Lack of Decent Golden Dawn Tarot that follow the Golden Dawn tradition

As we know the Rider-Waite and the Aleister Crowley Thoth Tarot decks are the top two Tarot Decks of the 20th century. Both were derived from Golden Dawn teachings.

I am disappointed that there is not a true Tarot that purely follows the Golden Dawn Teachings and the art and design can rival the Rider-Waite Tarot and the Aleister Crowley Thoth as a major contender. I wished Pamela Coleman Smith had created a pure Golden Dawn Deck.

As for the Golden Dawn Deck published, the Israel Regardie and Robert Wang tarot is a disappointment. Robert Wang‘s art is lacking in substance, draughtsman ship and the color is weak. Robert Wang is a terrible artist. Israel Regardie picked a lousy artist. I own this deck for study only since it is faithful to the Golden Dawn Tradition. Please note The Qabalistic Tarot by Robert Wang is a good book he has included the teachings of Builders of the Adytum. He is a better writer than an artist.

http://www.aeclectic.net/tarot/cards/golden-dawn/index.shtml#cards

The Cicero’s Golden Dawn Magical Tarot is another deck whose harsh art and harsh dark coloring ruins this deck. The art lacks delicacy and bears no resemblance to the Victorian style during the time of the Golden Dawn. They ruin the Hermit card with a cactus. Sandra Tabatha Cicero uses a bad palette tone of colors and has unconvincing human anatomy drawn.

http://www.aeclectic.net/tarot/cards/golden-dawn-magical/index.shtml#cards

They also published a Golden Dawn Ritual Tarot (Romanian Edition). The Hangman is different from the American version. The hangman looks a lot better. Since, I do not own the deck, I wonder how the card stock quality and and printing quality is.

http://www.tarotgarden.com/database/dbsearchengine.php?view_title=golden+dawn+magical

The Hermetic Tarot has potential it is good in terms of carrying the Golden Dawn symbolism plus Thoth for study, but the fact it is uncolored, the images can be crowded and the artistic skill of human anatomy may be offsetting. The deck is not satisfying as true Golden Dawn Tarot.

http://www.aeclectic.net/tarot/cards/hermetic/index.shtml#cards

The Initiatory Tarot of the Golden Dawn is disappointing because of its comic book art, multi language borders- I would have preferred Hebrew letters- and the fact the minor arcana suits do not follow the Golden Dawn, and they have to have people in them. This does not cleanly follow the Golden Dawn tradition and it is an embarrassment. The Wheel of Fortune looks like a lollipop with Curious George.

http://www.aeclectic.net/tarot/cards/initiatory-golden-dawn/index.shtml

The Classic Golden Dawn Tarot by Richard Dudschus and David Sledzinski is the only close decent Golden Dawn deck. The Major Arcana tarot images are from Pat Zalewski's Whare Ra Golden Dawn Temple. The disappointments are the images are in black and white with limited line quality and they are based on Whare Ra teachings, a Golden Dawn offshoot. I do not own this deck and do not know the quality of the stock and if it can be shuffled. It is irritating BOTA and this deck are expected to be colored by the student, I cannot color anything professional. There has never been a decent Golden Dawn deck published. A published colored BOTA deck would be nice.

http://www.tarotgarden.com/boutique...he+Classic+Golden+Dawn+Tarot+Deck&pageenter=0

This is the link of the book to purchase that has all the illustrations since the cards are out of print.
http://www.amazon.com/Magical-Tarot-Golden-Dawn/dp/1904658318

There is also the unpublished Ra Horkathy Tarot. It had potential to be the most decent published deck, but it has never been published and may be delayed due to the health of the artist. I was disappointed it used the flashing colors as a short cut instead of the King and Queen Scale.

http://www.rahorakhtytarot.com/#

The Rosicrucian Tarot has potential but it remains unpublished. A few years ago I tried to inquire, but the Esoteric Order of the Golden Dawn tried to imply I should apply for membership when I had no interest. They kept saying it would be published soon but join their order for a fee. Perhaps I will go over the different Golden Dawn groups of today. The images are hard to find on the web.

http://www.lelandra.com/comptarot/tarotthothclone.htm

Nick Farrell is working with artist Harry & Nicola Wendrich to produce the Horus Hathor Golden Dawn Tarot. It has potential and some unique designs that do not follow the Golden Dawn. The Sun card ruins this with having 2 children dressed like hippies.

http://www.nickfarrell.eu/nick-farrell-magician.html

I like the Israel Regardie GD deck, myself. If you read Regardie's writings, the deck is straight-down-the-line GD.

