Cards of Nostradamus

[HearthCricket]

I am terribly excited! I just received this deck from Alida, along with a few other goodies, and love them! I haven't even read the book, so not sure if they fall in the Tarot or Oracle section, so put it here, as there are 78 cards. The artwork is very similar to the Tarot of the Master and says "The Judgements of the 78 cards are taken from the famous Renaissance treatise "Iconology" by Cesare Ripa. Readapted for the modern divination according to the prophecies of Nostradamus!

A must have for anyone who collects historical decks. I can only imagine working with this alongside a Minchiate! Gorgeous!!

[Le Fanu]

I see that this thread is a couple of months old and I just wondered how you - or anyone - is getting on with this deck. There are remarkably few posts on AT referring to it. Maybe it´s new to the LoS catalogue. Id been lusting after it for a while because of the artwork, and been dedicating myself to the Jacques Vieville deck, while playing around with and discovering Oracles for supplementary meanings in spreads. The visual style of this one really seems to foot the bill for reading alongside historical decks.

The name put me off a bit though. I mean, the original collection of engravings came from Cesar Ripa´s "Iconologia", which would have been a far better name. I dunno, "Iconologia Oracle" or Cesar´s Oracle". Anything really; I just think this name is a bit off-putting. the name comes with so much baggage. If you´re reading for someone and they want to know about their boyfriend and they see you consulting Nostradamus. I don´t know how convincing it is. Im going to keep my deck in a bag and hide the box. Better I think. It´s the images which count here.

The cards are lovely though. For those who don´t know the deck, the only link with Nostradamus is that the highly symbolic images have "updated" verses by Nostradamus as suggested meanings in the LWB. But it´s all very allegorical and symbolic, and to be honest, I think the LWB is appalling. The meanings have a moral tone which just isn´t very suited to contemporary life. each card has a title, and it´s probably better to go with those. It´s the first time Ive bought a LoS deck and not wanted to trim off the titles.

Get this for example from the LWB; Card 69. Obligations "As a good shepherd must shear his sheep without scraping them, enforce obligations without acting dishonestly." Then the meaning taken from Nostradamus´text is " Fulfill duties, observing the law even during difficult times."

The cards are lovely though. Here´s a link

http://www.isisbooks.com/divination/dup0738705667.asp.

Interested in feedback...

[Le Fanu]

...this really should be in Oracles as it isn´t a Tarot deck.. Maybe it should be moved...

[HearthCricket]

I agree with the name, but love the cards, so I simply ignore the whole Nostradamus part and work with the deck. For me this is an oracle, not tarot, by any means. I have found it very accurate and challenging; one of those "in your face" oracles that refuses to treat you gently, but tells it like it is. It also works nicely alongside decks like Minchiate or Tarot of the Master. The artwork is beautiful and it is refreshing to have an oracle with so many cards, so it is not quite as limited as others might be. I still highly recommend them....so long as you can cast away the title and be content with the cards, themselves. I actually like the moral tone of it. That is what attracted me to it in the first place. It reflects the ancient appeal the artwork illustrates. It works for me!

BTW, mine is in still in the box, but the box is in a bag. The Bone Chapel bag from Prague, to be exact!

[missycab]

I have that deck, but only 36 cards came (it was part of a collection). I did a couple of readings with it.

[Bernice]

I have this deck. I also like the images.
But am disappointed because the card names, card images, and card meanings (LWB) are all at odds! Best suggestion would be to inititialy choose just one of the above to work with.

Bee

[Bernice]

Le Fanu: The name put me off a bit though. I mean, the original collection of engravings came from Cesar Ripa´s "Iconologia", which would have been a far better name. I dunno, "Iconologia Oracle" or Cesar´s Oracle". Anything really; I just think this name is a bit off-putting.

I agree that the deck name is 'off' for these cards. I also notice that the images are 're-drawn' ones from the Iconologia, unfortunately this re-drawing and the LWB descriptions can be misleading as to exactly what the image is depicting because certain elements of the original are missing or tweaked.
See the attatched comparison of the first card (Ambition) and Cesare Ripas' drawing.


Bee

ETA: In some cases the card name & image isn't even matched up properly!

Card 12 in this deck is named Knowledge, it shows a man standing on a crocodile and the LWB describes this as the symbol of Gluttony (..nothing to do with Knowledge). However the Iconologia has this 'crocodile & man' image at Fig. 90, it is named Fasting, much more appropriate.

These sort of 'mistakes' ... if they can be called that, make a pigs-ear of iconography!

Miffed. B.

[rhombchick]

Oh.
The original drawing makes so much more sense. With the wall.
It's a shame they changed it.

Must admit I have this deck. I bought it thinking it was tarot, then found it wasn't and haven;'t used it since...

[Bernice]

Hi rhombchick,

I think I'll go through the Iconologia to discover which cards belong to which iconography factors, it's online here.

http://emblem.libraries.psu.edu/Ripa/Images/ripatoc.htm

Time consuming (grimace)..... but it would be nice to know what the various elements (animals, implements etc) REALLY mean.

Bee.