The Celtic Tarot [Paperback]

Courtney Davis (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 25, 1990

The Celtic Tarot is an inspired and superlative blending of Celtic art and Tarot wisdom.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Courtney Davis is an artist and designer, who has exhibited his work all over the world. He is an expert on Celtic art and has published 36 books on the subject in the last 12 years. --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 158 pages
• Publisher: Thorsons (January 25, 1990)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0850309204
• ISBN-13: 978-0850309201
• Product Dimensions: 8.7 x 6.1 x 1.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,645,171 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

24 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars The not-really Celtic Tarot, February 9, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: The Celtic Tarot (Paperback)

While the deck has the traditional Celtic interwoven knots and designs and mentions figures from Celtic mythology, I didn't get much of a Celtic feel from it. There are almost no animals in it and no trees, not even in the Hanged Man card. Pagan Celtic mythology is strongly overlaid--to the point of being muffled and erased--with Christianity, Greek zodiacs, and the Olympic pantheon. (A Valentine's cupid in the Lovers card, and Janus as the Celtic god of death?) Sexuality is not positively portrayed. The woman in the Lovers card crouches over, hiding her breasts, and Queen Margawse is characterized as "fatally flawed" because she is lustful. The Culdees are described as holding onto the remnants of Druidism and being a "lower cultus of spiritual development." There are no pictures for 1-10 of the minor arcana, only symbols, and I found that difficult to relate to. I gave this deck away a week after I bought it.

12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Celtic To The Core, February 25, 2000

By 

Levirgian (Florida) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Celtic Tarot (Paperback)

You will find associations throughout this deck and book set that comprehensively associates the tarot with ash trees, oaks, mistletoe, blase-blase, and the four elements. It associates traditional tarot meanings with well-known figures of Celtic, mostly Arthurian, lore. You can't do better than this deck for tying the tarot to Celtic lore. It also links many cards to astrological symbols that predate Arthurian legend. These are meanings that come from the more Druidic times, and history is essentially covered in the descriptions by Helena Paterson. The book could benefit from structure, putting each description on a single page with the single card. Other than that, it is a comprehensive linking of Celtic lore and the tarot.

5 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Nice Major Arcana, March 5, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Celtic Tarot (Paperback)

The trumps of this Tarot deck are undeniably pretty - a little cartoonish, but a nice attempt to stay within the Celtic idiom of illumination. The minor arcana aren't as interesting because they aren't as pictorial. Instead of little scenes as with the Rider deck, Courtney merely shows us the symbols (cups,swords, etc). I find that this didn't help with my tarot readings. Nonetheless, the artwork overall is great. The book, on the other hand, is fairly worthless. Too bad it only comes as a set.