The Fairytale Tarot: first impressions

[baba-prague]

hi, my name is kissa and i'm still a tarotholic

ROTFL - I knew it!

Kissa - thank-you so much for such a great write-up. My goodness, I feel a bit guilty at "corrupting" you though - but hey, well, I'm sure it's for the best ;-) The deck is unusual to read with in my (still very limited) experience. I find that it takes me a little while to interpret spreads as the stories are so rich that there's potentially a huge amount in each card. But there is a strong "RWS" backbone, and you can begin with that and then gradually spread out from there.

Other questions.
Story sources? Most of them nowadays are online, although we used many old books some of which aren't yet online (we drew on modern, but also 19th century translations of Grimms' for example - interesting to see the variations too). The website has a list of the stories (which a kind person told me is not properly visible on a Mac, so I'll try to fix that). I'll try gradually to add the direct links to the tales online where they exist. However, this is a bit of a huge undertaking so it won't be quick! Meantime maybe I can put up more general links to collections of Andersen, Grimm etc online - the links are also mentioned in the Bibliography of the book.

One thing I REALLY want to do (even though I know it's a commitment that I won't always be able to keep up to date with) is - with permission - to post some impressions and readings with the deck on the site as well as expand the number of story-links. I'm excited to see how this deck is used and I think it would be great to collect some readings for other people to see. They could be either credited or anonymous of course - and it goes without saying that nothing would be shown without full permission.

But it would just be SO interesting to gather some of the readings together in one place - I'd love, for instance, to see what "fairytale" rather than "tarot" people would make of the interpretations. Anyway, the intention this time is to make the site a bit more of a living resource - I think this deck is demanding that!

 

[jackdaw*]

*sigh* Karen, Karen, Karen ... One more on the ol' wish list. You know, you don't need to lead me into temptation like this, I am quite good at finding my own way!

I've just returned from this deck's site. My God, if I wasn't just so utterly blown away by the Tarot of Prague (one of my absolute favourites, I adore my first edition!) I'd say you've outdone yourselves!

QofP

 

[baba-prague]

You know, it was quite a new experience at times to work with another illustrator. In a way we sometimes felt like doing all the drawings ourselves in OUR style (and in the event Alex did to some extent redraw every single card and did all the colouring - but based on Irena's original drawings and with her blessing). But at the same time we chose Irena for her slightly old-fashioned, traditional and, I think, distinctly European style so it was important for us not to change that too much (I wonder if people will agree with me? I think her style looks definitely Central European, although I'm not sure I could put my finger on why). Anyway, we all got on well - always the main thing - and it came together, although it did have its funny moments! Irena is a very calm person, and I think somehow that shows also - so we were able to debate different ideas and ways of doing the cards and nothing disturbed her.

Those of you who are "Golden Age" enthusiasts will see deliberate nods to some of the great illustrators - Rackham, Ford, Bilibin, a bit of Detmold, more than a touch of Harry Clarke (possibly my all time favourite - although not always ) and so on. I won't spoil it by pointing out which cards show these influences, but I hope they add some echoes - and homage - that add to the images.

Tonight I am hoping to light a candle (I just like to have a candle when I'm reading and I have some good beeswax ones right now) and do a leisurely reading. The odd thing about helping to design the deck is that in the end you only get to know it when you read with it - just like everyone else.

 

[ArwenNightstar]

Severe Pouting Mode

ARGH! I just changed banks and don't have a credit card from the new one yet. LOL! The agony! The Pain! I can't even order from Amazon without one. I have PayPal and neither one takes it.

I will just be over here in the corner POUTING.

 

[jackdaw*]

umm ... Tarot Garden takes Paypal, and I THINK they still are taking preorders for this (I just fired off a request to Jeannette to that effect).

 

[baba-prague]

Tarotgarden are definitely taking pre-orders. And there are decks on the way to the US even as we speak - although they won't arrive for another month or so I'm afraid. It's the usual thing about the delay between publication in Europe and publication in the US.

But, patience IS a virtue

 

[jackdaw*]

Oh yes, this is a deck worth waiting for ... but I hope we don't have to for TOO long.

 

[ArwenNightstar]

Tarotgarden are definitely taking pre-orders. And there are decks on the way to the US even as we speak - although they won't arrive for another month or so I'm afraid. It's the usual thing about the delay between publication in Europe and publication in the US.

But, patience IS a virtue

My all-time favorite cartoon?

Two vultures sitting on a dead tree overlooking a canyon in a desert.

First vulture says to the other... "Patience, my ass. I'm gonna kill something."

LOL!

 

[baba-prague]

Honestly! What about all those fairytales in which someone has to wait for years and years for something or someone? (and yes, I am grinning here!)

But I must say I relate - we only got 30 copies ourselves originally (the rest had to be shipped by boat straight to the US) and we're still waiting for the next batch - should be early this week we think.

 

[ArwenNightstar]

Honestly! What about all those fairytales in which someone has to wait for years and years for something or someone? (and yes, I am grinning here!)

But I must say I relate - we only got 30 copies ourselves originally (the rest had to be shipped by boat straight to the US) and we're still waiting for the next batch - should be early this week we think.

LOL! I still think Rapunzel would have been better off learning how to rapel or rock climb!