my new Tarot

my new Tarot (Lurianic Tarot)

Greetings, everyone,

I'm a new arrival to this forum. I have been checking out decks on the Aeclectic Tarot for some time now, and never realised this forum was here until only recently (!)

A few years ago, I conceived of and created a design for a Tarot strongly aligned with the Holy (Jewish) Kabbalah, and the teachings of R' Isaac Luria, whose Tree of Life model bears some more-than-negligible differences compared to the European Kircher model.

Early last year, a friend of mine persuaded me to have my design published, but after returning to the artwork, I realised that it wasn't good enough for me. I spent several months re-working the art, layout, and overall design for the deck, and I'm happy to say that I've completed that effort.

The Lurianic Tarot (as it is named) represents a convergence of Lurianic kabbalistic understanding with the orderliness and sensibility of the archetypes found in Tarot. Each card possesses its own synthesis of colour and dynamism which conveys its unique characteristics, without sacrificing the sense of unity in design with the rest of the deck.

I don't know how many people on here might be interested in such a Tarot (I've seen a broad gamut of Tarot decks out there, aligned with all sorts of design schemes), but I have a website devoted to showcasing the card designs and documentation, if anyone is interested:

http://www.basilikon.com/ltarot/

These look to be beautiful cards, Basilikon. I'm not one for numerological significances, but there are many on this forum who are serious about Kabalah, and I hope they will take a look at what you've done--good luck!

That is a very impressive accomplishment. I can see that a lot of study and some careful artistry went into the deck. Very well done.

Your deck is phenomenal and the website itself is an amazing lesson in the relationship of the cards AND the study of Kabbalah. I have bookmarked it and plan to look at it more carefully. Your pop up explanation boxes are wonderfully helpful.

nice site, nice cards.

Can you explain why the Fool is not shin? and why it is numbered?

Why the Fool is not Shin

Hi, Umbrae,

Thank you for your kind comments. Now, to your questions.

While I don't agree on many things concerning the Golden Dawn's approach to the Tarot, one thing on which we do agree is that the Fool should be first among the Majors. He represents the novice or initiate at the beginning of the spiritual or mystical journey. Attributing 'Shin' to the Fool would place it in the penultimate position among the Majors, since Shin is the next to last letter of the Hebrew Alef-beth.

And while every Major bears a Hebrew letter at the top of the card, these aren't necessarily to be rendered as numerical values. The Fool card is labelled with Alef, since it is the first of the Majors. Admittedly, in this particular scheme, it could be misconstrued as a numbering, since all Hebrew letters have a unique numerical value. However, the primary attribution of these Hebrew letters is not numeric in nature, but alef-bet-ic (alphabetic). I dispensed with the popular notion of numbering the Majors, since the Hebrew letter designation served the same purpose (to order them).

basilikon said:

...The Fool card is labelled with Alef, since it is the first of the Majors.

Click to expand...

I recoil.

The very letter Aleph means ‘One’ – as in the numeral 1. That’s Hebrew.

Please please please…one cannot state that they are rectifying when it’s a reconstruction…and just more of the same.

To quote another,

1, 2, 3, 4 and 0, 1, 2, 3, are very very different things. One is Jewish one is not.

I’m sure you mean well, and I wish you well. However I cannot agree or support your hypothesis.

Click to expand...

Echad would be the more likely choice if you were counting, as in 1-2-3, etc. I've never heard anyone use alef conversationally in that sense, though you can find it in biblical Hebrew. Using the letters as an ordering mechanism without necessarily attaching a number makes sense to me.

I can kind of see this, as I usually teach at least some of the Lurianic system when I'm teaching tarot--you can see how the mother, double, and single letters fit so perfectly to the Tree of Life. It's the way the Tree itself is held together--horizontally (mothers/elements), vertically (doubles/planets), and in diagonals (singles/signs).

At which point, students either go 'whoa, that's really cool!' or recoil in horror

The point is two-fold. To show where kabbala really 'lives' in the tarot, and so that people can see that it is a forced marriage to some extent. By that point in their studies, they are going to need to make some decisions, because there is no one true and only way to read tarot. But it's cool, we all do.

Forced marriages can work, and this one does. The more I study the Waite pack, the more blown away I am at just how well and how subtly he depicted the astrological, and especially the kabbalistic aspects in his cards.

Umbrae, you know about this stuff--take a look at Waite's 2 of Cups. Is it not perfect?

I don't know if bringing the Lurianic system more to the fore is a reconstruction, or just a different way of looking at tarot. I'm wedded to the Waite, and I've spent years discovering more--as do we all. But a Lurianic tarot makes more sense to me than a lot of other tarots I've seen. I doubt I'd use it, but some folks probably would, and do well with it. More power to them.

I think these are nice cards, and they may be very popular for the people who follow the particular Kabbalah that these cards follow.

While I agree with Umbrae that The Fool should be assigned Shin, I'm going to go a step further and wonder why Hebrew letters would be assigned to cards just to order them, when the whole idea of Tarot cards (and how I read them) is to focus on every detail as every detail can have meaning. What has more meaning and history associated it than these Hebrew letters? Just my humble opinion

I guess my only suggestion would be that careful marketing be done so that it is apparent what Kabbalah belief system these cards are associated with, so buyers will know what they are getting.

Good luck with your deck!

valeria

Hello Basilikon! Very nice looking set!
How might it compare with my sketch?
Just a friendly question... ~Thanks!