Month: February 2022

Reading and Understanding the Marseille Tarot by Marsucci and Aloi

On By benebellIn book review, tarot, tarot card meanings, tarot community3 Comments

It’s not as easy to find good foundation primers on the Marseille system of tarot, so I’m pleased to share Reading and Understanding the Marseille Tarot by Anna Maria Morsucci and Antonella Aloi first published in 2018 by Lo Scarabeo and distributed by Llewellyn.

Morsucci is an Italian writer, former journalist, spiritual and life coach, who has organized numerous astrology and tarot conferences throughout Italy. Aloi is a psychologist, counselor, and director at the Italian Humanistic Counseling Center, with a background in communication sciences.

This is a comprehensive beginner’s guide to the Marseille Tarot that begins by defining what the tarot is: a deck of 78 cards grouped into 22 Major Arcana numbered 1 to 21 with an unnumbered or designated 0 Fool card, placed either at the beginning or end of the Major Arcana sequence, plus 56 Minor Arcana cards subdivided further into four suits– Wands, Swords, Chalices, and Pentacles.

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Secrets of the Rose Tarot by Nigel Jackson

On By benebellIn deck review7 Comments

Upon my first walkthrough of this deck, Nigel Jackson’s Secrets of the Rose Tarot skyrocketed immediately up to my top faves. This deck is beautiful. Steeped in Christian mysticism, Cabala, hermetic theosophy, and alchemy, the Rose Tarot is a seamless tapestry of Western esotericism. Not to mention the artwork is just beautiful.

There’s a Paul Huson Dame Fortune’s Wheel Tarot vibe, meets an echo of the card layout design from the Russian Tarot of St. Petersburg in the pips, with the color palette of a William Blake painting, all rendered in a reconstructed medieval illuminated manuscript art style. The Rose Tarot is totally my aesthetic.

Click on image for enlarged view.

In the Preface of the guidebook, Jackson opens by describing the tarot as “a language of symbols, an emblematic poem, an oracular device, a game of chance.” Surviving from the European Middle Ages, this deck has truly evolved over the centuries into a diversity of refractions. The Rose Tarot takes it back to the cards’ medieval paradigm as revelations of eschatological mysteries.

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The Incidental Tarot by Holly DeFount — A Must-Have

On By benebellIn deck review, tarot8 Comments

I’m completely flummoxed at myself for not having posted a deck review or walk-through of Holly DeFount’s Incidental Tarot before. I’m still fairly sure I have, somewhere, and it’s simply a matter of me unable to find where I’ve posted it. =P

This is going to be a walk-through of the card images and sadly, at the time of this posting, I believe the deck is out of print. My main purpose for posting this is for you to discover how amazing this deck is and reach out to the deck creator with pleas requests for a reprint!

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Shades of Gold Tarot by F. Nathan

On By benebellIn deck reviewLeave a comment

The Shades of Gold Tarot (or Oracle– we’ll talk about that–) is a 59-card gold and black deck that reads intuitively and with precision accuracy. When I say “intuitively,” I mean that you don’t really need to bring all that much prior knowledge to operate this deck. On its own, it’s got a way of inspiring the messages to download straight into your thoughts and feelings.

If you want to bring in a more psychology-based, case in point Jungian approach to the tarot, or you like to use the tarot in free association exercises, then you’re going to love Shades of Gold Tarot. It’s perfect for that.

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