2009 Llewellyn deck, Wizards Tarot
Shade
Debra said:
Yeah this really bugged me. HP had a very diverse group of kids and even some interracial dating. Several of he cards seemed very beautiful to me; but I am not really comfortable with the extent to which it seems to rip off Harry Potter. Now... there are a LOT of book series about magical academies.... I'm not trying to say the idea only belongs to Rowling (I loved the Black Magician trilogy) but this seems to close to Harry Potter for me. I should give it a few more views to be fair.
But yeah... everyone is white... and a lot are staring directly into the "lens" which is a little creepy.
On the other hand, having each card be an instructor for the reader.... that is creative and has potential. It's possible i am not able to see the forest for the trees yet.
WinterRose
*ahem* Getting back on topic....
I've just seen this.
I love it as artwork, and I like the idea - but I don't think it works as a tarot deck. As Scion says, it's too....well, fluffy. I think I liked the music more than the deck, to be honest! If I got it, it'd have to be as a collector's deck, just for the artwork. Which, I admit, is stunning. And I do like the way the cards relate to each other, being related to the world of the Mandrake Academy. But it really is too Harry-Potterish for me. And I am also wary that they don't show any minor arcana. The re-titling of Death to 'Transformation' doesn't work for me, either. 'Transformation', along with that image, suggests a painless process, whereas I see the Death card as being quite painful and traumatic, usually with intense emotions attached. Scion had it right when he said it was a 'twee' and 'fluffy' deck.
I've just seen this.
I love it as artwork, and I like the idea - but I don't think it works as a tarot deck. As Scion says, it's too....well, fluffy. I think I liked the music more than the deck, to be honest! If I got it, it'd have to be as a collector's deck, just for the artwork. Which, I admit, is stunning. And I do like the way the cards relate to each other, being related to the world of the Mandrake Academy. But it really is too Harry-Potterish for me. And I am also wary that they don't show any minor arcana. The re-titling of Death to 'Transformation' doesn't work for me, either. 'Transformation', along with that image, suggests a painless process, whereas I see the Death card as being quite painful and traumatic, usually with intense emotions attached. Scion had it right when he said it was a 'twee' and 'fluffy' deck.
teomat
Oh dear...
I'm sure the artist must have spent ages on it, but these CGI decks tread a fine line between being classy or cheesy. And unfortunately this is VERY cheesy. And tacky. It really makes me cringe.
It's already dated before it's even published.
And to say it's connected with Harry Potter in any way is an insult IMO (to Rowling that is).
I'm sure the artist must have spent ages on it, but these CGI decks tread a fine line between being classy or cheesy. And unfortunately this is VERY cheesy. And tacky. It really makes me cringe.
It's already dated before it's even published.
And to say it's connected with Harry Potter in any way is an insult IMO (to Rowling that is).
Scion
I know I should let it go... but I was thinking about this deck last evening trying to figure out why it got under my skin. And I realized something, a dangling thread that unraveled some of my thoughts: MANDRAKE!
The Academy is called Mandrake because it's a generically occult-sounding word with a certain degree of specificity. A little bit like lazy fantasy authors using facts cribbed from other novels. The Mandrake here is just a spooky word with spooky connotations. Like calling it the Trismegistos Academy or the KONX OM PAX Academy... though actually either of those would be more appropriate and indicative of a grasp of the history. Does anyone here think the word Mandrake was chosen because of the actual magical properties of Mandrake? More importantly WHICH properties and in which magical tradition? I don't believe that Corinne or Llewellyn meant to name any academy for a terrifying poisonous aphrodisiac that kills people the moment it's unearthed.
