The Gilded Tarot

by Ciro Marchetti

pub. Llewellyn

reviewed by: David Bruce Albert Jr., Ph.D., [email protected]

In recent years, the Tarot community has enjoyed an explosion of many new decks.  Some of these are magnificent works of art, other explore varied and unusual themes, and many simply rehash familiar themes and imagery with different artistic interpretations.  Once in a while, however, a Tarot deck comes along that not only dazzles with new and exciting artwork, but also challenges tradition with new interpretations and brilliant symbolism.  These decks are so well researched and illustrated that they cannot be ignored or dismissed as mere novelties; they demand attention, they to some extent redefine what the Tarot is, and they force one to examine what one's own ideas about the Tarot are.

One of the first decks to challenge the Golden Dawn and Marseilles traditions was the Voyager Tarot.  Its bold and exciting photocollage imagery and strong New Age themes not only broke with the cabalistic “standard,” however faithful or otherwise to the Cabala that standard really is, but opened the door of the Tarot to many who felt no attraction to the existing Tarot motifs.  More recently, the Sacred Circle Tarot has brought Celtic tradition and imagery to the Tarot in a way that changes one’s basic understanding of the Oracle itself, at least for those who are drawn to it.  More than just a recasting of the standard images and interpretations as so many “Celtic” decks are, the Sacred Circle is a fundamental re-interpretation of the Tarot itself within the framework of Celtic myth, legend and belief.  It is a major leap out of the Golden Dawn tradition, into the world of Celtic mysticism.

And now, we have the Gilded Tarot, by Ciro Marchetti.  “Welcome To An Ancient World Of Magic And Wonder,” proclaims the box in which the deck comes.  Yes indeed, welcome to the mystery, beauty, and wonder that the Tarot is and always should have been.  Finally,  a deck conceived and executed by an artist with the imagination to see within the tradition what its founders never saw, and the talent to present images that are enchanting and inspiring -- images that provoke, rather than subdue, imagination and curiosity.  If I were going to teach the Tarot, this is the deck I would use, no contest.

First, the mechanics.  The deck comes in two versions, one being a custom handmade edition available from the artist’s web site.  Others, much better versed in art styles and critique than I, have reviewed this edition on aeclectic.net; at a price of about $350US, it’s definitely on my list of things to do if I win the lottery, along with moving to Alaska and never, ever, touching a computer again.  Until then, Llewellyn has produced a boxed edition that is of as high quality as any commercial deck can be.  The set comes complete with book, a cardboard box, and a bag that looks like it could be useful as a mosquito head net for your cat, but is totally inadequate for protecting the cards.  Fear not; the prize is the deck, not the other stuff, and it would be worth its price even if the other stuff was not included.

The cards themselves measure 11.7mm x 7.0mm, just a tiny bit shorter and wider than the usual Lo Scarabeo size.  They are not large format cards, which means they are easy to shuffle for those with less than moose sized hands.  The backs have an interesting star and scroll work design, which for those with a serious AR complex about reversibility, is not reversible, although you have to look closely to notice (look carefully at the edges of the red jewel in the center, or the little blue things in the cross-quarter positions).  The cards have a semi-gloss coating which is very slippery.  The brightly colored artwork is framed in gold and set against a black background, giving it a glowing appearance somewhat reminiscent of the Yeager deck.  The two extra cards depict the Celtic Cross and a “Daily Spread.”

The arrangement of the deck follows the “standard” Golden Dawn - RWS format of 22 major arcana, usual suits in the minor arcana, and court cards of page, knight, queen and king.  It was the artist’s stated intention to create a deck based on the RWS so that, “Most users would therefore be immediately familiar and comfortable with it.”  (Quoted from the Artist’s Notes section in the accompanying book.)  Mission accomplished -- well, sort of.  The artist further states: “I would make it visually attractive . . . and incorporate a number of personal touches to insure the deck’s character was unique and not merely another Rider-Waite clone.”  It’s that last bit that makes all the difference in the world.  

one’s own consciousness.  Put another way, the cards must not only be artistically attractive, but they must in some sense “speak to,” enchant, or otherwise interest the mind of the reader.  Without that connection, which is not entirely on a conscious level, there will be no imagination and no meaning.  If you prefer the  imagery of the original RWS, then you may find the Gilded Tarot quite alien.  On the other hand, if you find the original RWS imagery dull and boring, then the Gilded Tarot may be just the gateway your Sepher-Sephiroth imprisoned psyche has been awaiting.

