VIA TAROT: The Path of Life
By Susan Jameson and John Bonner, published by Urania (part of the Swiss AG Muller group) at around £25. 166pp A5 book and deck of 78 cards. ISBN: 3-908646-99-5
This deck makes no bones about, or apologies for, its origins and inspiration which lie in Crowley's classic and ever popular Thoth deck published in the early 20th century. The influences are clear – not only because, like the Thoth deck, the cards are huge (far too large for comfortable shuffling by anyone with normal sized hands) but also in the artwork which harks back in no uncertain way to the designs created for Crowley by Frieda Harris.
In days long past, when the occult was, well, occult and witchcraft was just a gleam in St Gerald's lecherous eye, those drawn to magick expected to serve a long, demanding and arduous apprenticeship before they could hope for initiation or more. Decks like the Thoth were created, at least in part, as complex teaching aids, densely packed with complex symbolism and hints at the Mysteries and intended to be used as much for meditation as divination, and perhaps more so. The pagan-oriented and inspired tarot decks which I have seen over the past decade have become increasingly anodyne, bereft of powerful magickal symbolism, so it's a real pleasure to see one like this published even though I doubt it will outsell The Celtic Fairy Dust Tarot Oracle Set and others of that ilk.
The imagery used is aimed rather less at the average pagan or wiccan than at the ceremonial magickian or other practitioner inspired by Crowley's works and thought. Drawn from the Qabalah, alchemy and thelemic traditions it includes a number of designs which are clearly Christian in origin, notably The Hermit, showing a crucified Christ, and The Hanged Man which seems to be a clear reference to the crucifixion of St Peter, ie upside down, while many others draw upon Egyptian myth and imagery, colonnades, big cats and birds of prey. The style is somewhat naïve although clean and devoid of clutter.
For the user not already at least partly familiar with the qabalistic and other symbolism used, the accompanying book is essential to appreciate what is depicted on the cards. You can't just look at the cards and think you know what this lion or that serpent means unless you already know the underlying material and can read the card as a whole. This is, in effect, a deck to be used as a serious magickal or meditational tool rather than one to ask whether you should go to the pub on Friday night or dye your hair a different colour.
This tarot deck also offers one curious advantage over any other I have ever handled: it is so suffused with solvent that the user could get high just by sniffing it.