Just bought the Navigators of the Mystic SEA

Little Baron said:

All in all, like the woman that sold it to me said, it is like travelling through another world. And in that, it excites me. I just wish that the author had produced a better map to aid travel.

Click to expand...

I have had this deck for years, but have not made the time to really study or work with it. But from the little exploring I have done with it I can tell you that color is a huge design element of this deck as is the Qabalah (which was the reason I bought the deck).

If you want to dig into this deck I would suggest researching some tarot and quabalh, with the understanding that the author has made some rearrangements of her own in regards to placements on the tree of life. Like I said, I have not studied the deck so I cannot say one way or another what changes she made or if they even make sense, but the colors (if my understanding is correct) will be a result of how each card is tied to the tree of life.

I look forward to reading your thoughts on this deck as you progress in working with it. Just reading this thread has made me want to go pull mine out and check out the book.

I think of it as the Tron tarot, since most of the minors characters look like they're wearing helmets and elbow pads that remind me of that movie. The Empress is one of my favorite tarot empresses, very venusian and brings to mind some of the more bizarre Star Trek episodes.

The book is worth getting for reference on details in particular cards, though reading the entire book at once may cause some nausea and/or vertigo.

I've been studying the NTMS for a year or so. Unlike others, I've found the book invaluable. Ms. Turk has crammed (and I say that lovingly) more imagery into each card than I could ever have interpreted on my own. Many of the images hearken back to mythologies with which I am unfamiliar and without the book I would never have seen what she was trying to get at.

I'm actually posting on the cards in the Study Group of one of the Yahoo Tarot groups.

The thing I dislike most about the deck is the keywords. In ~ half the cases, I either don't understand or disagree with the keyword that is used for a particular card. And at least to my liking, Ms. Turk doesn't always explain why she chose a particular keyword for a particular card. Once I came across the thread on cutting off the borders, the thought crossed my mind, but like the original person said, the cards would end up being ridiculously small.

While at the same time that I love the fact that she completely reordered the Major Arcana (starting with the Universe and ending with the Fool) and the numbering of the pips (they all start at 10 and work their way down to 1), it does make studying the deck interesting at times.

The fact that she made changes to the placement of the Majors on the ToL doesn't phase me either because I only have a glancing knowledge of the Kabbalah - I don't know enough about it for her system to conflict with any long held beliefs or knowledge I might have about the ToL.

Yes, I was/am a bit confused about a lot of people saying the book was useless/pointless. Huh? From what I've read it is extremely useful, the details she goes into on the majors is astounding. She gives pretty clear definitions of what each card means.

The rearranging doesn't bother me either, after all the Majors have no numbers on them. I really won't be using any major Kabbalah correspondence when I use this deck, I have never been able to get interested or fired up about looking into that system in depth. For some reason I find it boring. I enjoy reading on it, what's included in companion books, I'm just not going to be doing heavy research.

I like strolling through her meditations online

All cards here--it's rather nice to know the deck/book has a novel and other things going on after all these years!

http://www.navigatorstarot.com/meditations.php


http://www.navigatorstarot.com/

I would pull out this deck off and on, enjoy going through the sequence as outlined in the book, think about this as a robotic or sci-fi-film-like deck---ever try flipping the book to see how the images look? They are so similar in black and white, they seem to move...the design is very consistent and the figures have a similar look and feel throughout the deck...at least compared with some decks that will vary the poses and size of the figures.

Thanks for bringing the deck and book up again...I'm exploring her website. This was advertised in the literature some years ago, but I wasn't able to find it until now.

Regards,

Cerulean

P.S. Julia Turk was referred to with good thanks by the artist/author of Roots of Asia Tarot for 'teaching' or 'helping' with tarot suggestions. Sounds like there's lots of tarot knowledge embraced in the way she designed her deck!

I just saw the first volume of the projected trilogy. It is a voyage--chartable, in fact, with latitude and longitude specifications--through the numbered cards. Vol. II will be the Courts, and Vol. III the Major Arcana.

Cerulean! Thanks for the links. I think I will have to get that novel. This thread has really made me want to work with this deck and study it. I have always been drawn to it, but now it seems to be really starting to call me.

Let me know how you find the novel, if you do get it. I like the deck, but the companion book frequently makes me want to throw it against a wall. I keep wondering if the novel would be better, but I haven't yet wondered enough to shell out the money for it, sight unseen...

I'm not mystically inclined, so I can't assess it, but it is written like a ship's log/journal, with each card corresponding to a co-ordinate and a piece of the "journey" story; told in the first person, first-rate quality printing and binding, I believe published through i-universe--yes, here's a link where you can "browse before you buy":

http://www.iuniverse.com/bookstore/book_detail.asp?isbn=0-595-38781-0

Wow, thanks for the link, Debra! That's really helpful. It really addresses one of the big drawbacks of buying online compared to in bookstores. Is the whole book in there?