The Bohemian Gothic Tarot

temperlyne said:

The lady in the 9 of swords doesn't look like she wants to be a part of that dans macabre, but she has no choice but to dance it.
Has anyone of you ever been to the amusement park "The Efteling" In the Netherlands? In the haunted castle a solitary violin playes the dans macabre while elegant ghostly creatures reluctantly dans to its tunes. This card reminded me of it.

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No, we've never been there, but we do have a ghostly violinist in another card. Hmm - well we are obviously picking up all the right vibes!

I think there will be a haunted Masquerade Ball too - sort of "Masque of the Red Death" reference:
http://bau2.uibk.ac.at/sg/poe/works/reddeath.html

la-luna said:

very haunting one perhaps even the best 9 of swords i have seen !
bit also disturbing it looks very much like a dream i recently had with that difference that i was in the place this troubled denzel is here.
and it continued in a sepulchre cellarr with lots of wine and a very hairy fiddler with whom my departed godmother wanted me to marry (strange dream i have)


if that 's not i sign i must havethis deck !!

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Sounds like a seriously disturbing dream, and, as I say, a fiddler is in the deck (more of a beautiful young boy than a hairy man though). Sepulchral cellars will definitely feature - and graveyards and more castles and big, draughty old houses.

I like the look of this deck. I love the creepy atmosphere and the 9 and Queen of Swords look great.

I originally thought the Victorian Romantic would have a darker moody theme, with murky Victorian settings. Some of the VR cards hinted at this (e.g 9 of Swords, Queen of Swords), but in the end the overall romantic and angelic theme just wasn't for me.

I've been looking for a spooky deck for quite a while, and resigned myself to buying either the Archeon or Vargo. Thank you for expanding my options!

This looks much more interesting than the Archeon, FG. Then again, if you are after that, I have it up for trade.

LB

LittleBuddha said:

This looks much more interesting than the Archeon, FG. Then again, if you are after that, I have it up for trade.

LB

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Thanks LB, but I after seeing this new deck, the Archeon is dead and buried.

The way the Archeon has been described on this forum (spooky, mysterious, autumnal etc) made me think it would be the perfect 'dark' deck for me. However when I saw the images, they just bored me.

From what I've seen so far, this new deck might be worth all the gushing.

temperlyne said:

The lady in the 9 of swords doesn't look like she wants to be a part of that dans macabre, but she has no choice but to dance it.
Has anyone of you ever been to the amusement park "The Efteling" In the Netherlands? In the haunted castle a solitary violin playes the dans macabre while elegant ghostly creatures reluctantly dans to its tunes. This card reminded me of it.

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I so agree with you! The look on her face is not one of joy, but rather despair, as though she has no will of her own and must dance with the skeletons. Also, there are more of them, than her, and they seem taller and overpowering her. This reminds me of a particular scene in Legend where the princess has been enchanted and is gracefully, but unwillingly dancing with that macabre looking creature and she suddenly goes goth looking! I love it when I can associate a card with a movie scene or a book. It makes it so much richer. This is a very hauntingly disturbing card~like something out of a nightmare.

I must add that I love the fact that you have kept away from the blood and gore and instead replaced it with creepy, eerie, haunting scenes and details that do crawl into your mind and simmer there! They are very chilling, like ghost stories and legends told around the fire on Christmas night that have been passed down through the ages. It is the dark side of Prague, the mystique and the spectral side of the Victorian age and eras past...

Karen, would it be possible to share the original picture that inspired the BG Queen of Swords? I am so curious.

Why do I have the feeling a scene from Rappaccini's Daughter (Hawthorne) would fit well in this deck?

Embla said:

Karen, would it be possible to share the original picture that inspired the BG Queen of Swords? I am so curious.

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Yes, here she is - beautiful but rather poor quality print which is why so much had to be redrawn. We've also made her rather harder looking - more ageless and less of a straightforwardly sweet girl. We want a lot of shadows and implications in this deck:

baba-prague said:

Sounds like a seriously disturbing dream, and, as I say, a fiddler is in the deck (more of a beautiful young boy than a hairy man though). Sepulchral cellars will definitely feature - and graveyards and more castles and big, draughty old houses.

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well at was not a scary type of elder man but more of a young sexual hairy Pan-type (as you see on some ancient Greek statues - with all the details)