The Bohemian Gothic Tarot

HearthCricket said:

Hehe...you think that is disturbing. Get ready for this! It was quite common, after someone died, especially a child, to dress them up, prop them angelic-like in their bed, and have a picture taken of you sitting beside your dead child. Nothing like rushing out to find a photographer before your child starts to, um, rot away....

Sigh...

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Those albums are fascinating and very sad to look at. But so so many children died before the age of 5. A woman would have 10 children and have 3 or so left. There are many sites on the net with funeral photo's from that time period...chilling.

I think it was the newness of photography and the wanting to remember a loved ones face...it's a panic thought...after someone you loved dies and in the midst of grief you can't seem to call up their features or smile. Death was just a day to day part of their lives, it was a reality in there face. So to them there was nothing weird about it. Death in the modern era has turned into a removed clinical experience for the most part, with most dying at a hospital (living longer is a factor in that too) instead of at home or at younger ages. Then their shipped off to morgues where they're gutted, pumped full of colour and transformed so they look as "alive" as possible. Now to me that process is disturbing and horrifying.

The 10 of Cups is very haunting, a perfect fit. You have the happiness of the small family, then the one left out....crushed and neglected in the background...very realistic! This image seems like it's going to open a whole new interpertation for this card.

Do you have any ideas on why you think the 4 of Wands is the last card? Perhaps it's celebatory, happiness aspect?

I'm not sure Haunted. I think we are just about to go off and do something very different now, so I wonder if it shows that we will leave tarot behind for a bit and work with a small team instead on our new project?

I will do a reading on it at some point. Interesting as usually it's the dreaded Knight of Swords that gets left to last or near to last. The Four of Wands has such a different tone.

By the way, we have two death photos - acquired here - and we thought about including them in the deck but in the end they just weren't quite right. It is odd to see them "in the flesh" as it were.

Death photos - yes, I have seen one real one. There is one, or two I think, in a collection of family photos my husband's sister has from their mother's side. "All dressed up and no place to go." (sorry - that line from a church skit just came to me.)

Well my CC is officially gone. So glad I ordered one deck from the BBStudio before it went by the wayside.

I will get to know it for a while before contemplating getting the book later on. Gesh - I feel I know it already. Just need to fan some out for a reading is all that's left.

*S*

In general the Victorians didn't seem like very happy people, perhaps this deck shows what it was really like back then. The 10 of Cups reminds me of scenes from the Collins Family Album (Dark Shadows reference--they spent a lot of time in the 1800s). All those supressed emotions were bound to eventually find expression in unhealthy ways. It is all very interesting.

Tomsde said:

In general the Victorians didn't seem like very happy people, perhaps this deck shows what it was really like back then.

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That's a huge misconception. If someone were to read the history and the like..they were just as muti-faceted and normal as us. Since I was a child I've read every book I could find on this time period, so I know it very well.

I don't think this deck is somehow representative of how life was really like in that era. How on earth could it be? I'm admit I am kinda confused by that statement. Also the Gothic this tarot is based on also incorporates the early Gothic (1760's-1830's), very well before the Victorian time period.
It's a deck that perhaps shows more their imagination and how things and the world looked to them when reading their beloved gothic novels, ghoulish chapbooks and fireside ghost stories!

baba-prague said:

By the way, we have two death photos - acquired here - and we thought about including them in the deck but in the end they just weren't quite right. It is odd to see them "in the flesh" as it were.

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That's weird. I thought from the baby's colouration and dress in the 10 of Cups that it WAS deceased, and the way the other kid was looking at it seemed very sinister...

Hi baba,

Tried to pm you, but it says your box is full. Thought I'd better check, are you expecting to have the Silver Ed mailed out before Christmas? I've pre-ordered and asked for it to be delivered to my work address, but yesterday I found out I'm gonna to be off work for a couple of months after an operation in the New Year.

Thanks
x Huredriel

Tomsde said:

In general the Victorians didn't seem like very happy people.

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On the contrary... (I think.)

The Victorians were an adventurous and explorative kind of people who lead interesting lives and had enough spare time on their hands to make up horrid stories just for pleasure.
If they had been as miserable as the people in this deck, there would be precious few stories left behind...

After all, those who are best equipped to handle the terrible, the frightening and the horrible are those who feel safe in the lives the lead and who find comfort, light and love around them in their daily life.
It is then that we are truly free to make up monsters and creatures of the night.

Those who live miserable lives are too busy with real life monsters to have time to make any up.

To balance this deck, I suggest you have a look at the Victorian Flower Oracle. Same era, very different aspect.

8 & 3 of Pentacles

Please forgive me if this observation has already been posted, but I just made an "aha!" connection between the 8 of pentacles and the three of pentacles: the dollmaker and Dr. Frankenstein!

Oooooo, this is such an exciting deck -- the work of a genius!!!!


c.s.

cronesayer said:

Please forgive me if this observation has already been posted, but I just made an "aha!" connection between the 8 of pentacles and the three of pentacles: the dollmaker and Dr. Frankenstein!

Oooooo, this is such an exciting deck -- the work of a genius!!!!


c.s.

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No genius involved - though Alex is a pretty fine artist. Thanks though!

Yes, the connection is intended. There is also a neat visual connection between the Eight and the Six - although this was not intentional and was just one of those lovely pieces of synchronicity that can happen in a deck.