Mystic Faerie deck v.s. others?

pope22

My first tarot deck I ever purchased was the Rider-Waite when I was 10 or so...as I said I was 10 and the cards were soon lost ^_^

When I was 18 the pagan "fad" was big in my area, so I purchased the Sacred Circle deck. While I did attempt to study and learn, I mostly just pretended a lot, and put on a {not-so} good show.

I'm 24 now, and Tarot seems to have been calling me all along...i just had cotton in my ears ^_^ I have purchased the Mystic Faerie Tarot deck recently, and fallen in love. While the imagery is beautiful, that's not what "got" me. Each suit has a story that continues from card-to-card. While this is certainly interesting, it makes remembering each cards meaning far more intuitive. 2 weeks now, and i don't need the book nearly as often as I did when I began these first steps {with many yet to go}.

Having bared with me through this ridiculously long intro, my question, is this...do any other decks work in this way? I am sure that one could find the narrative through the suits with the more traditional decks, but do any of the newer ones present it in this way? I ask because my wife is interested, and I would like to find one that is similar in format ^_^ thank you in advance
 

rwcarter

Tarot of the Elves has a companion novel that provides the background to the scenes depicted in the cards. I know there are others, but that's the first one that comes to (my feeble thanks to this cold) mind.

Rodney
 

Leo62

There are a couple I'd recommend:

The Mythic Tarot has minors that follow the story of different Greek myths: Wands is Jason and the Argonauts, Cups is Eros and Psyche, Swords is the story of Orestes, and Pentacles is Daedalus.

The Legend does not follow through a particular story in the suits, but it does show a lot of the characters and episodes in the Arthurian legends - and the accompanying book is great for storytelling background.

Good luck :)
 

mythos

I am interested to hear this about the Mystic Faerie. I love the Mythic because it engaged me with number and process through the pip card stories. I'm generally not into Faeries, but my bookclub has it at a lowish price ... and I don't pay postage. Hmmmm! Off to buy it (oh ... also don't have to pay immediately :D).

mythos:)
 

magpie9

I too like the story line minors decks, but there aren't enough of them.

The Mythic can't be beat for this--I much prefer it to the Mystic Faeries on this level because the stores are so deep that you can go very many-layered & faceted with it...it will take you places--easily--that the MF can't go.
There's the Lover's Path Tarot. There's a story for each minor, 2 Greek myths, one Opera, and Sigfrid and the Valkyrie. I'm spacing the names, it must be time to dust off the deck and take it out for a spin, LOL! Also, there's the OOP Ancestral Path, with a story for each minor suit. Wonderful deck, but hard to find now.

The Fairytale from Magic Realest Press has a story a card, but it's a lot of extra work if you aren't familiar with world-wide fairy tales, especially eastern European. The Celtic Wisdom does the same with Irish and (some) Welsh Myths, but again, each card is a story, and there's no consistent tale running through each minor suit. And so it goes with the Lewellyn (Welsh & some Irish), and Legend Arthurian.

**EDITED TO CORRECT: Cups are Tristan & Isolde, Staves are Sigfried & Brunnhilde, Arrows are Cupid & Psyche, Coins are Danae & Zeus.

I wonder if there are more of these story decks out there? I'd love to hear about those, too.
 

Shade

Other decks I can think of with narrative minors:

Art Nouveau
Mythic
Necronomicon

I know there are others but these were the first to spring to memory
 

Cerulean

Oh, I get to recommend two favorites....Secrets and Grail Tarot

...I'm chuckling, because the Tarot of the Secrets by Marco Nizzoli from Lo Scarabeo has one of the first Lo Scarabeo 'little white books' that actually had a bit of a fantasy storyline. Some people find the art and text hard to follow--because the art is somewhat dark and manga-like (graphic novel), so the unexpected characters and incidents aren't a smooth, delicate storyline such as the Mystic Faerie. Also the LWB typeface is small and some people find it hard to read.

Typically I'd recommend the Mystic Faerie deck-and-book for a first deck set with delicate and lovely art...a very smooth narrative...and I think the result came from a lot of experimentation with many different storylike tarots...I do like the Secrets, but wouldn't recommend it as the sweetest and clearest tarot companion to the young-at-tarot... the Secrets to me is appealing for its bright and dark and strange episodic narrative. So the first pick--in my small opinion--of the Mystic Faerie might be the best of the newer art and story decks?

For computer generated art, the Tarot of the Elves from Lo Scarabeo also falls into the interesting category--someone else recommended it. The style of art isn't my favorite, but I did find a good storyline in the book.

Another deck I like very much and is rather new is the St. Martin's Press newly published Grail Tarot by John Matthews--but the art is very old world. I like quirky as the Secrets and old world like the Grail Tarot by John and Caitlin Matthews. The storyline in the minors is well-told and the majors has quite interesting, but very different depictions. It really is a different deck and may not be to your taste, though.

If you don't mind a deck that has a good storyline in the majors with Rider-Waite-Smith designs in the minors--the Llewellyn Tarot comes to mind. Beautiful 'Welsh' tales in the lovely majors and pretty drawings, slightly different art style, in the minors. Not so much a storyline in the minors, but good explanation and very nice art. I took a chance to mention it, as it's fairly new, has a very good book, and a storylike quality.

Good luck--hope you find what you seek!

Cerulean
 

Dwaas

If I remember well the Ancestral Path also has a narrative sequence per suit. It is oop however, perhaps you can get a copy through ebay where they do show up now and then.
 
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