Karma Tarot

On Monday I found myself wandering through a used bookstore here. Naturally the first place I checked out was the Tarot and divination section. Lo! And behold! I found The Karma Tarot! I can't recall that I've seen anything about this deck before. It is roughly based on the RWS, but some cards vary quite a bit from that "standard". In fact some cards are very Tarot de Marseilles in their images, such as Death and The Juggler (Magician). In fact, most of the Majors more closely resemble the TdM than the RWS.

However, the Minor Arcana are all illustrated. But these illustrations are sometimes wildly different from other decks I've seen, though usually conveying very RWS-like interpretations. Though sometimes in odd ways. The 7 of Swords conveys the idea of taking something (ie, "theft") by a person with a gun. The 2 of Swords shows a disembodied doll-like head with a rather fixed expression which makes me think of being unable to think - being stuck (among a lot of other things).

I'm pretty excited by this "new" deck. Has anyone else used this deck much? How well were you able to work with it?

It has been in my top 10 decks for several years now. I only began to use it after coming back from a multiple-year tarot hiatus, before which I found it way too far off the RWS path for my tastes (at the time). My tastes post-hiatus are almost exactly opposite--I prefer decks with Minors that bear as little relationship to the RWS as possible---and, as such, the deck has found favor with me.

It is one of those older decks, like the Barbara Walker Tarot, that one marvels was ever published by US Games and one is astonished continues to be in print at that company. (I do tend to typecast USG these days as purveyors of general public-targeted, widely "appealing," RWS-heavy tarot decks and yet that's not quite accurate, is it?)

Chiriku said:

It has been in my top 10 decks for several years now. I only began to use it after coming back from a multiple-year tarot hiatus, before which I found it way too far off the RWS path for my tastes (at the time). My tastes post-hiatus are almost exactly opposite--I prefer decks with Minors that bear as little relationship to the RWS as possible---and, as such, the deck has found favor with me.

It is one of those older decks, like the Barbara Walker Tarot, that one marvels was ever published by US Games and one is astonished continues to be in print at that company. (I do tend to typecast USG these days as purveyors of general public-targeted, widely "appealing," RWS-heavy tarot decks and yet that's not quite accurate, is it?)

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Quick question, Barbara Walker Tarot is still in print? I cannot find it.

daphne said:

Quick question, Barbara Walker Tarot is still in print? I cannot find it.

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No, to my knowledge it is now out of print meaning USG are not producing new ones. But I am not privy to any official information about that.

And it was in print for many years, which still astonishes me.

The Alida store has it still in stock so does Amazon.com.

Also Amazon UK has them at a hefty price as usual!

I never really cared for the art work BUT I loved the LWB! As a matter of fact, I still have the notebook I copied the LWB into when I began to 'study' tarot and the Star card, but the rest of the deck is long gone.

I was rather surprised to see that the Karma Tarot is apparently still in print. It must be well loved - that being the case, I'm also surprised I'd missed seeing it before. I kind of wonder if U.S. Games would even publish it now if it were presented as a new concept today?

It looks like the Barbara Walker is available from private sellers mostly. And, as Thoughtful pointed out, at some moderately steep prices. Apparently it has become somewhat collectable.

The box for the Karma Tarot has changed, so I believe USG has reprinted it.

rwcarter said:

The box for the Karma Tarot has changed, so I believe USG has reprinted it.

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The one I just acquired seems to be from the first printing, 1983. Interestingly, it does not have a bar-code on it. The only other deck I have with no bar-code on the box is my mother's old Albano-Waite from the '60's.

Yes, the orange box with the Page Swords on the front and Juggler on the back. Per http://www.usgamesinc.com/Karma-Tarot-Deck/ the new box has Lilith (Empress) on the front. It's strange that they left the 10 digit ISBN for the deck instead of adding in a 13 digit as is more standard these days.

The 10 character ISBN brings up the orange box on Amazon and the new box on Barnes & Noble. (Which is why I have a sealed orange box next to me as I type - I ordered thinking it was the new printing and it wasn't. And they STILL haven't changed that picture even after my feedback....)