What Egyptian tarot have I got?

[DavidMcCann]

I've just bought a second-hand Egyptian tarot from Spain, missing its box and LWB. The vendor said it was published by Naipes Comas.

The designs are exactly the same as the Egipcios Kier, but the colours are different: e.g. all the trumps have a yellow background rather than a metallic one, the Magician is dressed in blue, and so on. The cartouches have a curved top, like the original Kier pack, rather than the straight one in the US Games Systems version. It doesn't have the inscriptions at the sides that the original had, but the names are identical (e.g. La Retribucion for the Wheel).

The only Egyptian tarots from Spain that I can trace are Esther Casla's (from Fournier) and Margarita Arnal Moscardo's (from Comas), and it's certainly neither of those: they differ significantly from the Kier pattern.

Has anyone seen or heard of this?

 

[gregory]

I recently got one that seems identical in design to the Kier - except that the colouring is different. My titles are in French, though.

Mine calls itself the Tarot d'Hermès-Thoth. I bought it from their (Canadian) website - Éditions-Ganesha. Do the cards in the video here

http://www.editions-ganesha.qc.ca/tarot.html

look like yours ?

If so - mine claims to be a new issuing of the ancient esoteric Egyptian deck, with a booklet by by one André Beaudoin... It isn't from Comas though....

 

[Le Fanu]

I think I know which one it might be. But I'm away from home right now. There is a Comas Naipes deck which is based on the Kier. I have a couple of copies but can't remember the name. Something *divinatorio* . If nobody gets back on it I can post a photo of the box in about a week! Try googling tarot divinatorio egipcio comas naipes and see what comes up.

I'm typing on a rather slow tablet!

 

[gregory]

I think I know which one it might be. But I'm away from home right now. There is a Comas Naipes deck which is based on the Kier. I have a couple of copies but can't remember the name. Something *divinatorio* . If nobody gets back on it I can post a photo of the box in about a week! Try googling tarot divinatorio egipcio comas naipes and see what comes up.

I'm typing on a rather slow tablet!

OH - Margarita Moscardo's Tarot Egipcio Adivinatorio ? YES ! Well done Leffy;

http://www.losarcanos.com/tarot-egipcio.php

There 'tis though the trumps don't all have yellow backgrounds.... More like mud

But wait - the images from tarotgarden don't match:

http://www.tarotgarden.com/database/images/e-decks/egipciocards.gif

 

[Le Fanu]

Yes, that's the one I was thinking of (the first one!) I have another Spanish Egyptian one but not sure if it's Naipes Comas.

 

[DavidMcCann]

The plot thickens... One has to be very careful on the internet, with so much false information: the website that claimed to show the Kier pack actually showed a Mexican clone!

So, I've established the following packs:

1. The original Kier. Metallic colours, flat-topped cartouche, "© Kier" on each card.
2. The US Game System version, which only alters the inscriptions.
3. The Canadian version from Ganesha.
4. A Mexican version, mentioned by Decker. Oval-topped cartouche, added side notes in Gothic script, light blue sky.
http://www.tarot-egipcio.com/Tirada_tarot_gratis_egipcio_kier.htm
5. Another Mexican version, mentioned by Decker, with the side inscriptions in Roman type.
6. The one I have, with curved tops and dark blue sky, bought in Spain.

As I said, Margarita Arnal Moscardo's Tarot Egipcio Adivinatorio (originally Comas, later Cartamundi) and Esther Casla's pack (Fournier) are not Kier derivatives; just part of the long Egyptianising tradition.

Another interesting feature concerns the last two cards. The US Games version has
21 Transformation
22 The Fool
My cards have
21 La Transmutacion
22 El Regreso
but the picture of the Fool is on card 21 and the harpist-world on 22! The tops do not correspond to the bottoms: 21 has the Hebrew letter shin, but the "sh" hieroglyph and letter from the "alphabet of the magi" are above the harpist. I assume that the bottom panels were transposed by accident, or even by someone who knew the standard latin order, with the Fool at 21, and assumed a mistake in the artwork.

And where do the astrological correspondences, or the Hebrew letters on the minors come from? I suspect that I'd need to read Iglesias Janiero's book to make sense of it all.

 

[Tarotwolf]

Yellow backgrounds

http://brigadanocturna.blogspot.com/2008/08/tarot-egipcios-kier.html

 

[DavidMcCann]

That's a Mexican pack, with inscriptions up the sides. Then, to add to the fun, the link to Youtube shows the US Games version.
These are mine: http://img208.imageshack.us/img208/5450/jp1c.jpg

 

[Tarotwolf]

It looks like this is the deck :

GREAT EGYPTIAN TAROT CARDS DECK BY FOURNIER SPAIN NEW SEALED

(see copy sold by Boatwin on E-bay for photos)

 

[gregory]

Yeah - and boxless, just as the OP got theirs !

OT I wish boatwin's postage charges weren't so OUCHish - he has good stuff !