Based entirely on the adventures of Merlin and drawn from authentic 12th-century sources, this pack contains tarot cards which are recreated from images which pre-date the earliest known tarot cards by over 200 years and includes additional imported cards which were later removed or altered through late medieval orthodox religious influence. This pack also contains an illustrated guide to each of the 78 cards containing information on their divinatory use. Other books by Bob Stewart include "Magical Tales", "Music and the Elemental Psyche", "The Underworld Initiation" and "The Way of Merlin".
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A unique tarot concept, based entirely upon the adventures of Merlin and drawn directly from authentic twelfth-century sources. Complete with a guidebook that relates the cards to the cosmology and psychology of the ancient Merlin texts.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
24 of 24 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
A Specialised Tarot System,
By
This review is from: The Merlin Tarot: Images, Insights and Wisdom from the Age of Merlin (Hardcover)
Agreed, this is a powerful and original Tarot work - but be warned, the system put forward here is very, very foreign to Tarot lovers schooled in the Rider-Waite tradition. The Trumps are numbered differently, a couple are named differently, and they are structured in completely different configurations. Stewart openly scorns the numbering system and Kabbalistic correspondences developed by the Victorian occultists, although he does correlate his Trumps with the Tree of Life. In fact, the deck with its accompanying mini-handbook is barely useable without the additional material found in the full-scale book called "The Complete Merlin Tarot" by R.J. Stewart, which you have to buy separately. I was also a little disappointed that the Minor Arcana are not illustrated, though they do bear keywords that are not very different from the commonly used ones. I'd say this is a deck for the advanced Tarotist who has a special interest in the Celtic and Western Shamanic tradition, but to be treated with caution by others.
16 of 19 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A fresh and original tarot,
By Casca (Australia) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Merlin Tarot: Images, Insights and Wisdom from the Age of Merlin (Hardcover)
This was the first tarot pack I bought and it remains my favourite.It is based on original Merlin legends and Celtic traditions.It is superbly drawn by Miranda Gray.The cards pay great attention to detail and are very life-like.There is a strong emphasis on nature and animals, giving the cards a fresh and primal feel.A welcome feature is the replacement of the outdated Devil with the Guardian.(The Guardian is a liberator whose energies burn away our illusions.)Stewart emphasises using the tarot images for meditation and insight in order to reveal truth.He sees fortune telling as a lesser art of tarot.The book is very comprehensive and presents an ancient wisdom cosmology that is relevant today.A study of the relationships between the cards can reveal much about the nature of the world and life at deeper levels.The tarot links our personal growth and development with cosmic forces, patterns and cycles.This tarot is like a breath of fresh air, reviving us with the purest energies that are Nature's bounty.
5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Almost a Classic.,
By
This review is from: The Merlin Tarot: Images, Insights and Wisdom from the Age of Merlin (Hardcover)
This is one of those decks that was published in the early 1990s making it sort of unusual in presentation. To begin with, the author R.J.Stewart designed this deck on the premise that it originated Tarot several centuries before the Visconti-Sforza. Interesting,yet historically unproven. The author even re scrambles the major trumps numbering order giving some strange reasoning here that I still cannot figure out.
Now onto the cards themselves. I really like the artistry on the Major trumps. The moon depicts the pagan goddess Diana. Never seen before, male genitalia on the hermaphrodite in the World card. Bravo to the artist! The minor arcana is where the deck fall short. There are no illustations here. The court cards are just fine, the faces on them and the major arcana seen a little peculiar. Almost humorous. The author may have been more convincing had more time been spent on illustrating the minors. I am not sold on the wacky revision of the tarot history however. I will also add that I feel uncomfortable reading with this deck. This is probably because of the numbers on the major arcana, and the odd nudity. The deck is worth having to amuse yourself with the concept alone.
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