For here, in the Gilded Tarot, the imagination and talent of the artist have run wild with the traditional imagery; it is the traditional Tarot gone mad with creative genius.  In many of the cards, it is as if someone left the door open, and the little creatures of the forest have invaded and enlivened the dusty icons of the old tradition, while in others, mysterious machines that might have been used by Captain Nemo to navigate the Nautilus both fascinate and challenge the mind to look within and see without.  The frequent juxtaposition of earth-oriented imagery with a hint of New Age spirituality brings this deck to life like no other, and should be a welcome cathartic for a Tarot community that has become seriously constipated with “interpersonal relationships” and “discovering personalities.”

Which brings us to the book.  This is primarily a review of the deck, and as I said, the deck is worth the price alone.  Any book which purports to tell you the meanings of the cards, or how to read them, runs seriously afoul of the above articulated principles of symbolic participation and self-consuming artifacts.  Granted, one needs a place to start, something to orient the mind to what the deck is all about, and the book accompanying the deck is as good for that as any.  But do leave it at that.  Don’t fall into the trap of assigning meanings to the cards in the way the author does, or believing that because the author says a card tells you this or that about your personality, that it’s either true about you or about the card.  It is true about the author and what the cards stimulate the author to see, and that’s that.  

I am a philosopher and metaphysicist; my interests are primarily in cosmology and consciousness.  Hence, I read and interpret the Tarot in terms of understanding how the universe is put together, how and why it does what it does, where it is going, and what its relationship to human consciousness may or may not be.  I’m not interested in meddling in personal or interpersonal affairs, and therefore do not read or use the cards in those ways.  Others do, and that is fine, if that is the direction in which the cards -- and not the “experts” -- take you.  This also means that I am a little more sympathetic to the idea of the Tarot as a means of “fortune telling” than most, and not the slightest bit concerned with what the Tarot “ethicists” -- who seem to have no problem with practicing psychoanalysis without qualification or license --  have to say about it.  That is, with one very important reservation.  A Tarot reading is a participatory event in a probabilistic universe, by which I mean that a reading is a combination of conscious, unconscious, and external factors, intertwined with events that follow general trends and not rigid mathematical laws.  Hence, the Tarot is much better at revealing forces and trends in general terms, than it is at giving specific answers to specific questions. It is much more useful to keep in mind the general principle, “If you stick your hand in the fire, you will get burned,” than it is to ask whether or not you should put your fingers in any particular flame.  

To be effective in this way, a Tarot deck needs to have a rich symbolism upon which to draw, and imagery that fascinates, enchants and enlivens the consciousness of the reader.  For that purpose, the Gilded Tarot is one of the best available.  Even if you feel little sympathy to the often dry and dull tradition out of which its images originally emerged, the artist has taken the deck far beyond the limitations and restrictions of any particular set of meanings and interpretations.  As such, this deck should be well received by those of many backgrounds and beliefs.  It may well be the very best Tarot for the beginner, for instead of having to choose one specific set of meanings, the student can pretty much learn from the cards themselves.  “Go to the cards, thou sluggard, and learn their ways.”  Even if you aren’t a sluggard, and particularly with this Tarot, it is a good idea to rely more on your own interpretations than to worry about memorizing someone else’s.

Here are some suggestions.  First, take a look through the deck, just to get an idea of what the cards themselves look like.  Then, separate out the 22 cards of the Major Arcana from the rest; these are the cards bearing Roman numerals at the top.  Many readers consider the Major Arcana to be indicative of forces, changes, or major events about to take place.  Notice that some of the cards seem to compliment each other, such as the Emperor and Empress, while others lock horns with each other, such as the Devil and Temperance.  Others, like the Tower, seem to stand (or fall) alone, while the Sun, Moon, Star and Universe seem to form a progression of sorts.  Ask yourself what these cards, and their relationship to each other, might mean.  Some diviners prefer to include the four Aces with the Major Arcana since they, too, symbolize powerful forces.  Note also that many, when learning the Tarot, start by reading the Major Arcana alone, and then progress later to the whole deck.

