Customer Reviews

The Gothic Tarot

5 star:		(22)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is a deck that needs to be given broader exposure to the tarot audience in general. This is wonderfully clever in its representation of the dark fantasy world that lives on the periphery of all fans of the genre. I understand this could be taken the wrong way by many, but the title alone should be a warning. It would get a PG rating in theatres.

There are vampires, gargoyles, mummies, and a plethora of ghostly images. The other decks done in this fashion seem to fall short on many aspects. Either they focus on one subject, namely vampires and that is it. Not the case with this dark treasury of the arcane. The artist sways away from "kitsch", quite difficult in the gothic subculture.

The deck itself remains loyal to classic Rider-Waite organization. There is some new wisdom provided as well. The overall mood here is is an old gothic horror movie set in some dark corner of Europe. One could imagine Gypsies in the wolfmans forest using these cards. If one reads in a professional setting it sould feature all the traditonal props; black velvet table cloth, a crystal ball and red and black candles.

As for using the deck itself, reading are surprisingly accurate. I am particularly fond of the heavy use of Egyptian images. That is not all. All the minors have some illustration giving the meaning of the cards. Some ever so subtle. This makes it great for the beginner, as well as advanced. If this fits your style, then by all means get a copy of this darkly brilliant interpretation of a powerful tool. A word of caution here-the deck has a feeling of the spirit world being very close! No kidding!

It's my business to catch the overtones of the soul... the ghosts of beings highly organized enough to have looked on Hell and known the meaning of what they saw.
--Richard Upton Pickman, in H.P. Lovecraft's "Pickman's Model"


If there is a modern artistic successor to Richard Pickman, surely it must be Joseph Vargo. Vargo draws like H.P Lovecraft writes -- his work does more than illustrate or describe; it creates feelings of melancholy and dread that give his works emotional impact, drawing the observer deep into the world of the dark and sinister. In his images of graveyards you can almost smell the cool, damp, moldy air as it gently blows by. That WAS just the wind, right? -- or was it something less tangible, something that should have been left deep within the mind, but somehow escaped to pass by almost unnoticed in the night. Many of his creatures are hideous, yet also convey a sense of sympathetic humanity: one just has to ask, what's it like to be a gargoyle?

The Gothic Tarot is a collection of Vargo's artwork cleverly arranged in the form of a Tarot deck. In some ways, this is a traditional Tarot deck -- the arrangement roughly follows the Golden Dawn lineage, though some interesting adaptations and interpretations prevent this deck from being considered an RWS "clone." On the other hand, the images are not the usual, standard Rider-Waite or Marseilles graphics re-cast in some particular theme. The images stand on their own, and are art works in their own right, whose meaning is enhanced by presenting them in the Tarot framework. This concept of using the Tarot as a medium for presenting the images, as opposed to the usual process of creating images that follow the expected Tarot format, is one of the features of this deck that places it well outside -- and imaginatively beyond -- the usual flurry of clones.

The deck follows the traditional Marseilles arrangement of Major Arcana, suits and court cards. Most of the artwork is in Vargo's usual tones of bluish grey set against black borders and backgrounds, suggesting ancient stonework and forgotten graveyards lit by the moon on a dark night. There are notable exceptions, particularly among the Major Arcana: the Fool is Vargo's "Realm of Shadows," showing a ghostly figure in a stone archway with an eerie green luminescence, to which a large wolf was added for the Tarot version. The Emperor is Count Dracula himself, with details added in blood red. Red dominates Death and Temperance (adapted from Vargo's "Sorceress"), while greens return in the Devil. The Minor Arcana are, for the most part, moonlit style art to which the appropriate number of wands, cups, swords, or pentacles have been added. The backs are black with Vargo's "Realm Icon" in red; the backs are not reversible, though why that should matter is beyond me, since most readers read the fronts and not the backs.

The small booklet that accompanies the deck gives some short interpretations for the cards, and suggested layouts for reading them. This is only minimally useful, mostly for those who read only occasionally, or have only a passing interest in the Tarot. A more useful book has recently appeared: "The Gothic Tarot Compendium," written by Joseph Vargo and Joseph Iorillo, is a far more comprehensive guide to the cards and their interpretation. Each card is illustrated in black and white, along with a divinatory meaning, description of the card, and more extensive notes on the background and interpretation of the artwork.

