Join the quirky, colorful cast of characters who inhabit the 78 cards of the Phantasmagoric Theater Tarot as the journey towards spiritual fulfillment. Graham Cameron's whimsical illustrations invite the reader to follow The Fool as he introduces the players in the performance of life.
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13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Surreal and delightful (but probably not for everyone),
By
This review is from: Phantasmagoric Theater Tarot: 78-Card Deck (Cards)
The Phantasmagoric Theatre tarot encourages us to think of our lives as a stage play. We are all actors, and the scenes have been carefully designed before we enter, stage left. However, as in real theatre, sometimes things don't go right: we flub our lines, we don't like our costumes, or the lights malfunction. These things very subtly change the play itself and can even change the very outcome. However, as Mr. Cameron suggests, "as a tarot reader, however, you can connect yourself through a psychic process back to the original script, and become informed of deviations you may have made to the performance that is your life, helping you to avoid any unnecessary disasters."Mr. Cameron has produced an astonishing tarot deck as laden with heavy symbolism as any tarot I've yet worked with. Dice, question marks and puzzle pieces can be found in most (if not all) of his cards, and each has a special significance for him. Dice represent entropy or chance in our lives: we may WANT the roll of the dice to turn out a certain way, but often they don't. Like puzzle pieces, we are all interconnected and interlocked to each other in complicated matters. As far as questions, well, I certainly don't have many of mine answered, tarot cards or not!! The characters in the deck hover in an odd realm somewhere between childlike and sinister. Many look like dolls with button eyes and happy smiles. Some are glowering in a powerful "I know something you DON'T..." sort of way that is almost eerie. When pressed to describe this deck, I often say it resembles something of a cross between the Beatles "Yellow Submarine" and "The Nightmare Before Christmas". Still, this analogy doesn't do the deck justice-there is far, far much more to see. Many of the cards are modeled after what may be the most well known tarot deck, the Rider-Waite. Since most people start with the Rider-Waite (it's the deck most books use to illustrate the tarot) this will certainly help the reader gain fluency with these cards. However, be aware that the resemblance quickly stops-this is not like any other deck you are likely to run into. Two very short examples of how these cards are different are the card of the Grand Master, a sort of levitating, psychedelic visionary that stands in the place of the card of the Hierophant in most other decks, and the Ace of Cups, which is something of a coffee mug. The cards themselves are oversized, weighing in at about 5.5" x 3.5". While this makes them easier to see and meditate on their meanings, bear in mind that they're slightly more difficult to shuffle and they won't fit in a standard-sized tarot box. The instruction booklet that accompanies the deck is written in a more poetical fashion than most other decks as well. Each card's astrological alignment is noted, as well as a 1 or 2 word description-- "The Fool (Inner Child)" for example. Quite a few cards' characters actually have names, which, for me, add a more personal dimension to them. As an example, here an excerpt from the Queen of Cups: "Say hello to Fizzy, the Queen of Cups. She represents sensitivity in a woman. Fizzy is happy and content. She represents our ability to enjoy all emotions." As another reviewer noted, the deck IS very personal, as are all tarot decks, and it may not resonate with everyone. Someone once said that choosing a tarot deck is the same as choosing a lover. While I don't find it to be THAT extreme, I do believe that the cards must speak to a person to be of any use to them. For example, I can appreciate the artwork in the new Vampire Tarot, but the deck has no resonance with me as a person so I don't use those cards. Beginners probably would be best advised to stick to the Rider-Waite, but as you grow more proficient at reading the card's symbols, those with a particular affinity to the surreal or bizarre may wish to add these cards to their collection.
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
very idiosyncratic,
By G. Baptist (Massachusetts, United States) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Phantasmagoric Theater Tarot: 78-Card Deck (Cards)
The cards are beautiful, but you'll get a very different impression looking at them than you would reading the artist's descriptions in the provided booklet. The cards are appeallingly ambivalent and complicated; Cameron's descriptions of them are uniformly simple and skewed heavily to the bland positive. ("This card reminds you that challenges are an opportunity for growth", that sort of thing. Not that I think growth is bad!) Even so, the booklet is well worth reading for the names that it gives to all the characters. If you ordinarily find that the suit cards blur together in your mind a little bit, perhaps being introduced to Tate, Fizzy, X, and The Plasticine Junky will help (to name just a few).
I found myself slightly disappointed that the suit cards often had the requisite number of cups/wands/coins/swords just lying around on the floor rather than playing a significant part in the scene. For example, the three of wands depicts a stilt-walker... but while your eye is initially drawn to the imposing stilts that he balances on, those aren't wands. The wands are tiny things sitting in a pile. Still, that choice just puts more emphasis on the characters and other wonders that Cameron has invented himself. I suspect you can tell whether you'll love this deck or hate it from the sample images Amazon provides. I bought it otherwise unseen based on the samples, and I'm happy about it.
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Great fun,
By
This review is from: Phantasmagoric Theater Tarot: 78-Card Deck (Cards)
I'm usually not too fond of theme decks, finding that too many of them end up in back of the book case but I was very intrigued by this one. It's a very idiodyncratic expression of the tarot and you will either love it or hate it immediately. Highly surreal, cartoonlike art. It does work as a reading deck.
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