Take a look at the Minor Arcana, which consists of four suits of ten numbered cards plus four court cards each.  The suits in most Tarot decks are Wands, Cups, Swords, and Pentacles.  The numbered cards of the Minor Arcana are often taken to mean specific situations or events, while the court cards may refer to persons, human actions, or human-caused situations.  Notice the general color scheme of the different suits; many think of the suits as representing the “elemental” forces of Fire for wands, Water for cups, Air for swords, and Earth for pentacles.  There is a great variety of interpretation as to what those elemental forces mean, and how those meanings play out in the cards, so there is no “right” or “wrong” interpretation.  Lower numbered cards generally refer to beginnings, middle cards to progress and obstacles, and higher numbered cards to completions, or lack thereof.  

Now you can take a look at the book, and see what the author has to say about the meanings of the cards.  But only look; read it as suggestions, not Biblical commandments.  In fact, you might want to take a look at several different books, before deciding what system of interpretation, if any, suits you best.  You should also, by this time, have started a notebook on your cards; one of those hard-cover bound books works nicely, but be sure there are enough pages for at least one page for each Minor Arcana card, and at least three pages for each Major.  You will want additional pages for general notes, and for designing your own layouts.

Which brings us to what most people really want to know -- how does one actually read the cards?  There are many different “spreads” or “layouts” that readers use, and most readers eventually design their own layout, sometimes using different layouts for different kinds of reading.  Some layouts, like the Celtic Cross, which is covered in the book that comes with the cards, assign specific meanings to cards that appear in each location.  I have difficulty with this kind of layout, because my general chaotic view of the universe teaches that the order the cards are drawn in is less important than the general pattern in which they appear.  I prefer to read cards by what is sometimes called “dignification”, which in general terms means understanding the meaning of the cards by how they relate to the cards around them, rather than worrying too much about which card is in which spot.

The layout I prefer, and which works well with a symbolically rich deck like the Gilded Tarot, is a triangular shaped pattern.  First, four cards are drawn and placed at the base.  These are the Earth cards, and refer to foundations; they may be situations or events in the past or present, major changes that have occurred or are about to occur, forces coming into play, or even general trends in the way things are going, given past history and present circumstances.  The Earth is the foundation of all our knowledge and actions; it may be as stable as a rock or as violent as a storm, but it is still the ground upon which we stand.  Once the cards are placed, see if they tell a story or come together in some identifiable pattern or meaning.  I should mention here that readings sometimes don’t work; they seem to say nothing but gibberish.  That is not unusual.  It’s like turning the dial on your radio and then turning it on; sometimes you get a station, sometimes you get one in a language you can’t understand, and sometimes you get just static.  Readings have the same problems, and if the cards seem to be nothing but gibberish or disconnected nonsense, it’s entirely possible that the situation is just that, and you need to reshuffle and start over.  

If the Earth cards seem to tell a story or convey some kind of meaning, then you are off to a good start.  Now, draw three more cards, and place them above the Earth cards.  These are your Sun cards, and while they may specifically refer to the passage of time, or to ideas and thoughts in consciousness, more generally they indicate transitions -- changes of situation, mood, ways of loooking at things, or actions of forces and persons.  Next, lay out two cards above the Sun.  These are the Moon cards; they are cards of the future, of hidden forces, unseen changes, and maybe unexpected persons and unintended consequences.  One might be a Dark Moon and the other a Bright Moon, but that depends on the cards.  Finally, place one card at the top.  This is the card of the Stars; it is the card of the vast and the impersonal, so don’t take it too personally.  It may indicate a general trend, an overall picture,  a piece of advice, or it just might be a “fortune cookie”, referring to a specific outcome.  The important thing is to understand how all the cards fit together into a general picture, and this might even require altering the way you interpret individual cards.  Use your imagination and insight; they are far more important in this kind of reading than remembering keywords.

Notice I didn’t mention, “Think of a question,” or anything like that.  It is usually better to approach the Tarot, at least in this type of reading, without any particular question or preconceived purpose in mind.  Let the Oracle speak as it will.  Wisdom is not necessarily what you expect it to be; you will learn something from each reading and, in the long run, it might be the thing you think least important that will some day prove invaluable.

In conclusion, the Gilded Tarot by Ciro Marchetti, available from Llewellyn, is not only an outstanding addition to the range of decks available today, but a significant revitalization and redefinition of what the Tarot is, and what it can be.  It is an excellent deck for the beginner, the experienced reader, and the collector.  For those interested, the artist’s web site offers not only a hand made version of the deck, but also additional artwork, some related to the deck and some not, that are every bit as fascinating as the deck itself.