[disclaimer] Oh, and the deck has personal ties to me at a third remove, which might colour my favouritism.

Thank you for collating all this information. I've been curious about the Golden Dawn decks, and here you are with all these links. Sweet. I like some of the art that you don't, though I'll admit that's based on a cursory look.

The Wheel of Fortune looks like a lollipop with Curious George.

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HA! It does. That's both funny and rather sad.

At the end of her article, The Golden Dawn Minor Arcana, Mary Greer recommends the Classic Golden Dawn Tarot by Richard Dudschus and David Sledzinski. She's studied the GD tarot quite a bit and should know. From what I've read and umderstand about the GD tarot I think she's probably right. A little more info and images here at Tarot Garden. Unfortunately it's out of print though.

I always assumed that like any organization/ movement/ school/ philosophy/call it what you will, there would never be any agreement. I am sure that all of these decks at various moments of their inception were felt - by the creators - to be restoring the true GD and that all the others were not quite right. It's a kind of manifesto and there will always be deviations. I like the look of the Hathor Golden Dawn Tarot which I have seen in progress but - to be honest - I think time has changed, history moved on and there will never be any agreement.

Nice list though Lord Adonis, thanks for collating all those decks with your thoughts, I enjoyed reading your impressions.

As one who doesn't seek an authentic Golden Dawn deck (but thinks of it as the Soprafino in W.B Yeat's head), there are some in your list I like, others less so (but not through any informed decision). But I can see your point. I cannot look the Wang/Regardie Golden Dawn U.S Games deck in the eye. Such a missed opportunity. And all that vast, yawning whiteness makes me dizzy.

I took a closer look at some of these decks and have some impressions. First the Golden Dawn Tarot, the Israel Regardi/Robert Wang one. I think the art has a kind of naïve charm, personally. And all that empty space on the cards just begs to be filled with notes and personal sigils. I probably wouldn't get it, though.

The Golden Dawn Magical Tarot, the Cicero one. I rather like this one for its bold and colorful designs. I couldn't find a site that had larger scans of all the cards, but if there was one on this list that I would get, I think it would be this one. I even kind of like that cactus on the Hermit. Maybe they put it there to show that he's in a desert, where Hermits traditionally live. But that particular kind of cactus places him in a part of the world that I love -- the only place that saguaro cacti grow, the Sonora desert.

The Hermetic Tarot. Obsessively detailed and fascinating. There is something about it that makes me wonder, “On average, how many bong hits did the artist take per card?” It definitely reminds me of stoner art, as personally witnessed (and possibly created) by moi.

Initiatory Tarot of the Golden Dawn. Here I totally agree with the criticism of the comic-book art. Of all of these, it’s the one I like least. Even though the artwork is more professional, it just feels flat. It has no mystery. Also, nobody’s ass is shaped like the one on the Star, wth.

I didn't really look that closely at the others, though I did google Book T and have been reading bits of it this afternoon (I can't digest the whole thing at once!) I had a mad impulse to draw my own GD deck which was swiftly shouted down by the rational part of my brain.

I can understand the desire for a true GD deck with really beautiful artwork. One in a historically appropriate style, done with the care and attention that such a rich tradition deserves. Maybe it will happen someday.

On the other hand, the amateur quality of the decks that exist seems appropriate to the original Golden Dawn idea that members should draw the tarot themselves. I've seen pictures of Yeats' journal and there was something of a resemblance to the Regardi/Wang style.

Thanks again for compiling the information on these decks, Lord A. and like Le Fanu said, I enjoyed reading your thoughts on them. I hope eventually someone will come out with the perfect GD deck for you. Cheers, L.

