*A Mysterious Deck

I find the Archeon tarot on the dark side, although it I'm not entirely sure why. It has an edge to it which makes me slightly nervous when I look at it. The images are really interesting though

http://www.archeontarot.com/cards.html

Fury x

Milfoil said:

Ah - ha, found it, Monument Tarot site is now here: http://www.monumenttarot.com/a17Main.html

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oh wow....what did you have to do that for???
i love to photograph cemetary statuary, have lots of them...had no idea there was a tarot deck of them...

what a haunting deck

Rotfl, this thread has just solved a mystery for me. I was looking at one of the sites that show complete decks and I have been toyig with the idea of purchasing the Chinese tarot (if I can get one!). On the site it looked very mysterious to me and I could not pick the reason why. Now I know why! Several of the Chinese Tarot cards have been mistakenly changed with some from the 'Secret Tarot' The Magician for one lol. No wonder it looked strange.
Now that I have looked, I would have to agree the 'Secret' looks mysterious. How about the 'Navigators of the Mystic Sea'?~Rosanne

!? Curious and will also add my own nomination...

Rosanne,

I'm grinning a little, as I have both the Secrets from Lo Scarabeo and reviewed the deck...and I have bought the Chinese last year from U.S. Games....the Chinese below...

http://www.aeclectic.net/tarot/cards/chinese/

All cards of Chinese:

http://www.tarot.com/about-tarot/decks/browsedecks.php?newdeck=50

The only reason I don't think it's mysterious is I think it's similar to Asian manga and movies of heroes, women and men, doing martial arts and keeping their clothes from getting too rumpled in the process...House of Flying Daggers movie had a general accusing the beautiful dancer of being too revealed after one bare shoulder that a drunk customer had done by grabbing her or doing swordplay...(he was not blamed of course--she was at fault. In those traditional cultures, such things are skewed in favor of the male patrons).

I believe all the Chinese clothes have costumed individuals...which is not the case of the Secret Tarots, where the Italianate landscape has goddesses, warrior women and lounging heriones seem to slip out of their clothes in a gothic nightscape...

http://www.aeclectic.net/tarot/cards/secret/index.shtml

A review with more pictures:

http://www.astroamerica.com/t-secret.html


I think in the way the minors are illustrated, with that dancing weave of characters and energy, you've identified a common thread to the way the cards look. The colors are beautiful in both tarots and yes, the Hanging Ghost of the Chinese Tarot can seem mysterious...

Both are beautiful tarots...I have in my next contribution ideas and suggestions...

Cerulean

Hello Theold...

I see your favorite deck is Alchemical.

Would you believe the "Gnostic" Tarot of the Saints might be mysterious?

http://www.learntarot.com/sadesc.htm

While I think of the Buddhist Tarot as fairly straightforward, I don't find the Angel deck by Robert Place to be as straightforward...however I do like his books and decks. The pips are not illustrated and seem like playing cards, but the angels and courts are plentiful in terms of meanings in a slim, good book.

My next suggestion would be a deck where I love the clear colors and ink and watercolor wash beauty--both Italianate clarity in coloring and mysterious in terms of soft inspiration and also odd shadowy cards as well...this seems to be a deck of people who returned from war, walking in country landscapes, encountering travelling muscians, storytellers, inns and courtyards...the little white book gives some interesting meanings that allow for great readings, at least in my opinion...

And the majors and some of the scenes remind one of other painters who did interiors or sky/landscapes...like Dutch masters, the Romanticists...but there are warriors and musicians in relatively equal number to courtly figures. I also see correspondence to fairy tales...not many animals or children though, in the scenes...and you can see the Five of Pentacles and Ten of Swords on the left hand side, lower row are not the typical Rider Waite standard scenes of misery or nightmare...

http://www.spiritone.com/~filipas/Masquerade/Reviews/renais.html

I'm going to revive a thread on this deck soon, as I'm trying to write up a journalized study of this deck...some of my majors in a review have some garbled sentences, unfortunately...

Cerulean

the mary-el tarot came to my mind immediately. it is too dark or should i say too intense for me though

kissa

Thank you Cerulean, I am now commited to obtaining the Chinese tarot! I will think on the 'Secret'. I think for me any image that is not of my Irish/Scot/English ancestry looks mysterious to me lol. Themed decks are a little different, they just look Western dressed up as whatever; say the Ancient Egyptian. That is the difference between say the Ukiyoe/Chinese/Napo and RWS. Does that make sense? The Scapini looks Italian, by an Italian;Rohrig looks German; Osho Zen is beautiful, but created by an American. Someone who got it right about another culture was Paul Gauguin painting in the Pacific. It is strange but not so strange when you think about Art.~Rosanne

I understand what you're saying Rosanne! (and Babylonian Tarot mention)

Sometimes certain art tarots seem to capture an authenticity--or perhaps what we individually find appealing and believe is the best blend of color, energy and flavor that seems more reflective of the time and place.

There are some artists who can transcend a certain art style that is inherited or surrounding their upbringing and we find that we enjoy the flavors that seems more distinctive. I can relate to that feeling.

I do agree with you about that there is a romanticized blend in the art of many tarots that sometimes makes them look like stylized and period cross-overs. Which is fine, as sometimes I do favor the Italian period decks or Swiss-French woodcuts...sometimes the Romanized or Anglo Egyptianized tarots also have their place, as well.

I feel the Babylonian Tarot by Cicero is a crossover that reminds me of the Element Tarot (Caroline Smith?), but I don't mind that it has modern pastel colors and a Thothlike modern structure with the mythic reminders of the past. Incidently, Theold, to bring this back to a touch of 'mysterious' in tarot...if you like Thothlike structures with a certain background of good text about Mesapotamian art themes and stories, this might be an interesting one. There's depth and calm in explaining the older background to such mythology, which has darkness and alternative view of the beginning ...(Genesis is an actual card)...and the art is clear and clean, but also has subtleness to me in terms of color blends.

When I see scans, I'll link...

Cerulean

Kissa said:

the mary-el tarot came to my mind immediately. it is too dark or should i say too intense for me though

kissa

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Hi Kissa, the Mary-El is certainly different. The Star looks like something you might meet in a bad dream. But overall, I like the style,and can't wait to see the finished deck. For anyone who wants a peek, here is the link. Enjoy,

http://www.mary-el.com/

Fury x

The Tarot of Dreams or the Gilded tarot come to mind for me but you could also try Norbert Losche's Cosmic Tarot or Matt Myer's Art Nouveau Tarot. These are very different decks but to me they all have that sense of mystery coupled to a slightly dark feel.

Chris. xx