The Celtic Tarot Artwork by Courtney Davis

Set en inglés con 78 cartas y libro de 158 páginas

1ª Edición Editado por Thorsons en 1990

ISBN-10: 0850309204
ISBN-13: 978-0850309201

This is the first Tarot deck that I bought, soon after it was published in 1990. As a longtime student of Celtic art, archaeology, and especially folklore, I was as taken with the Celtic mythological aspects as I was with Tarot. Indeed, I did not pick up Tarot studies for another ten years. This review is thus from the perspective of a folklore scholar with a longstanding interest in Celtic studies who is also, more recently, a Tarot seeker and enthusiast.

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Again a "Celtic Tarot"! Unlike some other decks bearing this name, the imagery of Courtney Davis' artwork is, however, based on a genuine Celtic tradition, which makes this deck much more appealing than, for example, Miranda's deck, published by Piatnik.

Davis' "Celtic Tarot" is a full pack of 78 large size cards, which comes in a videocassette like plastic box, also containing the accompanying book with text by Helena Paterson. The immediate impression of the product is agreeable and elegant. The colors are rich and yet soft, an impression achieved by an almost pointilistic approach in the coloring of the figures and their backgrounds. All cards have a broad frame, depicting a multitude of different borders in a typical Celtic style. Even though the 22 Major Arcana and the 16 court cards are Celtic in their style also, the figures can easily be connected to the traditional tarot imagery, and the deck can without further ceremony be used also by tarotists, with no special interest in the Celtic tradition and lore. The number cards are decorated in the same style, but they are not pictorial, so any clue to the meaning of them must be drawn from the textbook.

The major part of the text by Helena Paterson, an astrologer living in Cornwall, describes each card of the deck in detail. While the interpretation of the cards sticks fairly close to the traditional, Helena Paterson also connects each Major arcana card and some of the court cards with appropriate Celtic traditions, like attributing the cards to Gods of the Celtic Parnassus and to people and places connected with the history of the Celts. I am not an expert on these matters, so I can only hope, that Helena Paterson's references and attributions are valuable. I am a bit concerned about this, since the introduction to the book contains some nasty inaccuracies, like the statement that the Golden Dawn's decks and Crowley's deck were published in the late 19th century, and followed in 1910 by Waite's. Also a few card spreads are explained in the text, including The Druid's Star designed for this book. "The Celtic Tarot" is interesting and recommended, mainly for the quality of its artwork. The material used for the cards is fine, and the printing quality is as good as can be expected from the technique used