Synopses & Reviews
2005 Coalition of Visionary Resources (COVR) Winner of Best Interactive Sideline category Heralding archetypal elements of traditional Tarot, The Gilded Tarot is teeming with shimmering, classic imagery. High priestesses in flowing robes, wise emperors, knights on majestic steeds, mystics wielding magical tools, and other intriguing characters from medieval times abound in the Major and Minor Arcana. This richly colored, easy-to-use deck also features standard symbols for the card suits--swords, cups, wands, and pentacles--which provides universal appeal. This kit also includes The Gilded Tarot Companion, a clear and insightful guidebook to the deck's structure and each card's significance.
One of Aeclectic Tarot's Top Ten Decks of all Time
Click here to view the artwork of The Gilded Tarot.
Publisher Review:
The 21st Century TarotUntil 1910, the field of Tarot design was both rarified and highly varied. In that year, Waite and Smith published their Tarot with Rider. At the same time, Waite and Rider did something quite unique--they published a book that was designed to go along with a new Tarot. This was the first time such a combination had ever been tried. Combined with Waite and Smith's pictorial designs for the Minor Arcana, a literal revolution in Tarot began, and over the next century, the RWS has become the model against which all other Tarot decks are measured. The result of this has been both a blessing and a curse. It's been a blessing because so many books have been published that could apply to the RWS model. It's been a curse in that any valuable variations have often been overlooked or even shunned, and a huge number of decks have been nothing more than a redrawing of the RWS. So how many copies of the Mona Lisa do we really need? Do we really need the Mona Lisa redrawn with the face of a cat? And yet, that is what so many artists and designers have done with the Tarot. . . read more.
Synopsis
The Traditional Tarot for the 21st Century
Most Tarot decks with really spectacular designs are really just art collections. The Gilded Tarot transcends this limitation by having some of the most strikingly beautiful art on any Tarot deck, yet follows the Rider-Waite-Smith model. The result is a unique deck that any person with some Tarot experience will find instantly familiar and usable. This deck can be used with any Tarot system or book.
You really must see the cards to believe their beauty. The High Priestess dances on water in a translucent dress of stars. She bends backwards in front of a crescent moon, looking like a classic lamp from the 1920s. The Wheel of Fortune shows the zodiacal wheel around a solar center as part of a bizarre, almost alien machine. The Hanging Man follows this machine concept, but he is dressed in brilliant reds and greens.
The colors are deep and intense, almost metallic. They draw you in and will have you staring at the images repeatedly. But this is more than a deck to look at, it's a deck to use The Gilded Tarot Companion, a full book by Tarot expert Barbara Moore, is included with this deck. It's a complete introduction so that even a beginner can use this deck right away.
If you're tired of the old style of the RWS deck and its imitators, if you're looking for a familiar deck that will take you into the future, this is the deck you want to use.