Majestic Earth Tarot

I have just discovered that the creator of the Tarot of Delphi is working on a new deck, with a kickstarter campaign planned for February/March 2017.

It is called the Majestic Earth Tarot and features paintings from the Sturm und Drang Period.
Looks magnificent!

I missed out on the Tarot of Delphi and will surely back this one!

Apologies if this has already been posted someplace else, I was not able to find anything using the search function.

http://majesticearthtarot.com/

Well...... Sturm und Drang (not STRUM, that's not a German word) is a literary movement and has no equivalent in visual arts (painters were all Classicists at that time, influenced by theories of Oeser etc). I have never heard the expression "Sturm und Wunder" in my life, and I really studied the 18th and 19th century in German culture, deeply and for many years and with academic credentials.

The paintings shown and the painters mentioned are mostly Romantic landscape painters, Böcklin is a Symbolist, Durand is Hudson School.... none of them has any connection to Sturm und Drang.

While the choice of paintings is beautiful and I love this art, I sigh when I see how easily people throw historical and culture-historical terms around. It matters.

I understand why they didn't want to use the much-misused term "Romantic" which most people nowadays understand as "lovey-dovey" - far removed from the original meaning in the late 18th, early 19th century.

The deck is beautiful but it reminds me of the Art and Life - where great and famous works of art are transplanted one to one on a tarot card, I see the art and not the tarot. I love C.D. Friedrich very much, his paintings say so much that I can't interpret them as tarot card. The art is TOO evocative for me. I couldn't pinpoint for a reading. For meditation and affirmation, yes. But then I'd rather look at a reproduction in a book where I can see better. These paintings need scope, need air to breathe.

Obviously, that's a very personal thing.

Thank you, Nemia, for pointing that out. Something hadn't clicked with the Sturm und Drang and I kept thinking of Goethe's Werther. Now I know why!

My impression is that this will be a great deck for reflection, pulling one single card and meditating on its themes, at least for me. I love Friedrich's work and look forward to engaging with it through this deck.

I think I like this one - and I'm giving it the benefit of the doubt because the Delphi is such a hugely successful reading deck for me.

I like the fact that the emphasis is on sublime landcapes, few people - this is a factor that I love in the Tyldwick - intensely romantic (as in Sturm und Drang) landscapes with people at the margins, insignificant or absent.

It looks beautiful!

It does. But if Delphi is anything to go by - I shall have to get it shipped to the US...

It is very beautiful, yes. And I'm amazed every time how tarot archetypes can be found in so diverse contexts.

Surely her use of the word 'Strum' rather than 'Sturm' was intentional? I hope so. If not then that's rather a glaring mistake. I'm on the fence. Like a few pps I find it hard to separate the art from the Tarot. The Impressionist Tarot, for example, or Klimt's Tarot, I couldn't get past my own associations with the imagery and thus didn't purchase. Here I'm not quite as familiar with the artists so there's a bit more space for interpretation and intuition. I'm not sure how keen I am on the Court Card designations. I like Steward and Rider for Page and Knight but I'm less keen on Creature and Spirit for Queen and King. And her playing card-Tarot suit designations don't jive with mine but that's a minor quibble as they won't be a factor in the actual deck. The art is lovely in an ethereal kind of way tethered by its subject material, the earth itself. Will be watching this one on the merit of her previous deck plus her CS was great.

I do like this people-lessness. I can really see how liberating decks are which dispense with people and ego. I'm a bit tired of pregnant Empresses gazing at barley leaves and Emperors doing that funny thing with their legs. These brooding landscapes fragment and abstract the concepts a step further. I love this. And as Nemia says, it's amazing how these tarot archetypes can be found in so many diverse places.

Madrigal said:

...plus her CS was great.

Click to expand...

What was her CS?

Le Fanu said:

I do like this people-lessness. I can really see how liberating decks are which dispense with people and ego. I'm a bit tired of pregnant Empresses gazing at barley leaves and Emperors doing that funny thing with their legs. These brooding landscapes fragment and abstract the concepts a step further. I love this. And as Nemia says, it's amazing how these tarot archetypes can be found in so many diverse places.What was her CS?

Click to expand...

CS -- customer service.

Has anyone heard anything new about the Majestic Earth Tarot and its future? The website seems a bit outdated claiming thrre would be/was a kickstarter for the deck in February of this year but I couldn't find information on that anywhere! I'm not sure I will get this one or not, but I presume more cards will be revealed during the campaign so I will definitely check that out. I really love romantic landscapes so this would probably click with me. I hope to get the Tarot of Delphi when it gets a long overdue reprint in 2019/2020.