mercury8
Ever since I purchased the Thoth Deck I have wondered about its true authorship. I speculate that it was in fact painted by Frida Kahlo, who for reasons unknown chose to remain anonymous. The dates seem to fit. She lived around the same time the deck was painted, and her dates also correspond to that of Frieda Harris'. Even looking at some of the cards I can't help but wonder if Frida (Kahlo) painted them. Several cards (the Prince of Disks & The Lovers) clearly (to me) exhibit a mesoamerican influence. The fool looks almost like the man sitting in a train on one of Kahlo's paintings. And then there's that cross on the back, which besides being stylistically Mexican, also is apparently a Catholic symbol. The England in which Frieda Harris lived would have been episcopalian, and I do not believe they use the cross the same way that Catholics do. Then the reasons arise why would Frida have painted the deck anonymously. One big reason is perhaps the stigma that would have been associated with her designing an 'occult' tarot deck in a predominantly Catholic country like Mexico (where books were burned for sex ed classes in the 60's). Is it just me or has anyone else noticed this before?