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larryhammerThe love of my life does indeed know me very well. For my birthday, she gave me something I had not known existed but knew, as soon as I saw it, that I had been wanting it for years: The Fantod Pack by Madame Groeda Weyrd.
For those who have not clicked through yet, let me unpack that transparent identity. This is an Edward Gorey tarot deck.
Before you squee too hard, it's not a complete deck: it's 20 cards, loosely but not really corresponding to the major arcana. But still. It's an Edward Gorey tarot.
*pause to emit little ♥s all over my journal*
A bit of history: the text and illustrations are from an article in Esquire in the 1960s. Someone did them up as cards in a pirate edition, so finally a limited edition official version was published in 1995. A couple years ago it was reprinted, and now I have a copy. I am particularly amused by the method of divination:
I am in dread of drawing The Black Doll.
♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥
---L.
For those who have not clicked through yet, let me unpack that transparent identity. This is an Edward Gorey tarot deck.
Before you squee too hard, it's not a complete deck: it's 20 cards, loosely but not really corresponding to the major arcana. But still. It's an Edward Gorey tarot.
*pause to emit little ♥s all over my journal*
A bit of history: the text and illustrations are from an article in Esquire in the 1960s. Someone did them up as cards in a pirate edition, so finally a limited edition official version was published in 1995. A couple years ago it was reprinted, and now I have a copy. I am particularly amused by the method of divination:
To read your fortune, first shuffle the pack and take it in your left hand. Stand in the center of a sparsely furnished room and close your eyes. Fling the pack into the air. Keep your eyes closed. Pick up five cards from the floor, keeping them in order.These are used in a fairly standard cross layout. As for the cards themselves, well, here's a typical example with its interpretations (chosen at random by this online version):
The month (some have a day of the week) mark a time that "should prove particularly calamitous." However, as the instructions note, "The meanings given are selective rather then exhaustive, and hints rather then assertions. You must rely on your own temerity and "imagination of disaster" (Henry James) to gain full meaning of the cards."
The Child
September
denigration
sexual inadequacy
sties
hallucinations
breakage
loss of youth
rust
crawling sickness
an obstacle
forced restraint
aberrations
catarrh
I am in dread of drawing The Black Doll.
♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥
---L.
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Date: 15 November 2010 09:25 pm (UTC)