New Minoan Tarot deck by Laura Perry

I'm pleased and proud to announce the Kickstarter for this art project that comes straight from my heart and has taken up more than a year of my life to create:

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1777224428/the-minoan-tarot-by-laura-perry

I created the artwork for each card by hand. They're all done in the style and color palette of the ancient Minoan frescoes, and each one was inspired by a particular work of art from ancient Crete. This is a full deck, 22 Major Arcana cards and four full suits of Minor Arcana (full artwork, no pips). The cards and suits follow a standard Tarot structure so if you're already experienced, you'll slide effortlessly into this deck. And if you're new to Tarot, what you learn with this deck will transfer easily to others.

The deck comes with a full-length, illustrated companion book that details the artwork and meaning of each card as well as background about Minoan art and layouts that work well with this deck. It includes a Labyrinth Layout I designed specifically for the Minoan Tarot, as well as a Fool's Journey and something new: Elemental Journeys through the four suits.

Just a note: I've spoken with Ellen Lorenzi-Prince about this deck. She's a lovely lady and has created her own beautiful Minoan-style deck. When I began work on my Minoan Tarot deck, hers was not available and there was no information about it online except a brief mention that she had made a Major Arcana-only deck that she used in workshops and that hadn't been published. Ms. Lorenzi-Prince knows about my deck and has no problem with my using the same name. This isn't the first time, nor will it be the last, for two decks to have the same name. I simply couldn't come up with a title that had a better fit.

Thanks so much for taking the time to check out this deck. I really appreciate it.

I've followed this deck's creation for a while now. Laura has really done her research and is a major if not the foremost online presence about Minoan history and religion, including contemporary reconstructionism.

Lorenzi-Prince's deck was designed using unedited images taken directly from Minoan archaeology. In essence, her task was to create a Tarot system from the existing Minoan framework.

Perry has done the opposite: she's created a Tarot system from the ground up using interpreted Minoan imagery. And she's done it masterfully with her art style and contextual research.

People who are sometimes put off by the male dominance of the RWS Court cards will like this deck for a 6-card Court system of 24, divided equally in male-female pairs at three strata of social power to reflect Minoan equality, inspired by the Cary-Yale Visconti.

This deck is perfect for fans of ancient history decks and unorthodox deck structures.

Congrats on your kickstarter campaign Laura! I've looked through the campaign, went to the Facebook page (I'm not on Facebook) and scrolled through a number of the posts and even went to the Minoan website and don't see any pictures of any of the Minors other than the Courts. I see on the website that the Minors are scenic, but can't find an example anywhere.

Rodney

I have loved Minoan art/culture since I was a youngster myself, and even had the chance to visit Knossos as an adult, which was an experience I will never forget . I browsed Lorenzi-Prince's deck and while it is pretty, a few of the images didn't resonate well with me and I'm not a fan of the minor arcana as far as how a reading may go.

From what I can see, I really enjoy this new deck, including the minor arcana (interesting use of 6 court cards too!). The only card that seems "off" to me is Judgement - unless you saw the comparison to where the original throne is, it is hard to tell that the card is actually illustrating a chair.
https://www.facebook.com/MinoanTaro...0.1434735618./804826419613776/?type=3&theater

My initial perspective was that it was someone (maybe kneeling down, we would see the back of the head) looking out through an arched doorway. Or maybe it's just me, but a little more depth on the throne like on the death card might help
https://www.facebook.com/MinoanTaro...0.1434735618./625335934229493/?type=3&theater

Rodney - clicked on the "photos" of the facebook page and then just went through from there. I was already logged in, so don't know if that was made public, but if not that would be helpful for those who don't facebook.

Thanks birdiefu,

I was able to click on the photos and see them, but that was an awful lot of scrolling. A representative sampling of the cards should be included in the Kickstarter so that folks don't have to go here, there and everywhere else to see the cards. I just watched the video and even that only shows Majors, Courts and Aces.

Rodney

Naming your deck the same as another currently in print isn't a good idea. Considering all the creative energy you've put into your deck, surely you want an original title? Even something like "The Ancient Minoan Tarot" has a nice ring to it and would serve to differentiate your deck. On the other hand, if you want your name attached to the title then something like "The Laura Perry Minoan Tarot" would be appropriate. I wish you all the best in bringing your published deck to fruition!

Thanks everyone

Aeric: Thanks so much for the glowing recommendation!

rwcarter: I didn't realize the photos would be so hard to access on Facebook. That's where I have been posting my work as I complete it over the past year or so. I apologize for that. I'll upload some of the Minors to the Kickstarter and the website today. In the meantime, you can see the Aces in the video. Thanks for your input.

birdiefu: The Judgment card is meant to be a bit of a fool-the-eye thing. You have to judge for yourself what it really is. ;-) The 'throne' in the original room at Knossos was probably intended to have several different symbolic meanings, especially given the carving on the front. It looks very much like the sun rising between a double-peaked mountain such as Mt. Juktas, which had great significance in Minoan religion. It also looks like a baby crowning at birth between a woman's legs. Lucy Goodison has done a great deal of research that shows the Minoans used the Throne Room at Winter Solstice, which would have been the birth time of Dionysos/Zagreus to the great mother goddess Rhea.

Tarotwolf: Believe me, I've spent a lot of time pondering the subject of the deck's name. When I began creating it, over a year ago, there was no other Minoan Tarot out there. Ms. Lorenzi-Prince's deck wasn't publicly available and was only mentioned in one place online. My deck had its name from the beginning, when I first began designing it. Ms. Lorenzi-Prince contacted me, not the other way around, when she was about to publish her deck, while mine was still in the creation stages, as I was posting the cards on Facebook as I made them. She said her deck also had the name Minoan Tarot and she hoped I didn't mind that she had beaten me to the punch in terms of getting a deck published with that name. She also said she wouldn't mind if I kept the name I had been using all along, since there are other instances of decks having the same name. So in order to differentiate, I ended up naming mine the Minoan Tarot by Laura Perry. I think that distinguishes it from Ms. Lorenzi-Prince's deck pretty clearly. Thank you for your comments.

Thanks for catering for non-facebookers. I don't want to have to go there to look at photos even if they are easy to look at ! (No idea whether yours are or not, because I don't choose to go there !)

Backed, anyway.

Let's not forget the glut of "Angel Tarot" decks on the market spanning about thirty years. With only two Minoan Tarots, I don't think identical names are an inconvenience or a marketing obstacle.

LauraPerry said:

Aeric: Thanks so much for the glowing recommendation!


birdiefu: The Judgment card is meant to be a bit of a fool-the-eye thing. You have to judge for yourself what it really is. ;-) The 'throne' in the original room at Knossos was probably intended to have several different symbolic meanings, especially given the carving on the front. It looks very much like the sun rising between a double-peaked mountain such as Mt. Juktas, which had great significance in Minoan religion. It also looks like a baby crowning at birth between a woman's legs. Lucy Goodison has done a great deal of research that shows the Minoans used the Throne Room at Winter Solstice, which would have been the birth time of Dionysos/Zagreus to the great mother goddess Rhea.

Click to expand...

Ah, good to know! I had a feeling since you put so much work into each card, that leaving that a bit ambiguous must have some reason behind it. Thanks for mentioning Lucy Goodison too, she seems like she has delved a lot more into the religious meanings of this enigmatic culture. If anyone else wants a tidbit, found an article of relevance, which makes me enjoy my original interpretation of someone looking out the archway, lol.

http://www2.ulg.ac.be/archgrec/IMG/aegeum/aegaeum22(pdf)/11 GOODISON.pdf

Again, fabulous deck!