The fact is, in this context the word "Mandrake" is used as a kind of bland homonym, stripped of meaning and context because it sounds cool. It doesn't refer to actual magical Mandrake in any tradition: the real-life dog-killing, aphrodisiac, phosphorescent, demon-summoning, semi-mortal root crafted by Lucifer which grows under the gibbet and screams when it's harvested, useful as a poison and a sedative and for gout and finding treasure and starting wars and speeding exorcism and building a homunculus. This is not the Mandrake that Solomon used to command Djinn or that Circe used to turn sailors into swine. That Mandrake is concrete and dangerous and real. It requires research and a degree of gravitas and that you scrub the dirt from it once you've gotten it home. Frankly, what school would use that root as an emblem unless it specialized in Murder or Orgies?
Nope. This is Mandrake-Lite. Self-help Mandrake. Angeles-Arrien-esque Mandrake. Like the goofy greeting card vision of the world that Hallmark has given us... in which holidays are interchangeable, distinguished only by some basic icons and a pre-assigned palette. If it's pink and green it must be Easter, if it's orange and black it's Halloween. Toothless and insipid and insidious. A world of empty affirmations and affectionless hugs designed to numb us into a stupor of consumer bliss.
And to be clear, I think the conceit of each card being a teacher is clever; too cute for me, yes, but I get it. I can grok it. BUT if the Majors are going to be teachers then they had better know something, reflect knowledge, convey meaning, that I do not have on my own. They must actually teach, or else they are only a facile pose of education. So I have to look at those majors and determine who would reap benefit, who would learn from them. Which is why I (and a bunch of other folks) think this deck is a calculated move by Llewellyn. I can imagine all too clearly the conversations with Llewellyn where certain shifts in the project occurred. I can almost reenact the marketing meeting. They are ALWAYS looking for ways to harvest the tween dollar. Witness their torrent of lucrative moronic Ravenwolf mush. Maybe the Minors will redeem all. Here's hoping.
These are the things that make me feel like the world is being flushed into a sewer of lazy cliches. I apologize for going on... but that Mandrake thing would not let me go until I'd articulated it.
Scion
The Academy is called Mandrake because it's a generically occult-sounding word with a certain degree of specificity. A little bit like lazy fantasy authors using facts cribbed from other novels. The Mandrake here is just a spooky word with spooky connotations. Like calling it the Trismegistos Academy or the KONX OM PAX Academy... though actually either of those would be more appropriate and indicative of a grasp of the history. Does anyone here think the word Mandrake was chosen because of the actual magical properties of Mandrake? More importantly WHICH properties and in which magical tradition? I don't believe that Corinne or Llewellyn meant to name any academy for a terrifying poisonous aphrodisiac that kills people the moment it's unearthed.
The fact is, in this context the word "Mandrake" is used as a kind of bland homonym, stripped of meaning and context because it sounds cool. It doesn't refer to actual magical Mandrake in any tradition: the real-life dog-killing, aphrodisiac, phosphorescent, demon-summoning, semi-mortal root crafted by Lucifer which grows under the gibbet and screams when it's harvested, useful as a poison and a sedative and for gout and finding treasure and starting wars and speeding exorcism and building a homunculus. This is not the Mandrake that Solomon used to command Djinn or that Circe used to turn sailors into swine. That Mandrake is concrete and dangerous and real. It requires research and a degree of gravitas and that you scrub the dirt from it once you've gotten it home. Frankly, what school would use that root as an emblem unless it specialized in Murder or Orgies?
Nope. This is Mandrake-Lite. Self-help Mandrake. Angeles-Arrien-esque Mandrake. Like the goofy greeting card vision of the world that Hallmark has given us... in which holidays are interchangeable, distinguished only by some basic icons and a pre-assigned palette. If it's pink and green it must be Easter, if it's orange and black it's Halloween. Toothless and insipid and insidious. A world of empty affirmations and affectionless hugs designed to numb us into a stupor of consumer bliss.
