Discover the secrets of the druids and celtsThe druid craft tarot takes you back into the past, page 1/2 |
The Druid craft tarot is one of the largest decks of cards that’s traditional basis has been extended as a result of pagan interpretation. In the examples given, it is primarily the celts and the druids that the authors, Philip and Stephanie Carr-Gomm and the artist Will Worthington have drawn their inspiration from. That’s not surprising, when you take into consideration the fact that the three of them belong the Order of Bards, Ovetans and Druids, based in Great Britain; one of the world’s largest company of druids. This is also the reason that this deck, with its interpretations founded on druid paganism is much richer and more authentic than other decks with a more superficial basis,
The artistic realisation and depth of meaning in the cards is particularly worthy of note. Even in a brief look through the cards the intensity of the colours and the richness of design in the illustrations is apparent. The vivid, almost 3 dimensional affect of the illustrations convey to the observer a sense of the fundamental energy and earthy nature of paganism. The figures are strikingly represented, as if captured in a snap shot, in contrast to the static images familiar from Celtic illustrations. The settings are, of course, fictitious, but plausible, according to the authors. Sometimes the illustrations are reminiscent of fairy-tales and somewhat simplified, this impression being given by the slightly odd perspectives used and the fact that in many instances the hands and feet are rather disproportionately large. This doesn’t diminish the charm of the decks; and the particularly fine and careful representation of the faces more than compensates. The illustrative content is based on that of a traditional deck, but every illustration is focussed on the pagan style and their world.
Although in the book and illustrations, the pagan element of the tarot is clear, there is a unfortunately a certain looseness in the writings of the two authors: P and S Carr-Gomm concentrate more on the romantic aspect of the old mysteries than on the interpretation of historically proven facts, as for example, when they state that the tarot was initially used by ”popular magicians”, and that the tarot came into being in the 15th century under the influence of philosophers and esoteric teachers. It’s now understood that the tarot was popular as a parlour game in the 18th century and there is no proof that it was in use earlier than the 18thcentury to tell fortunes or to illustrate ancient mysteries; although these possibilities can’t be entirely ruled out.
These inaccuracies are the only weak points to be found in the book, but they remind us that there is little concrete evidence about the lives and traditions of the celts, which is why in the illustrations, the neo-pagan beliefs held at that time take precedence. What is impressive is that the concept based on the druids, that has been developed for this set of tarot cards extends far beyond traditional interpretations: the authors see the tarot as a meeting of the inner and outer worlds; it is seen that to comprehend the mysteries of the inner world it is important make sense of the outer world. This is illustrated in the book with the means of a large diagram, based on the Celtic year, with 22 trumps in the inner circle, the court cards in the middle, and in the outer circle, 40 small arkanas. The latter symbolise the outer world. They run through various seasons of the year and place events and development on a time bar. The central ring with the 16 court cards shows the 16 personalities and characters of the tarot, 16 character types that allow the inner images,( large arkana), to flow into the outer world of the people (small arkana).
