Elemental Tarot
From Tarotpedia
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[edit] Description
The Elemental Tarot is a 78-card deck in standard Tarot format. It was published in 1988 by Dolphin/Doubleday. The suits are named after the elements rather than the traditional objects (for example, Two of Air instead of Two of Swords). Court cards are Daughter, Son, Mother, and Father. Several of the Major Arcana have been renamed. The artwork is modern and features flat areas of vibrant color and frequent use of Egyptian symbolism. The pip cards of the Minor Arcana follow neither the Marseille nor the Waite-Smith traditions; instead, they show scenes based on number, suit, and astrological considerations.
The deck is unusual in its astrological attributions. Each card is assigned a combination of two astrological factors, including the eight planets, sun, moon, moon's node, ascendant and midheaven. The number of possible pairs is 78, and each of the possible pairs is assigned to a card, indicated by symbols in the card's border. Another unusual factor is the inclusion on the Major Arcana cards of quotes from "The Thunder, Perfect Mind," a paradoxical Gnostic text discovered in 1945 near the Egyptian town of Nag Hammadi. The text runs up the left-hand border of the card and down the right-hand border. For example, the quote for the Moon card is "I am the one whose image is great and I am the one who has no image." The Minor Arcana borders also include Egyptian and numerical symbols as well as attributions to ancient gods and goddesses.
The 1988 edition, now out of print, includes a small hardbound 128-page book, and the cards are housed in a separate cardboard box. The deck and book are housed in a grey slipcase with the Moon image on the front.
In 1999, a new edition was published by St. Martin's Press. In this edition, the book is a paperback with covers which wrap around and contain the cards, with no separate box for the cards.
As of this writing, the authors offer signed editions of the 1988 edition and an Elemental Tarot software program from their website.
[edit] Creator(s)
[edit] Publishing details
ISBN 0-385-24726-5 (1988 edition) ISBN 0-312-24139-9 (1999 edition)
[edit] Publisher
- Dolphin/Doubleday (1988 edition)
- St. Martin's Press (1999 edition)
[edit] Deck creation and/or publication process
To be added
[edit] Creator's comments
To be added
[edit] Creator's website
http://www.elementaltarot.com/
[edit] Reviews
- Review by Mark Filipas
- Tarot Passages review by Michele Jackson
- Tarot Passages review by Lee Bursten
- Aeclectic review by Cathi Bitzer
