Tarot del Fuego * Fire and Eyes

I saw this online and fell in love. Contemporary, vibrant, evocative. It made me think of this ecstatic line from an e. e. cummings poem: "now the eyes of my eyes are opened".

But.

I've actually been having a really hard time working with it. The imagery on the suit of pentacles seems extremely narrow and negative. It's like the artist relates pentacles only to greed and lasciviousness.

I'm curious, what are your experiences with the Tarot del Fuego? How do you use it effectively? What are the question/themes you think it lends itself best to?

I love the deck and ee cummings!

Tarot del Fuego is THE deck I use whenever I'm in a tarot rut and things feel stale. However, my one gripe with it is exactly yours--the pentacles all seem rather nasty, compared to the rest of the deck. In general, I dislike decks that show a whole suit in a really negative light--pentacles are often reduced to mere greed, and the swords also sometimes get a one dimensional treatment.

Still, the Tarot del Fuego is vibrant and evocative, as you say, and it really is the deck that comes to my rescue when I start to feel bogged down by historical tarot constraints or whatever. I feel like I don't always use this deck effectively, but when it's on, it is ON, so I often use it for questions that have stayed murky and stubborn for a time. I also find that it's a deck that non tarot people sometimes fall suddenly and oddly in love with, and the people that like it have an intuitive sense of how to read with it, at least for a while. It's definitely a weird deck all around, and I think it works best if you go with that weirdness.

I'm inspired to go dig it up and have a go--it's been a while. I'll report back if I have any insights.

This is a deck that I've traded in. I agree there are an over abundance of negative images. I've wondered if it's a misunderstanding on my part, but the LWB does nothing to clarify these images. There are so many blindfolds, animals hiding, and beings being pummeled and injured by the suit implements that a lot of the cards just say to me that the sitter better run for cover because disaster looms. Despair is imminent. Better luck tomorrow. Injury seems likely or at least a sound thrashing is in the offing. I liked it when I first bought it, but quickly became frustrated and generally felt 'WTF?' Seems like a whole lot of crazy. Shame because the art is interesting. The majors are pretty cool, but the minors are just chaotic.

bonebeach said:

I also find that it's a deck that non tarot people sometimes fall suddenly and oddly in love with, and the people that like it have an intuitive sense of how to read with it, at least for a while.

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I might be one of the people you describe. As I was getting back into tarot and wanted to move away from the Rider Waite Smith I inherited from my mother, the Tarot del Fuego really stood out to me. It's such a radical departure, not just from traditional imagery, but from the fantasy/medieval feel that dominates so many tarot decks. This one just feels so... well, hip.

I will definitely keep working with this deck, and I think you're absolutely right that this can be a good deck to liven things up when you're in a rut, ready to invite some drama in. I wouldn't turn to it for consolation in times of emotional upheaval though.

Please do share anything else that comes up as you work with it further!

Terrapin said:

I've wondered if it's a misunderstanding on my part, but the LWB does nothing to clarify these images. There are so many blindfolds, animals hiding, and beings being pummeled and injured by the suit implements that a lot of the cards just say to me that the sitter better run for cover because disaster looms. Despair is imminent. Better luck tomorrow. Injury seems likely or at least a sound thrashing is in the offing. I liked it when I first bought it, but quickly became frustrated and generally felt 'WTF?' Seems like a whole lot of crazy. Shame because the art is interesting. The majors are pretty cool, but the minors are just chaotic.

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The LWB seems to me like a generic book the publisher had on hand, with no relation to the the imagery on the cards. As you say, this definitely a very violent, and downright bloody deck. I definitely noticed that even with the more positive cards (like in the suit of wands), where small animals seem to have successfully constructed defenses for themselves against the raging elements or against large predators, these structures seem temporary and doomed.

It's true that the majors seem to work better. I wonder if the artist began working on the majors, and added the suits as something of an afterthought. They definitely do not seem nearly as nuanced, and tend to blend together in their imagery and messages.

I actually really like this deck and I don't feel like the images are negative. I feel like they are speaking to the sort of frantic chaos of life itself. I really like the way that background things reoccur on cards across the arcana. There are a number of shooting stars, the tattoos, even some characters which make for interesting connections.

I can also see how this deck may not be for everyone. The images can be seen as violent. I found it to be an easy reading deck for me.

Amigone said:

I actually really like this deck and I don't feel like the images are negative. I feel like they are speaking to the sort of frantic chaos of life itself. I really like the way that background things reoccur on cards across the arcana. There are a number of shooting stars, the tattoos, even some characters which make for interesting connections.

I can also see how this deck may not be for everyone. The images can be seen as violent. I found it to be an easy reading deck for me.

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Thanks, another really helpful angle. I still find it difficult to distill clear messages from this deck, but I cannot stop playing with it and admiring the intensity and abundance of its images - there is obviously some real potency there. I also adore having images of tattooed characters!