Abrac said:

At the end of her article, The Golden Dawn Minor Arcana, Mary Greer recommends the Classic Golden Dawn Tarot by Richard Dudschus and David Sledzinski. She's studied the GD tarot quite a bit and should know. From what I've read and umderstand about the GD tarot I think she's probably right. A little more info and images here at Tarot Garden. Unfortunately it's out of print though.

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I bought one from the artists not that long ago... they printed 1200... Needless to say I can't find the link, but still... someone here might know something...

ETA some serious googling brought this up; the site doesn't work, but writing to the publishers address as listed just might...

http://www.psdirectory.com/stores/books/dandspublishing.com

The address still seems to have Sledzinski's name attached to it...

Alteratives..

There might be a few other alternatives, but they take on other agendas. I wonder if Servants of Light or the Gill Tarot can qualify as a Golden Dawn deck. Delores Ashkroft Norwicki's group was one of the successors of the GD.

I thought of Lon Duquette's Ceremonial Magick deck, but artwise it does seem sketchy even if it is very magically thought out.

The other option I thought of is taking a deck you find beautiful and personalizing it to be
more aligned to a GD magical practice.

I had an idea from looking at the easy introduction in Israel Regardie's Tree of Life, on the chapter of Yoga and 'sMagic, from seeing the Alchemical illustrations...that a nice contender for personalizing a GD derived study would be using a color-your-own magical notebook of Robert Place's take on Alchemical Tarot symbolism

Journal ($18)...
http://tarotconnection.net/shop/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=10&products_id=113

Alchemical symbolism booklet ($12)
http://tarotconnection.net/shop/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=10&products_id=186

The colored deck of the Alchemical Tarot and Alchemical Tarot Renewed is out of print and pricy, but the notebook and booklet option with classlical illustrations above--you could personalize with GD study, sigils, etc, to making talismans or practising the alchemical side of one's study.
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The other idea is that I noticed is that the Sharman Caselli Tarot was used in illustrations to the book by Phillip Carr-Gomm in English Magic -- although it was a more generic summary of different British-derived magical thinkings...perhaps, if you were inclined to add and personalize your tarot in a 'color - your - own' exercise, maybe this would be another way to go.
.....
I also agree, it has been curious that the lovely synthesis of GD magickal thinking hasn't yielded one or two more artistic GD-21st century tarots than the classical Rider Waite or Thoth. I think the Lon Duquette Ceremonial Magick tarot is worthy of study, but I resonated more with a classical style of the Alchemical -- just my taste.

Hopefully this is still on topic.

I think I need that Alchemical Symbolism booklet...!!! Thank you Cerulean.

I'm off to look up the alternative decks you suggested, as well.

Cerulean said:

I also agree, it has been curious that the lovely synthesis of GD magickal thinking hasn't yielded one or two more artistic GD-21st century tarots than the classical Rider Waite or Thoth. I think the Lon Duquette Ceremonial Magick tarot is worthy of study, but I resonated more with a classical style of the Alchemical -- just my taste.

Hopefully this is still on topic.

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Actually the Classical Rider-Waite and Thoth are not pure Golden Dawn, it is true Waite and Crowley took the teachings of the Golden Dawn, but they apply their own ideas and other teachings.

If you look closely at the Fool in Waite's Tarot there is a hidden Hebrew letter Shin in his robe. The Fool in the Golden Dawn Hebrew letter is Aleph. Waite was trying to merge the teachings of Papus and the French School and the Golden Dawn teaching. His tarot was trying to get the best of both schools. In other words, the Fool is both Aleph and Shin. The 0 numbering on the card represents Aleph and the Shin hidden in the robe represents Shin of Eliphas Levi. His Pictorial Key describes the Fool's journey as the key to the tarot. Waite claimed he could not give the Golden Dawn symbolism directly due to his oaths he has made.

Crowley merged the Golden Dawn with his system of Thelema, such as Horus the Egyptian Hawk God as Adjustment (Judgment).He also included Tantra and other Eastern religion philosophy into his deck such as the two of wands.

Both these decks are my favorites, but as mentioned earlier there is no pure Golden Dawn symbolism deck that can match these two.

I also added the Romanian Golden Dawn Tarot on the initial post above.