Decks with Interconnected Subjects

Tarot of the Elves comes with a novel that takes place in the world of the deck. The different suits and the majors tell different aspects of the story.

Mystic Faerie Tarot - four different stories one for each suit. You see the same character or group of characters in the 1-10 of the suit.

bogiesan said:

Slightly OT: There are tarots that feature pathways in the artwork that lead from or connect some cards to others.

(I don't have the name in front of me at the moment but) There was a hexagonal tarot from a Japanese artist announced and discussed here several months ago. The pathways interested me and I want the deck. The deck has not been imported to the States yet that I know of.

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This one?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r9YkFs2GBHE

http://www.tarotforum.net/showthread.php?t=174753&highlight=hexagonal

tarotbear said:

In 'The Everyman Tarot' the same man appears in all the cards of his suit (except the Queen); there are four different men, one for each suit.

Not sure if this is what you are asking ... ?

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And Mr Pentacles roams through the Major Arcana, too.

I would have thought Queens were OBVIOUS cards for men! They occur that way in the Science Tarot.

I know a lot of decks where one or more person roams around - the Granny Jones is special, and Granny herself, as well as being on all the backs, is in all suits and many of the majors, fifty-something cards in all. But while she connects the deck personality-wise, I'm not sure she connects individual cards within the deck theme-wise (in fact, I know she doesn't).

The Tarot Droga from Poland has a "path" (white on black) that connects all of the major arcana cards

AJ said:

there is a grail one that forms a big picture.......

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That must be the Grail Tarot (Matthews-Caselli). The 22 majors line up to form a continuous frieze.

Gosh, I really don't have this sort of brain. How fascinating. I don't have a clue what everyone's on about.

All I can think of is that the Silver Era has the same person in all photographs. But that's not quite it, is it?

The Minotarot has a special number on the cards, and when they are lined up in that sequence, a storyline appears, depicting Theseus and the Minotaur.

In Reed's 'The Witches Tarot' the intrusive colored spheres on the cards when put in the right order puts them all in place on the Tree of Life.

Such a good question, and it is interesting to see there are at least a few decks that do this.

When I created my deck, I had a vision of having the same characters throughout - a sort of extended family and community.

Strength & Magician were fey youngsters and siblings. Mum and Dad? Empress & Emperor. Their friend at school? Hermit.

They appear through the Major Arcana for sure. In fact they were the captive audience for the Hierophant, whilst undergoing a nighttime story session with him.

The characters in the cups told the story of love through from 2 - 10.
The swords prince also had his journey through is suit.

I loved creating it. And to see the Hermit grow up and take over the mantle of the Hierophant, once the Hierophant passed over made so much sense to me.

So, I will be looking at this thread with interest to see what other decks have similar relationships, or have characters making repeat appearances. I think you get to know them through their story, and it helps make the understanding of a card energy a little richer for it.

Le Fanu said:

Gosh, I really don't have this sort of brain. How fascinating. I don't have a clue what everyone's on about.

All I can think of is that the Silver Era has the same person in all photographs. But that's not quite it, is it?

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Possibly.

What I'm speaking of is patterns that are deliberately introduced into the deck by the use of identical imagery correlating with the divisions of Majors, Minors, different suits, etc.

If the same person for example is depicted on all 22 Majors, there may be an indication that she is meant to be viewed as going through a process of steps 0 through 21, a Fool's Journey.

Another person might be the subject of all the cards in one suit, ace through ten or ace through King, so that each card you pull from that suit is looking at a stage in a process or a chapter in a story. If there is a different person in each suit, you're looking at the lives of four people. And what happens when you mix the cards? How do the people "interact" with each other based on what stages they're at in the cards you pick?

A narrative can be constructed by these relationships that can aid in putting together a story for help in a reading. It's not a feature of all decks, as many have their cards created individually in mind with no links between each one in a suit, or steps of a Fool's Journey.