The trouble with this kind of thing is that the interpretations found in any book or booklet are those of one individual, arising out of that individual's background and understanding, which may be very different from yours. Further, reading Tarot cards according to keywords or one-liners amounts to the same thing as reading fortune cookies, and misses the whole point of the Oracle. A Tarot card does not "mean" what any book or expert -- or even its author -- says it means. It "means" what it draws forth from your own imagination, and skill in reading the cards does not mean learning any system or set of meanings, but rather learning how to immerse your own consciousness in the imagery of the card. The Tarot is not about your "personality" or your own situations; it is about Poe's "vast formless things that shift the scenery to and fro" -- the invisible, impersonal forces of spirit and nature that shape the events of past, present and future. The wind is not about you, the movement of the sun and stars is not about you, but those things can affect you, and how you interact with then can affect the past, present and future. That is what the Tarot is about: understanding those forces, how they affect you, and how your own consciousness interacts with them.

This is particularly true of the Gothic Tarot -- its imagery is unusually rich in feeling tones and imaginative depth, and how its images affect you cannot be determined a priori. Take, for example, The Chariot. In most decks, I find this card somewhat ambiguous and shallow. But in the Gothic Tarot, it is very different. The image is that of a dark carriage with a ghostly, top-hatted driver, drawn by two fiery red-eyed horses, through a fog-shrouded woodland of bare-branched trees. The Compendium tells us that, "The Chariot teaches us to take the reins and steer your life in the direction you truly wish to pursue." Bah. When I first saw this card, I immediately thought of Count Dracula's carriage, carrying poor Renfield to his fate. Like, he truly wished to pursue THAT? No, fate is, as Idries Shah quotes an Islamic teaching, "An endless succession of intertwined events, each influencing the other." The Chariot is a card of forces in motion, and not entirely under your own control. You may, however, have some control over how those forces affect you, and in turn how your actions can affect those forces.

I discuss these matters because, more than any other deck, the images of the Gothic Tarot have an imaginative richness that puts it in a class by itself. Of course, you have to like the images and the theme for it to work in this way. You also need to spend a great deal more time with this deck -- it doesn't wear its meanings on its sleeves. If dark imagery appeals to you, then you may find the Gothic Tarot to be the best deck you have ever used.

I bought this deck after seeing the pictures on various sites and on this one as well. Being an admirer of the fantasy realm which is primarily dark, and is full of mythical characters such as vampires, I was quite taken by the images.

It was totally worth it! The images are vivid and beautiful in their portrayal of the fantasy dark side. It is definately one of the best decks that I now own!

A big WOW to Mr. Vargo! Great Work! Keep it up!

After a decade-long study of playing-card and Tarot art-history, and having examined countless hundreds of different Tarot (Tarock, Tarocchi, Tarok, etc.) packs, I can quite confidently say that Vargo's "Gothic Tarot" features some of the most engrossing and technically competent artworks of the past century.

Although Vargo relies significantly on the imagery of the numbingly ubiquitous Rider-Waite (and--more anciently--Marseille) tradition, the art he presents is different enough in certain respects to belong to its own category--a distinction reserved for precious few Tarot packs!

It will certainly be a great pack with which to try out many games catalogued by Sir Dummett and Mr. McLeod in their monumental "A History of Games Played With the Tarot Pack: The Game of Triumphs", in two volumes, by Mellen Press (this title itself most highly recommended).

The next step for master artist Vargo to take would be a Gothic reinterpretation of the renowned Visconti-Sforza imagery, or perhaps even a Gothic Minchiate pack.

What an extraordinarily mesmerizing offering this is, but unfortunately, it isn't a Tarot deck. This is a graphic novel, or a coffee table book of Gothic art. We both really like the art and the overall concept of the deck, but the story just isn't in the cards in the traditional sense, which would make it difficult for a novice reader to draw on the imagery during their interpretation of a spread.

