Lost Code of Tarot
LeFanu, your post got lost in the thread-closing shuffle, so I hadn't seen it till now.
Originally Posted by FLizarraga
I'm weirdly enabled about this deck. It looks like the love child of Patrick Valenza and Lyn Narciso, with Rachel Pollack acting as the midwife.
I think I need some de-enabling here. Bad. Michellehihi, you have it, right? Please, make me hate it....
Le Fanu: I have this. Received it a while back. Very odd. Not quite sure what to make of it, but upon closer inspection, I can see how captivating some might find it. Pips only, if that's an issue - and it is quite samey so samey plus pips might be an issue. But it has a lovely aged, sepia, papyrus colour - and slightly stiffer cardstock than the usual LoS cardstock. I think, with time, I might like it. It doesn't remind me at all of Deviant Moon or Narciso. it actually reminds me of an obscure Columbian Fournier deck called the Macondo. The same style of line drawing. I think if I were into pip decks as reading decks (I am, sort of, but they have to be more atmospheric than this one), I'd use it. I can see the appeal. It's quite a weird thing to issue as a limited edition. I don't quite get the urge... Why is this a limited edition - and it is - it has it written on the box?
I think I'd find it out to pick out distinct symbols from this artwork, but if you do look closely there is something very clever about it.
I think I need more time on this one. A good sign...
I hadn't seen the Macondo, but after googling the images I completely see the connection. I know that Valenza and Narciso don't seem like immediate matches, but I was thinking of Valenza's self-published decks and, in Narciso's case, of the Tarot de Marcelo Inciso. Those are decks with linear, intricate art, printed on sepia or sometimes even darker cardstock.
I also see something of Pre-Columbian art in those cards (some Mayan but mostly the Nazca aerial figures) and some cave art as well, but it could be all in my mind. That's why it attracts me but makes me fear that once I have it in my hands it's going to be nothing like what I was expecting.