Baphomet: Tarot of the Underworld - by Akron and H. R. Giger

catlin

Hi Jeanette,

Thanks for the info. I hope I will soon get the deck and bribe my coworker to do the scanning so maybe there is a comparison of the 2 editions possible.
 

Jeannette

catlin said:
Thanks for the info. I hope I will soon get the deck and bribe my coworker to do the scanning so maybe there is a comparison of the 2 editions possible.
That would be interesting. I think the pictures may be pretty much the same, but maybe not. Giger's stuff is pretty dark, and the sexuality/erotica in the AGM edition is pretty strong. So maybe they did "tone down" the illustrations somehow in the Taschen edition for "massmarket" purposes. As I said, I haven't actually seen the full set of cards of the latest edition with my own eyes... just a few scans on the Internet. It's definitely based on the AGM edition, but whether it's exactly the same, I have no idea.

-- Jeannette
http://www.tarotgarden.com
 

Frequency

What is this OOP business?

Another thing...

I saw some of the artwork of the Giger deck and it was... well very interesting, but some of the cards -- atleast to me -- made no sense whatsoever. Is it even a tarot deck? What is the point?
 

catlin

As I only had a chance to flip the deck and book through I cannot comment on the deck here now but I think the book is necessary to get along with the deck as there is also the intention of the artist pointed out.
 

Helruna

Hi!

I am confused about the different editions. About two months ago, I bought my hubby the Giger Tarot in a blue box with a spread sheet/poster and the book. It only contained the 22 Major Arcana.

I am a bit torn between hating them cards and liking them. I haven't worked with them, as I find them a bit too disturbing at times, especially the sexuality/erotica part is not always my taste.

also, the cards are quite oversized, which makes it hard for me to shuffle them. They have a silver border but I assume it is a later edition, and not the first.

I agree that you would be better off having the book with the deck, as the artwork is quite "abstract" and certainly a art of its own.

I dare say you like this deck or you don't. But that's just my opinion on this deck. I wouldn't say that it cannot be interesting to read with, but I am not ready yet for this kind of deck...

BB,
Helruna
 

Laurel

I have the 2nd edition of the Baphomet deck (with the CD). To be honest, I've thought about trading it a lot. The cards are oversized and I don't care for the music that much, but something keeps telling me to keep it (even though many other decks have come and gone through my hands over the last decade). So I'm hoping I figure out the "purpose" of this deck in my life one of these days.

Laurel
 

Jeannette

Re: What is this OOP business?

Frequency said:
I saw some of the artwork of the Giger deck and it was... well very interesting, but some of the cards -- atleast to me -- made no sense whatsoever. Is it even a tarot deck? What is the point?
If the Giger tarot seems to make "no sense," there's probably a couple of reasons for that.

First, the Giger illustrations on the cards were not specifically created for use in a tarot deck. In the back of the accompanying book, there is a list of all the illustrations used, their original titles, and the years in which they were painted. Deck creator Akron received permission to reprint selected works of Giger's in this form. There's nothing in the book (that I could find) that says who selected which of Giger's works to align to which cards, but I would guess that Akron had the largest, if not sole, hand in doing so.

Second, the theme of the deck is very unusual. Renaming the deck as The H.R. Giger Tarot may have been a smart marketing move, playing off the recognition of Giger's name, but it doesn't really reveal the point of the deck. The original title -- Baphomet: the Tarot of the Underworld -- explains the "point" of the deck a bit better.

Akron's booklet discusses Baphomet, the dark, goat-headed cult figure of the Knights Templar. (NOTE TO ANY LIST EXPERTS ON THE KNIGHTS TEMPLAR: I know nothing about this history or belief system of that group; I'm merely reporting what is in Akron's book, so if there are any errors in my statements here, keep in mind that I'm just the messenger at the moment.) In fact, the original title of the illustration used for the DEVIL card in the Baphomet deck is "Baphomet," so perhaps that illustration has some direct relevance to the subject matter at hand.

To quote one relevant passage from the book: "Baphomet is the pictorial representation of the self-recognizing God who looks himself in the eye, and of the glance which recognizes itself in its own eye. He is the pictorial manifestation of the shadow. He represents the spiritual level by which consciousness breaks through polarities of thought and advances beyond the borders of human conception..."

In brief, this is a deck designed primarily for shadow work (about which I see another Aeclectic forum thread has recently been started elsewhere). So, in answer to your question, Frequency, I suppose that's the "point." Whether simply matching a bunch of Giger's existing work to the tarot archetypes makes for a good deck for that purpose is a matter of debate, I should imagine. But there you have it.

-- Jeannette
http://www.tarotgarden.com
 

Pollux

GGGGGGGRRRRR
No answer so far...
Maybe they are on holiday.
 

LaLaBella

The plain English premise of the Giger is that most people try to develp the light part of their persona, and neglect the dark. However it's the combination of both our inner darkness and inner light that makes us who we are. This deck has more of a whole person concept.
Once I got over the whack pictures and actually used the deck, I was amazed about how well they read.
 

Kaz

i traded my robinwood deck with maan for the giger deck.
great trade if you ask me, i love love this deck, the art is superb, and yes it's dark, as someone already has mentioned, but i like that.....
indeed might be a great deck for the shadowwork thing that holmes has been posting about (janine renee's tarot shadowwork i believe is the book)

kaz, very happy with this deck