I've finally received my copy of the Necronomicon Tarot, by Donald Tyson, illustrated by Anne Stokes. Scans of the cards are now available for viewing in my Tarot Gallery.
This kit comes in a box containing a deck of 78 cards, with an additional 2 cards listing the elemental and/or astrological correspondences for the Majors and the Court cards; a black organdy bag to store the deck in and a companion book of over 200 pages. The card stock is rather thin, but not flimsy, and bends easily. The images are colorful, yet retain a dark and menacing atmosphere throughout. This is definitely not a deck one would use for happy occasions. It is a very dark, albeit sort of Halloweenish deck.
The deck is based on Donald Tyson's own version of HP Lovecraft's Necronomicon and, going by the many disillusioned comments I have read online in recent weeks, will almost surely disappoint the fans of the original. I, myself, am only very vaguely familiar with Lovecraft's work, so I can't really comment on what about it has so disappointed Lovecraft aficionados. I'm also not familiar with Tyson's books at all, so this review, in that respect, will be quite unbiased.
I bought this deck because the dark fantasy images grabbed me and I thought it would be a nice addition to my very eclectic tarot collection. I wasn't disappointed with the cards. Although more than a few seem to come right out of a video game, others are simply stunning and give a completely new dimension to the traditional interpretations. The straggly haired Hermit (see picture), holding up a mirror in his talon-like hand gives new meaning to the concept of introspection and facing up to one's internal demons. It's one of my favorite cards in this deck.
The Fool is numbered 0, Strength VIII and Justice XI. The suits divided into Wands, Cups, Swords and Disks, follow the elemental attributes of Fire, Water, Air and Earth respectively. Nothing out of the ordinary so far.
What struck me the most about the images, both in the Majors and the Minors, was the presence of a negative twist even in the most traditionally positive cards. I'm thinking more specifically of the uncharacteristically obese Fool, who just sits there playing his flute and can only dream of ever being as light and free as the notes coming out of his instrument; or the frighteningly demonic Empress, who seems to embrace both life and death with equal glee; or the threatening, angry-looking hound guarding the Star; or the menacing sandstorm in the Sun card.
In the Minors, the most striking card is the Ace of Cups. Filled to the brim, the cup shoots out three streams of blood, (yes, blood!), two of which fall to the floor in a puddle while the third creates a beautiful red rose right above the cup.
The Two of Cups and the Two of Swords seemed to belong in each other's suits at first glance, but then I noticed the dagger that the woman in the Two of Swords is still holding on to and I realized that the card was actually perfect where it was.
The suit of Disks, while very intense, perhaps too intense for this particular suit, gives me the most trouble. It simply makes no sense to me from a traditional standpoint. While the images in the other suits seem to follow the usual interpretations of the Rider Waite system, this suit does not. Most especially the Three of Disks. This image is utterly perplexing to me. Even more so when I look to the book to get the author's interpretation of it: Work, skilled labor, craft... He then goes on to describe the image as a young sorceress stealing the arm off the corpse of a recently executed criminal. What that has to do with hard work and craftsmanship, I have no idea. The rest of the suit tells the story of what happens to that arm she stole and it is quite interesting to see the story develop, but again, what does any of this have to do with the suit of Disks??
The suit of Disks is the reason I'm giving this deck just 3 stars. If you read intuitively, as I do, it might not bother you at all, but if you rely on the traditional interpretations of the cards, you will find that the images in this suit are very confusing to you. It is most definitely not a deck for beginners.
I find it quite difficult to read with so far, my intuition doesn't seem to work well with the energy of this deck, but I do love to pick it up and just look at the images and study them. It is a very nice deck if you're into this sort of art. I don't think it will ever be one my main reading decks, however.
A very different, very interesting deck overall. Dark, twisted and quite unpredictable. I'm definitely looking forward to getting to know it better in future and get to the bottom of that maddening suit of Disks!
