Changing the numbers of the tarot cards to fit into your concept is a bold move. One that won’t go down well with everyone. But, if you don’t mind a change in your divination system as long as it has merit or logic, you might want to check out the newest Kickstarter campaign now.
I am talking about The Evolutionary Journey Tarot, a creation of tarot reader, teacher and author Richard Hartnett who put at least two decades of work and thought into this newest concept. The design is currently being worked on by several renowned fantasy artists (you’ll find all their names in the campaign clip).
Missing archetypes
The art is classic and reminds me a bit of the Robin Wood Tarot, only brighter. It’s colorful, hand drawn and not too slick. I think the style of the Evolutionary Journey Tarot will speak to many readers, especially those working with the Waite-Smith (on which system it is partly based).
The Empress for the Evolutionary Journey Tarot
The deck is evolutionary in the way that it adds 6 extra cards to tarot that fit well-known archetypes and that have been present in our daily and spiritual life over the last years. According to Hartnett they have been missing. Cards (or people) like The Healer are well-known in the community and in some oracles, but were never added to a tarot deck. Perhaps as an extra card, but not truly incorporated.
The Healer. One of the new cards in the Evolutionary Journey Tarot. You can see its symbolism isn’t hard to recognize.
Revolutionary tarot
And that is were the revolutionary part comes in. The Evolutionary Tarot is strongly supported by numerology and because of that creator Hartnett decided to not just add those 6 cards as number 79-84, but within other spaces of the Major Arcana. Meaning that this deck has 28 Majors and that some numbers have been switched around. A good example is The Hermit, that has become number VII instead of the IX. And that has happened on more occasions, all explained in the upcoming companion book Evolutionary Tarot.
I don’t know all the details yet, because I have only seen part of the introduction and a few of the cards, so can’t tell you the ins and outs. The only thing I *can* tell you, is that I think it won’t be such a difficult deck to connect with despite the changes into its system.
The Hermit. One of the new cards in the Evolutionary Journey Tarot. This card changed to 7.
Judging from the cards that I could have a peek at, also the new ones, the art is immediately recognizable (it did not even cost me a second to recognize the healer and I had not even seen the title). So, if you don’t mind a few additions to your deck or you are always interested in something original, head on over to the Kickstarter pages.
Creator Richard Hartnett signing one of his other books (on mythology, one of his passions).
Review tarot
Once the Evolutionary Tarot is printed a review will follow on The Queen’s Sword.
For more information on the deck you can check out the campaign that is now running. And of course pledge if it is to your liking!
