Top 9 Tarot de Marseille decks

Unlike RWS-readers, Tarot de Marseille lovers have a limited amount of decks to work with and aren’t treated to exciting deck reviews very often. All the more reason for The Queen’s Sword to ask TdM experts & professionals*: Which TdM decks that are already out there *should* you collect or read with. Here’s their Top 9 Tarot de Marseille decks:   #9 Pierre Madenie Several Tarot de Marseille (TdM) decks got the same number of votes but coming in on a joint last place (therefore 8&9) are the Pierre Madenie TdM (c1709) and Le Veritable Hadar TdM. These two decks reflect the differences between TdM decks; a facsimile copy of the original deck or a reproduced modernized version. The Madenie is one of the oldest TdM’s in existence and usually called ‘the most beautiful’. Sherryl Smith (from the multimedia tip) prefers the Paul Madenie TdM “because of the faces, because it’s a photo-repro and not restored and diddled with …” Yves Reynaud and Wilifried Houdouin made their reproduction based on copy in the Swiss National Museum. The Reynaud/Houdouin Madenie will be available again in fall 2016. A redrawn version of the Madenie is also available from Mary Packard.   #8 Le Veritable Hadar…

Sneak peek: New Choice Tarot

You can discover so much when cruising around Instagram (also it helps if someone tags you. Thx, LB!). In this case I noticed a new tarot artist and one that has taken it upon himself to make a contemporary version of one of the most treasured systems around: the Tarot de Marseille. (Did you hear that gasp too?) Artist Rosario Salerno is primarily a sculptor but came into contact with tarot at a very young age already. For the longest time he stopped reading after his priest told him he was dealing with the devil. But last year, luckily not being pestered by religious interdictions anymore, he was reminded of his love for the cards again and that made him decide to get reacquainted with a deck. This time as an art-project. The New Choice Tarot is the result and Salerno is already quite far with his prints. Jodorowsky’s Tarot bible The designer chose to make a version of the Tarot of Marseilles after reading The Way of Tarot by Alejandro Jodorowsky and Marianne Costa. In an interview with Tarot T-shirts (some of his work is used for prints) he said: “Jodorowsky has not only written this bible of Tarot, but…