The palette is very dramatic and overall they hit that perfect, with the exception of a few cards. The cards labeled as Justice, Wheel of Fortune, Knight of Swords, and Knight of Wands seem like they are from a completely different deck that somehow became accidentally mixed in, they don't appear to be from the same palette. Also, the Death and Temperance cards feature a red sky that works within the palette, but there isn't a correlation between change and patience, or an element to draw upon for this distinction. The Tower and Ten of Swords cards would have been better served with the red sky.

The four Aces are very well done with each item in gray metal against a very elaborate red silk wrought iron background. However, the twos and threes of each suit are merely two and three of each item respectively, with some facial extrusions and crows thrown in. The one exception, and what very well could be the most traditionally accurate depiction in the entire deck, is the Three of Swords.

The LWB (Little White Book) that comes with the deck provides the traditional interpretation of the cards along with a brief explanation of the Mystic Seven and Celtic Cross spreads. It would have been nice to have a full-length book explaining the reason, if any, for the choices that were made in regards to the artwork on the individual cards. Two examples of our inability to interpret would be the Ten of Pentacles and the Ten of Cups. The Ten of Pentacles; "the fruition of a lifetime's worth of hard work, financial and emotional security, etc." This is quoted from the book included with the Gothic Tarot deck. The card depicts a man carrying a dead or unconscious woman down stone steps. The Ten of Cups from the included book; "the heart at ease, a content family life, inner peace and tranquility, love, safety, etc." Portrayed on the card is a winged female vampire over a dead or unconscious man.

Aside from the aforementioned limiting aspects for reading with this deck, the card stock is flimsy, and will not withstand shuffling without showing immediate wear and tear on the cards. As we mentioned above, we do like the art and general concept of the Gothic Tarot deck, we just won't do any readings with it, and perhaps that was what they had intended all along.

[...]

Jo. Vargo is a master, a genius in this marriage of his gothic masterpieces and the tarot. So deep is his work, so sharp the detail to every card that each one is a tapesty waiting to be read. Sometimes percieved as a "dark" deck, it is instead a shining light for those of us that read, the richness of his artwork giving us possibilities of divination that other decks cannot provide. And with all that, the deck has a grace and bearing that cannot be denied. Every card turned, no matter how many times you have seen it, shows you something new that you didn't notice last time. It is easy to get lost in the artwork if you let it. The booklet that accompanies the deck is written by Christine Filipak, whose Madame Endora Fortune Cards can be found here. It is imformative without being obtrusive, giving you the "suggested" divination for the cards without being obtusive or overbearing; sitting back and providing information while giving me the room to find my own way.

Buy this deck at your own rish though. To do so may make you abandon all the other decks you have and will quickly become a favorite deck to use.

So says Lygolas.

I purchased this deck, because some of the screen shots of the cards were stunning. Upon arrival I found that the best art wasnt even posted online! Loads of pentagrams, Deep shades of Blue, Meloncholy, and drama! I highly rate this deck, as for accuracy of the deck. It seems more accurate than the Rider-Waite, Vampyre, and Fantasitcal decks, but I believe its not the cards its the user, and what he or she feels comfortable with.

I'm an avid tarot reader and I love to collect decks. This one is by far my favorite. Being a vampire nut, the illustrations are absolutely amazing! They are very dark and gothic, but they are the kind of images that spark your imagination and make reading a pleasure.

I love the artwork. The size of the cards is slightly larger than usual (which is great). Those who like dark decks won't be disappointed. :)
Besides Gothic Tarot, I alf so own Bohemian Gothic and Necronomicon Tarot...I consider all three equal because each one of them hold its' unique dark quality...

I just love these cards, they are exactly what I wanted. My friend hates them they are too creepy for her but I wanted something dark, and this is exactly what I was looking for. Lots of vampires and skeletons.
Beautiful artwork, and I always get accurate readings with them.
I was able to see a sample of the cards on another website. ( forgot which one ) so just google for gothic tarot and eventually you will find them. It was cheaper to buy them from Amazon though.
A great deck for those who like dark things.