We all know palmistry, and we know tarot. But reading depictions of line-drawn hands on our tarot decks…that’s…unheard of!. Until now, because that’s exactly the ‘in a nutshell’ description of Jehanne Fortin’s The Great Lines Tarot. Now on Kickstarter until the 20th of December, so you can still back if it you like original. A little sneak & interview with its creator to get the concept behind the cards…
The Queen’s Sword noticed this deck in a post in one of the many FB groups I am a member of (I will say it again: if you are interested in something, or are the creator of something interesting: contact me!). It was a collage of pictures, nothing more. But a completely black deck with white drawn hands – linework no less – as a concept sounded extremely intriguing.
Tarot de Marseille?
It is doubly intriguing if you realise, the French name might have given it away perhaps, that Fortin as a tarot reader is purely inspired by…yes: Le Tarot de Marseille!
Of course Fortin realises the aesthetic is really different, as she agreed to when I asked her. But the Tarot de Marseille shines through in other ways: “ The structure is the same. In Marseille there are 4 types of series. First the aces, each of them is the emblem of the suit it is part of. Secondly, the 4 series from 2 to 10 simply show different aspects related to its symbol (Cups-emotion, Pentacles-possession, Wands-creation, Swords-reflection) and also an organic evolution. Then, the third serie, shows faces at different level of development. The last serie is made of the major arcanas which enrich what we already had in the 56 previous cards.”
There you already have the way the creator of the Great Lines Tarot looks at divining with cards, but what makes her newest deck special is: “(..) to build an hypnotic experience, and I used my understanding of TdM as a basis. Hypnosis is an in TdM-existing technique.”
Visual reading
Most TdM readers will agree with the designer that ‘the biggest lesson I understood (from tarot) is that the only thing you need to do, is to describe what you see’. Fortin’s combination of realistic thinking and her inspiration was how The Great Lines Tarot was built. “I love the I Ching, and this is the object I study the most. An Advanced I Ching reader is able to get an answer by reading the hexagram only. For me that is the ultimate goal, and you can see that in my work.”
As for her realism when it comes to tarot reading:“You can’t access something you don’t have already inside of you. The strength of a desire can distort a description (interpretation. TQS), especially if the picture shows a scene with characters. If the picture is abstract your point of reference will be your inner impression and that is what you will describe. The reading [with The Great Lines Tarot] will let you find the real question and then you will also find the answer.
Reading?
So, can she already give an idea on how to read…eh hands, a concept so different from the TdM imagery as we know (or basically any tarot we know)? Fortin: “You can read each card with the classical interpretation you find in books. The most interesting thing to do with *this* deck is to stare at each card as far as a story comes to your mind. The hypnotic effect is really effective.”
Ready for this concept? The campaign is still on KS till December 20th.
Release date: The tarot will be available in May 2018, the price will then be upped to 50€.