Tarot University ArkLetters

ArkLetter 87

Tarot ArkLetter - http://www.tarotarkletters.com
By Christine Payne-Towler
ArkLetter 87, May 20, 2012

IN THIS ISSUE:

I.     Paul Holman reviews "Tarot of the Holy Light" Deck  ... The Tarot of the Holy Light, currently available in an edition of some twelve hundred copies, is a deck designed and published by Christine Payne-Towler and her partner Michael Dowers. She has written extensively on what she terms the "continental tarot"---that is, decks in the tradition of Etteilla, Levi, Papus and Wirth---while he is an underground comic artist, editor and publisher.... read more at: . http://www.tarotarkletters.com/2012/05/paul-holman-reviews-tarot-of-the-holy-light.html

II.    NewMoon Tarotlogy Report - May 2012 ...Greetings from the Eclipse of all false identities. Welcome to self-remembering, and the return of our missing members to the light of consciousness...When the Sun is eclipsed by the Moon, we can liken it to the condition portrayed on the Moon card, Trump #18, suggesting a dimming of objectivity and a corresponding flood of subjectivity. The traditional Moon image shows the tide depositing the deep-sea animal on the shore while the two wolves howl on through the night... read more at: http://www.tarotarkletters.com/2012/05/tarotlogy-report-may-2012.html

Order our new Tarot of the Holy Light Deck ...by Christine Payne-Towler and Michael Dowers at http://www.tarotuniversity.com!

Paul Holman reviews Tarot of the Holy Light

THE TAROT OF THE HOLY LIGHT
Reviewed by Paul Holman (http://www.shearsman.com/pages/books/authors/holmanA.html)

The Tarot of the Holy Light, currently available in an edition of some twelve hundred copies, is a deck designed and published by Christine Payne-Towler and her partner Michael Dowers. She has written extensively on what she terms the "continental tarot"---that is, decks in the tradition of Etteilla, Levi, Papus and Wirth---while he is an underground comic artist, editor and publisher.

Stylistically, it pulls together two tendencies which have become increasingly prominent in tarots issued over the last decade or so: it is both a collage deck, as exemplified by the psychogeographical tarots of Paris and Prague---not to mention any number of mash-ups of non- copyright art---and one which draws upon imagery from the great era of alchemical publications, which puts it in the company of Robert Place's Alchemical Tarot, the Alchemical Emblem Tarot of F. J. Campos and Adam McLean, and Le Tarot des Alchimistes of Jean Beauchard.
It is tempting to view such decks as evidence of a growing tendency for alchemical iconography to be perceived as a natural visual language for the tarot, as was once the case with the imagery of ancient Egypt. This goes beyond the recognition of both alchemical illustration and the tarot drawing upon a common emblematic stock, just as the various attempts to present the Book of Thoth in its original dress were far more literal minded than a mere acknowledgement that the visual language it employed had sprung from Horapollo.

What is perhaps most interesting about this identification of alchemical imagery with the tarot is the evident lack of consensus on quite how these two systems, the interpretation of each of which is contested, should be mapped onto one another.

NewMoon Tarotlogy Report, May 2012

By Christine Payne-Towler
ArkLetter 87, May 20, 2012

Greetings from the Eclipse of all false identities. Welcome to self-remembering, and the return of our missing members to the light of consciousness.

When the Sun is eclipsed by the Moon, we can liken it to the condition portrayed on the Moon card, Trump #18, suggesting a dimming of objectivity and a corresponding flood of subjectivity. The traditional Moon image shows the tide depositing the deep-sea animal on the shore while the two wolves howl on through the night. This portrays the atmosphere of the current astral circumstances -- the flip side of our "normal reality" is on display at this moment. At this pregnant juncture, as befits NewMoon in the first degree of Gemini, things that were expected have failed to appear, and those things that are appearing seem to have emerged unexpectedly. With the additional influx of the Eclipse, as NewMoon conjuncts the South Node, there is a high likelihood that repressed energies will break their bounds and show their faces, to the horror of some and the delight of others.