And to be clear, I think the conceit of each card being a teacher is clever; too cute for me, yes, but I get it. I can grok it. BUT if the Majors are going to be teachers then they had better know something, reflect knowledge, convey meaning, that I do not have on my own. They must actually teach, or else they are only a facile pose of education. So I have to look at those majors and determine who would reap benefit, who would learn from them. Which is why I (and a bunch of other folks) think this deck is a calculated move by Llewellyn. I can imagine all too clearly the conversations with Llewellyn where certain shifts in the project occurred. I can almost reenact the marketing meeting. They are ALWAYS looking for ways to harvest the tween dollar. Witness their torrent of lucrative moronic Ravenwolf mush. Maybe the Minors will redeem all. Here's hoping.
These are the things that make me feel like the world is being flushed into a sewer of lazy cliches. I apologize for going on... but that Mandrake thing would not let me go until I'd articulated it.
Scion
Soothsayer
I quite like the artwork but that's about it.
la-luna
Scion said:
well looking at the female "professors" i would go for the later of those
but looking at the fool - well I'm perhaps the only one with that feeling but to me it looks as she's going to sacrifice that cuddly looking rabbit into the fire...
as for the rest there well hidden underneath all those layers of cosmetic there might have been some good ideas but none is appearing in the finished product.
perhaps one nice to have but not as a DECK but as 78 pieces on tarot-inspired art (in the broadest sence - bit too slick and gratious for me to be called art)
(will i buy one ? ... parhaps after all I'm a collector )
teomat
And mandrakes feature in the second Harry Potter book. Another example of this deck aiming for the HP crowd.Scion said:
But at least Rowling did some research on them for the book...
Perhaps there's a reason (which will be explained) as to why it's the title of this Academy, but at the moment, it's just comes across as another bit of HP 'borrowing'.
sapienza
Scion said:
la-luna said:
I think it's completely tacky. I found it vaguely fun to watch through the little clip on the web-site, wondering what each card may be, but I was already over it by the time I got to the end. I'm a big fan of the Harry Potter books and this just seems like a total rip-off to me. Like Scion, I think the idea of the majors being teachers is clever, but...well, I just don't feel there is too much I can learn from these images.
FaireMaiden said:
And apart from anything else, what FaireMaiden has said above will be the biggest reason I wouldn't consider buying this deck. There are many other reasons, but frankly, I'm sick to death of the way women are portrayed in a lot of these decks. The star and moon.....I mean bloody hell.... the star would lose her top if she moved and inch....and the moon....just SO awfully inappropriate.
It's a shame....I expect there were some great ideas behind the concept of this deck....destroyed by the desire for the mighty dollar once again!
Alan Ross
Frankly, I wonder how much perceptions of this deck have been influenced by the Harry Potteresque marketing gimmick, rather than the cards themselves. I don't find the cards that are shown to be that bad. From what I can tell, there is real symbolic depth to the cards. I love the references to Odin and the upside down hanging picture in the Hanged Man. The High Priestess, with her triple goddess tiara, is another favorite. The reference to Chiron, the wise centaur from Greek myth, in the Hierophant reminds me of the Spiral Tarot. I also love the references to the three fates in the Wheel of Fortune and Maat in Justice. The Moon is absolutely stunning!
I also appreciate the subtle way that astrological and kabbalistic correspondences have been integrated into the images. You don't normally find those correspondences in a "fluffy" deck. The only card I find somewhat cheesy is the witch on a broomstick in The Chariot. I'm not fond of renamed majors, but the renamed Devil card is understandable in a deck with Wiccan influences.
Alan
I also appreciate the subtle way that astrological and kabbalistic correspondences have been integrated into the images. You don't normally find those correspondences in a "fluffy" deck. The only card I find somewhat cheesy is the witch on a broomstick in The Chariot. I'm not fond of renamed majors, but the renamed Devil card is understandable in a deck with Wiccan influences.
The only ones I see staring directly into the "lens" are The Emperor and the angel in The Lovers. There are a few others who are facing the "camera," but are looking slightly down (Justice looking down at her scales, Temperance looking down at his test tubes, the Dark Lord looking down at his pets) or up (Transfiguration).shade said:
Alan
