Customer Reviews

Phantasmagoric Theater Tarot: 78-Card Deck

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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.

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.

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.

"Think of yourself as an actor, placed in a theater at the time of your birth. You have been invited to join the millions of other actors around you, to take your place on the stage known as the Phantasmagoric Theater. Every scene has been assembled for your performance. The script has been written and your cures are in order. If nothing goes wrong, you will sail through your performance until the final curtain..." - From the Little White Book

There's something unsettling about the Phantasmagoric Theater Tarot, which could very well shake up your reading practice as well as any preconceived (memorized?) notions about what a particular card means.

Zombie-like dolls, gas-masked creatures, question marks, punk/goth kids, random puzzle pieces and numbered dice inhabit a landscape both playful and off-kilter. If you enjoy The Nightmare Before Christmas or The Corpse Bride (or any of Tim Burton's unusual notions of fun), you'll likely feel quite at home with this deck.

For me, traveling circuses have creepy but intriguing undercurrents and the TV show Carnivale did nothing to dispel my misgivings. Like looking into the eyes of a monster, the view is both disturbing and irresistible--just like the cards of the Phantasmagoric Theater Tarot.

Yet, in this mystifying world, secret-laden imagery and colorfully rich symbols await decoding by discerning, patient individuals. Deck creator Graham Cameron is obsessed with the number 56 (as well as other repeating motifs) but don't let that dissuade: there is plenty *other* symbols both familiar and bizarre to keep your mind guessing and your intuition on overdrive.

Both sweetness and melancholy emanate from this deck, as if the Phantasmagoric Theater were a world populated by cast-off toy that are heartbroken yet hopeful.

The suit names are traditional--Wands, Cups, Swords and Coins--as are the Courts (Page, Knight, Queen and King). The cards measure approximately 5 ½ x 3 ½ inches and have a reversible diamond-checkered backing with a circular motif featuring the number 56, question mark, puzzle piece and die (I told you the creator was obsessed!).

However, despite the use of common suit names, Cameron offers an unusual description of the elements/suits. He writes in the 42-page Little White Book:

"...the suit of Swords relates to air; here we take a walk through the `Air Sword Labyrinth', the maze of your mind, with its conflicts, intellect, struggles, difficulties, and flexibility. The suit of Wands corresponds to fire; here we step inside the `Fire Wand Circus', a tent full of energy, art, performance, buffoonery, and fantasy. The suit of Cups corresponds to water; here we find ourselves in the `Water Cup Desert', an area of land encompassing love, intuition, affection, harmony, and the subconscious. The suit of Coin links to earth; here we are welcomed into the `Earth Coin Village', a place of craftsmanship, trade, inheritance, business, and cooperation."

The LWB offers card interpretations for both upright and reversed positions, as well as insight into many of the characters living among this odd landscape. For example, the King of Swords is known as Sergeant Winner while Fingerpin the ringmaster makes an appearance in the Six of Wands. In the Eight of Cups, Bertie works at the Soda Pop Factory but has come to realization that it doesn't stimulate him anymore--so he moves on. Mr. Dimp's skillful mastery, devotion to his work and overall indispensability shows up in the Three of Coins, where he fixes clocks for the Earth Coin Village.

I've had a lot of great insights with this deck and, in my opinion, the Phantasmagoric Theater Tarot is worth having--if not as a reading deck, then at least as a reference to a realm outside mundane reality for an unusual perspective into the cards.

(To see 15 card images from this deck, visit the Reviews--Decks section at JanetBoyer.com)

Janet Boyer, author of The Back in Time Tarot Book: Picture the Past, Experience the Cards, Understand the Present

This over-sized deck has a child-like tone. It is highly personalized. The backs of the cards have the number "56" on them, which the author explains as "my chosen number". The cards themselves are equally idiosyncratic. The figures on the cards are like dolls, or puppets; their surrounds are simple and whimsical. Another unique feature is a jigsaw puzzle piece on various cards to show whether the influence of the card is masculine, feminine, or both. The designer must have had a great time doing these cards, but the statements they make are far too personal for me to make an archetypal tarot-type connection with. People involved with the theatre, or puppetry, might appreciate them more than I do.

What a fun deck! While some of the art is a little "dark" it is mostly just a whimsical look at an old craft. Recommended...