet that has to be seen in the context of when its was produced, eight years is not so much in general terms but a lifetime in digital art.

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Indeed. See my comments above .

cirom said:

I have played with the idea of redoing it, and correcting a few Tarot inconsistencies along the way, but keeping reasonably faithful to the original feel but executing it better. I don't know if i'd have the energy to do it all over, but I have played with the odd card.... see attached.

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That is one of my favorite cards. It looks striking with the edits!

Pam O said:

Ciro does not have many of his ToD left. He self published that one, where Llewellyn published the other 2. If you are thinking about it, buy it. It's only $30 and it's going to go up in value when it hits OOP since it's such a cool deck, so it will be much more expensive in the future.

http://www.aeclectic.net/tarot/cards/tarot-of-dreams/

Just my 2 cents...

ETA: I just saw that Gilded Strength card re-done. WOW!!!

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I need to clarify this. It was the self published special edition of the Tarot of Dreams that sold out and that I no longer have copies of. This was the version with the larger sized cards, and an interactive CD as opposed to the usual companion book.
However the mass market version which is currently selling, is also self published. It is NOT published by Llewellyn, indeed Llewellyn messed me around three times indicating they wanted it and then changed their mind, in the end I just went ahead and did it on my own.

Same with the Oracle of Visions, thats why that is also being self published. I hope to have a few reference copies of that to take to the Readers Studio event in NY and the end of April. Then hopefully they will be available a couple of weeks later from my web site.

Actually the whole issue of major publisher verses self published is a mixed bag. Self published is more personal, I can decide size, cards finish, outer box design etc etc. Major publishing via one of the big boys means less work, but less control, they decide on size and production outer box design etc. Financially I found both options to be relatively similar so thats not an issue. Given the choice though I would prefer that they are mass produced simply because that means more people have them. Obviously its more satisfying to know that hundreds of thousands of people have (and hopefully enjoy) your work as opposed to just a few thousand.

Cassandra022 said:

Wow. That strength card redone is SO amazing. Love the additional details, and the re-done borders and just...wow :0

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Absolutely

I'm one that still prefers the Gilded over the newer decks by Cirom...but I LIKE that Strength! I'd totally buy a Gilded 2.0...

cirom said:

I have played with the idea of redoing it, and correcting a few Tarot inconsistencies along the way, but keeping reasonably faithful to the original feel but executing it better. I don't know if i'd have the energy to do it all over, but I have played with the odd card.... see attached.

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Wow, that is such an amazing difference! please?.... no pressure

I've continued toying with this idea of redoing the Gilded. It would certainly be a symbolic way of ending my tarot deck journey. If the Fool was a metaphor for the original Gilded, then a redo of it would be The World and representing a full circle and the things learned along the way. Regrettably Llewellyn have informed me they would not want to publish it were I to do it, which disappointed me, but after some "persuasion" they have at least given me a green light to self publish, provided it would not be made available at the retail level. This is fine, as it also gives me complete freedom to consider different sizes, card stock and printing options. The balance would be to keep the overall look and theme of the original but with greater detail and visual richness that would warrent the effort and still have appeal to both new and "repeat" customers. I would also go for the full Monty, and consider larger size, gold edging, and maybe even gold foil embedded into the imagery. Going to have to seriously chew this over, as any project of this nature represents around 18 months of work.

Well, I can only speak for myself, by myself says "please do!!" The Gilded still remains one of my most favourite decks of all time. I would love to see it dressed up!

If encouragement helps, YES, PLEASE!!! PRETTY PRETTY PLEASE!!!!!

The cards you've shown so far have been simply amazing and show the maturity of your work from then to now. (I love the Fool to World analogy.)

Rodney