Classics that would make amazing decks

Lets face it the Fool's Journey of the majors is so imbedded in the world psyche that even shows like Hanna Montana can have a majors deck made of them. We all can find a tarot in LOST, Game of Thrones and Harry Potter but let's be honest that those decks are so highly expensive for any company to get the rights to do that there is very little chance of them happening. I have seen so many people comment on modern works of literature that should be decks but I have not been able to find a thread on classic works that would work so here is my question:

What classic works out there are complex enough to have all the experiences of a tarot deck within them? Not just a majors but works or collections of works (be they books,plays, poets,music,art...etc..etc ) that have all the minors in them as well. Most of us can pick out a Fool or a Wheel of Fortune card but does it contain a 6 of Swords moment or a 10 of Wands scene?


I'll be honest that this thread comes out of the fact that I'm currently doing some test art for a deck based on Richard Wagner's Ring Cycle of operas but it got me really thinking.

Les Mis! I've been saying for a while now that Javert is the ultimate Knight of Swords- so caught up in being right, so unable to see shades of grey.

Maybe Count of Monte Cristo as well...I've have to think on that one a little more. I'm surprised I haven't thought of it before; it's one of my absolute favorites.

Not to be petty, but what you call the Fool's Journey is codified as the Hero's Journey in Joseph Campbell's "The Hero with a Thousand Faces," one of the best books ever written in my opinion (Rachel Pollack, who coined the term "Fool's Journey", was also inspired by Campbell, and must have read his book). In a nutshell, what he says there is that every single story ever written has more or less the same plot, the same journey of the hero starting out, receiving magical amulets or whatnot, knowledge and wisdom gained, and then returning to the community having slayed the dragon. I'd recommend you check it out (for that matter, I'd recommend it to anyone who has ever read any sort of story, it's that good!) especially if you're working with the Ring cycle. It also really helped me with Tarot, although unrelated directly.

But yeah, you're right in that many books could make amazing decks. I'd start with the Catcher in the Rye, although that would be insanely difficult to make. The base elements are there, but veiled and hidden.

Another book I'd like to see adapted into a deck would be "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time," a story about a borderline autistic boy having a few adventures. This could also be difficult, since his perception is very different, but would give great insights. This is kind of a book all about the Hanged Man.

Yes, closrapexa - Northrop Frye said the same. I can see most of Jane Austen's novels as working... (and of course there is a deck using an amalgam.)

Also Dickens....

How about a Canterbury Tales Tarot?

"The Picture of Dorian Gray" by one of my favorite humans : Oscar Wilde.


Periodic table using the electron as the fool .
Atomic radius, electron affinity, ionization energy, and electronegativity as suits.


The bible.

Any book that follows the development of a character through a full cycle.

gregory said:

Also Dickens....

Click to expand...

Agree, most Victorian well known writers would work.

I'd like a REAL PROPER Moomins one... Too recent, I fear....

Wells' Time Machine ?

The Aspern Papers - by Henry James.

As a thwarted geneologist, my heart pounded and I nearly wept at the climax of this novel.

I'd have to re-read it to figure out if all 78 moments are there, but I think you could...

closrapexa said:

Not to be petty, but what you call the Fool's Journey is codified as the Hero's Journey in Joseph Campbell's "The Hero with a Thousand Faces," one of the best books ever written in my opinion (Rachel Pollack, who coined the term "Fool's Journey", was also inspired by Campbell, and must have read his book). In a nutshell, what he says there is that every single story ever written has more or less the same plot, the same journey of the hero starting out, receiving magical amulets or whatnot, knowledge and wisdom gained, and then returning to the community having slayed the dragon.......

Click to expand...

(Was it Rachel Pollack or Eden Gray who coined the term?) Anyhow, Campbell's Hero's Journey is right on target, IMHO. In this connection there is also the Hymn of the Pearl, a Gnostic allegory about the soul's journey from the supernal to the temporal and back again, analogous to the descent of the soul from Kether to Malkuth and the subsequent return to Kether, which is intimated in Waite's description of the Fool in Pictorial Key to the Tarot.