I received the Mary-El Tarot today, quite unexpectedly. Amazon has listed it as back-ordered for awhile now, and I hadn't noticed the e-mail telling me it had been shipped ... but suddenly it appeared. I opened the package with some trepidation -- would it live up to the expectations I've had for it over the past four or five years? The answer is an unqualified YES.
The presentation is excellent: the sturdy box has a hinged top that stays closed with a hidden magnet. The compartment for the cards is much better quality than many similar boxes. (But it's necessary to tip the whole box over to get all the cards out; the thumb hole doesn't go all the way to the bottom of the box. A ribbon attached to the bottom of the compartment should fix that.)
When I pulled the cards out of the box and began my initial quick glance through the deck -- to get a feel for the cards and to make sure they were all there -- the first thing I noticed is that one of the cards was backwards in the deck, and out of order: the Queen of Cups. I set it aside and started going through the rest of the deck, expecting that maybe I'd find another card was missing. But no: they were all there. I just had an extra Queen of Cups. The wise woman in that card is staring at me now as I write this. About her, Marie White says this: "The Queen of Cups _is_ the Holy Grail, the reservoir and container of all our subconscious and ancestral wisdom, the dark waters of the abyss." Oh my.
I've now spent two hours going through the deck slowly, card by card, spending a few seconds or a minute on each one, then going back to them again and again. I've never seen a Tarot deck as rich, beautiful, and haunting as this one. The images all seem utterly unique, yet utterly familiar. With every card I have a sense of deep familiarity, as if I've been seeing the images my whole life, but I can't quite name them or remember where I saw them; but every familiar image is also deeply surreal, alien, new.
A few initial reactions:
--The box describes the Mary-El Tarot as inspired by the three main Tarot traditions: Rider-Waite, Marseille and Thoth. I've had a Thoth deck for a long time, but never really paid much attention to it: Crowley's occultism never appealed to me. But I just took it out again and looked over the cards, and the strong influence of them on the Mary-El is quite apparent (and makes me appreciate Thoth in a way I never have before). Many of the cards in this new deck have the swirling, cosmic feel of the Thoth cards, the multiple layers of surreal symbolism, and the odd presence of simple geometrical forms: a few lines forming a triangle, for example.
--Some common elements: lots of runes (I have no idea what they mean); lots of tattoos; a strong eroticism, including explicit male, female and (in the Aces) androgynous nudity; a surprising degree of variation in approach from one card to another, including strong human portraits (the Queen of Cups); landscapes (the Fours); close-up animal "portraits" (the Knight of Wands); symbolic abstraction (7 of Disks); and so on.
--The colors are extremely rich and dense: you'll find no airy-fairy pastels here. This is the earthiest Tarot I've ever seen.
--Each card has a simple black border that makes the image really pop. The titles are printed in a simple font (maybe too simple; to me it lacks character).
--Occasionally the level of detail in the original painting is so fine that it's hard to see in the cards. There's some not-quite-legible writing in the King of Swords, for example.
--The style of much of the art is reminiscent of Leo and Diane Dillon, especially their more psychedelic SF/fantasy book covers from the 60s and 70s, which were some of favorite book covers growing up.
--There are several cards that didn't appeal to me, or that I actually didn't like, when I first saw the images on the author's website. But today I've found that in every single case, by lingering over the card, looking more closely at the details, and simply questioning their meaning, I've changed my mind. I can honestly say now that there's not a single card in the deck that doesn't strike me as profound and beautiful.
--There's also not a single card in the deck that I can really say I understand with anything like a firm grasp of what's going on. That's a good thing!
--Is it my imagination or is there quite a bit of biblical imagery in these cards?
--The cards are large and glossy. They seem very good quality, but I'm still a little worried how they'll react to much handling. The glossiness is almost sticky, which makes me think they may attract dust and grit which might start to scratch the cards. Also, I do wonder if the edges of the cards will hold up: will the high gloss coating start to peel over time? No idea. But it's a concern. The quality is high, but not as good as the best (i.e., the Kat Black's Golden and Touchstone Tarots). At least that's my first impression.
So my conclusion is this: The Mary-El Tarot is (and here's a phrase I usually _loathe_, but it's totally appropriate here) an instant classic. I can hardly conceive that there might be a better Tarot published this year, or this decade. It's that good.
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Amazing images, terrible card quality
Reviewed in the United States on September 9, 2017
The art is absolutely deep and stunning , this is no doubt. The guidebook is very well written as well. I enjoy the guided spreads from the guidebook, fantastic. My three star review is strictly based on the card stock quality. It's awful. The cards did not last me very long, they wear and peal very easy. If you see a photo I posted here on amazon of the Queen of Cups, you will see how the sides ( a plastic coating) start to peal and weather with time. I personally like the large size card stock, they are big like oracles. It appears that the majority of the people who purchase these cards cut the boarders off. My cards wore out in less than 6 months so I decided to cut them up as well. What other choice did I have? They were all pealed off and worn out. I thought to myself, "is this really necessary"? I paid almost 30.00 for them to just have them fall apart or cut them up. The printing company really should figure out a plan to make these cards user friendly. The consumer should not have to toss or cut them up so quickly after purchase. I should also mention, it is a very distinctive card board type card.Setting the card quality aside. Mary white is an amazing artist, her images do not disappoint. You do have to be comfortable with nudity and concepts of non duality. I love the images and the different aspects of body and soul she portrays in the cards. I felt a very deep connection to many of the cards including the Lovers, Death and King of Cups. Some of the cards really didn't do it for me, for example the Nine of Swords which has no swords but a shore of water. Or the King of Pentacles; a half naked man/goat with his penis out laying against a tree eating an apple. Doesn't make sense to me as a King of Pentacles. A lot of the images come to her from dreams so expect a lot of non traditional and altered interpretations based on the authors personal experienceOverall, even though I am very disappointing in the card quality I would buy again, but to the printing company, please come up with a better version. This is the only reason I will not give this tarot deck a 5 stars. The consumer deserves better, and so does the author.
Reviewed in the United States on September 9, 2017
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LizzieC
Tarot by Artistic Genius
Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on March 12, 2017
LizzieC
Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on March 12, 2017
Go buy it and hold artistic genius in your hands. Trust me, you won't be disappointed. Go buy her art and make her famous. We need Marie White in the world of art as much as tarot. If you harbour even a tiny desire, to paint your own tarot (I guess many tarot collectors do, like me) then definitely buy the deck to see how it should be done.
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presented in a beautiful box with a in depth guide book
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