Because technique and I are still not seeing eye to eye (after a website hack, a website crash and now 5 corrupted files of soon to be published reviews) I went searching for something to calm my bleeding tarot heart… And found Ana Tourian.
I was already taken with her recently released (and reviewed by yours truly) Oracle of Echoes, but after a conversation in a Facebook Tarot Group I discovered more work. Two gorgeous tarot decks, in the process of being created.
The first I plugged today on The Queen’s Sword Facebook page (where I not only post all my articles, but way more tips) and it is also the first I will show now:
A sketch of The Moon (clip is on the FB page), The finished Emperor and the Eight (8) of Swords. See how it differs from what we know? I have a few more Majors for you…Death is a-maaaaa-zing!
Cooperation tarot
The deck is called Bonestone & Earthflesh Tarot and it is a cooperation with tarot reader Avalon Cameron. If you type in the name of the deck in the FB search bar you’ll find a private page dedicated to showing the process of the deck. Think sketches, finished cards and even time loops where you can see, f.e., The Moon come to life.
BoneStone & Earthflesh Tarot has a magic feel to it. Hints of pagan lore, fairy landscaping and Gandalf as inspiration for The Magician might make you think it is gimmicky, but it definitely is not. I think this one is best suited to check out for yourself without me talking unnecessarily.
So take a look here for some other cards, and if you’re still interested, jump to the tarot group.
Tarot Abyss: black-and-white
And then my second little Ana- tarot-plug. If you like this deck above and liked the Oracle of Echoes you’ll ABSOLUTELY love this one too. Especially if you’re into balck & white (t least I am carefully assuming it’ll remain uncolored. At least, I hope so!). Tourian is currently also working on a tarot deck called Tarot of the Abyss and seriously: drooling!
Her signature is immediately recognizable and this deck as well has strong symbolism that deviates from known tarot cards, but is still so, so potent and usable.
Tourian is keeping the spirit of tarot alive and uses symbolism that is pretty universal, but it is definitely not within the regular realm of, say, a Waite-Smith Clone. Just look at that Lovers or Wheel and you’ll know what I am talking about.
Minor Abyss
The minor arcana of Tarot of the Abyss has work that obviously has its roots in Waite & Smith’s work, but still deviates enough to remain interesting and not a mere clone. But I guess for WCS beginners it’ll make it easier to start with this deck once they’ve completed a basic journey with their Waite-Smith (like) deck. The way I see it, Tourian usually picks the soul of a card (meaning) and uses that for her creation.
I can’t wait for this deck to fully come to fruition.
Tarot of the Abyss and Bonestone & Earthflesh seem to be released at the end of 2017. If not…I’ll come back to you.
