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Haindl Tarot. Hermann Haindl. 1990 U.S. Games. - For some reason, I have had a love-hate relationship with this deck. For a long time it did not speak to me at all, and just struck me as muddy; brown and depressing. When I got more involved with Green Party politics, it opened up to me. Perhaps because Germany was the birthplace of that party, and the artist has also worked with the Green Party. Hermann Haindl is a former World War II prisoner of war, and a German who was alive during the Nazi era there; both extremely formative experiences. The central theme of this deck, as reported by Rachel Pollack, is "the renewal of the Earth - not just the material resources, but the spiritual Earth." Hermann Haindl sees the struggle against the possibility of nuclear war and threat to our planet's environment "as a spiritual struggle as well as an ecological and political one". The depictions of a great many of the cards have been reenvisioned, and the meanings are influenced by the Thoth deck. In addition to depicting the Hebrew letter and astrological correlations, runes are correlated to the Major Arcana, 36 of the 64 I Ching hexagrams to the Minor Arcana, and the court cards are multicultural. The courts of the Wands correlate to India, and Hinduism specifically; Cups to Europe, Celtic and Germanic cultures specifically; Swords to Ancient Egypt; and Stones to Native America.
Pollack, Rachel. The Haindl Tarot: Volume II: The Minor Arcana. 1990: Newcastle Publishing, North Hollywood, CA. ISBN 8-87877-156-5
The Hanson-Roberts Tarot Deck. Mary Hanson-Roberts. 1985 US Games Systems. - Non-threatening RWS variant. I've seen this deck described, "If Barbie dolls played with Tarot, this is the deck they would use". I think that may be a little bit unfair, but this is a very sweet deck, and if you are not into "sweet", you probably won't like it.
Hansson, Susan and Mary Hanson-Roberts. Hanson-Roberts Tarot Companion. 1998: US Games Systems. ISBN: 1572811285
also used to illustrate: Clarson, Laura E. Tarot Unveiled: The Method to its Magic. 1990: US Games Systems. ISBN: 0880793562
Herbal Tarot. Michael Tierra and Candis Cantin . 1988 US Games Systems. - Michael Tierra's herbal system has the proprietary name "Planetary Medicine", and is an integration of three different traditional herbal systems: Western herbalism, Chinese and Ayurvedic medicine.
Michael Tierra and Candis Cantin. The Spirit of Herbs: A Guide to the Herbal Tarot 1993: US Games Systems. ISBN: 0880795255
Hudes Tarot. Susan Hudes . 1995 US Games Systems. - A very sophisticated attractive deck, yet it has a detached air. This deck, like Londa uses a bare minimum of symbolism and is most notable for using marbled papers, constellation charts and antique maps in collage. The art is tasteful rather than goth. As this deck portrays no nudity whatsoever, it would be a good choice for public readings, such as a corporate tarot party setting. Because this deck is so quiet, its depth is easy to overlook in favor of decks with more overt symbolism. But I have come to favor this deck very highly.
A. L. Samul. Wisdom in the Cards 2002: US Games Systems. ISBN: 1572813350
Inner Child Cards A Journey into Fairy Tales, Myth and Nature. Isha Lerner, Mark Lerner and Christopher Guilfoil. 1992 Bear & Company - Book and Deck. This deck came before the Whimsical Tarot from US Games, and like that deck associates various nursery rhymes and fairy tales with most of the cards, including the Minor Arcana. This deck's artistic style is more abstract and brilliantly colored than the Whimsical, which has a more literal style of illustration. There is quite a bit of renaming of cards in this deck, and this could be considered a multicultural deck of a sort. The Magic Wands show fairies, Swords of Truth human children, Winged Hearts mermaids and mermen, and Earth Crystals gnomes. This deck was inspired by experiences at Findhorn. It seems to me more of a Waldorf School version of a child's tarot, while the Whimsical is more a Public School version.
Lerner, Isha and Mark Lerner. Illustrated by Christopher Guilfoil. Inner Child Cards: A Journey Into Fairy Tales, Myth & Nature. 1992: Bear & Company Publishing. ISBN 0-939680-95-5
Intuitive Tarot. Cilla Conway. 2004 St Martin's Press. -
Kalevala Tarot. Kalervo Aaltonen , illustrated by Taina Pailos. 1996 US Games Systems. - The Finnish national epic, the Kalevala, is celebrated on this deck. The Kalevala was a major inspiration to J.R.R. Tolkien, and Gandalf has much in common with its central character Väinämöinen. The sound pattern of Tolkien's invented language, Quenya, was strongly influenced by the Finnish language. Although the Kalevala is not well known in America, the Tolkien association may make it more popular. Regardless, as epics house archetypal characters, they seem to be natural sources to mine for making theme decks, and I much prefer it to the Lord of the Rings Tarot for a high-fantasy mood. This deck is attractive and dense with symbolism. Although the court cards are influenced by Thoth, this deck mostly seems more of an "Art Twist" deck inspired by Rider-Waite.
Aaltonen, Kalervo. Kalevala Tarot. 1997: US Games Systems. ISBN: 088079187X
The Kazanlar Tarot. Emil Kazanlar. 1996 US Games Systems. - Multicultural (India, Persia, Hungary and Egypt) and Qabalistic with different correspondences than GD (e.g. French tradition: Magician is Alpha, etc.)
appear as illustrations in Nagy, Arkanumok. Tarot. Kassak Kiado, Budapest ISBN 963 7765 36 0
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Copyright © 1994-2001 Joan Schraith Cole.
Updated August 26, 2001
Some graphics from Ann-S-Thesia CD, Number 76 variant A
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