Celtic Tarot - Davis
Still W.I.P.
It was a long time before I even considered buying another deck of Tarot cards, during which I studied the Occult, Witchcraft, Shamanism, Druidism, as well as many of the World's "official" religions - Christianity, Buddhism, Tao, Islam, Mormon, Hindu, etc, etc, etc, - and their many variations, seeking the Truth behind the force that urges us to Believe! The only thing that eventually impressed me about all of these "major" delusions was the breadth and variety of their fantasies! But my studies of numerous European pagan and Wiccan theories brought me full circle to the Tatcho Drom - a Romany term for True Path - and that is what Tarot means to me - and I began to study the cards and their symbology in much more depth.
A logical place to start my more serious investigations into Tarot seemed, to me, to be the elder mythologies of Europe - Greek, Roman, Norse, and, of course, the ancient race of The British Isles, the Celts, and their pagan religion, Druidism. So I invested in the Celtic Tarot deck developed by Courtney Davis and Helena Paterson, under the erroneous assumption that there would only be one!
Having decried the lack of illustration on the pip cards, the deck is still beautifully presented and detailed, and, for lovers of the Celtic and Ancient British pagan artwork, is a truly collectable collection of images. (How’s that for hyperbole!) The depictions of Arthurian legend characters that fill the Court cards are well executed, and could have been drawn from the Lindisfarne gospels.
As a collector’s item, this is a nice deck to have, but not so great for beginners or for those who work with reversals. I’d like to comment on the LWB, but unfortunately, mine has disappeared since I bought the deck and moved continents. My deck doesn’t even have a box - I keep it wrapped in silk cloth to protect it! (I’m afraid that, back when I started to collect Tarot decks, I wasn’t as careful or particular about boxes and books and paraphernalia, much to my current regret and loss!) Fortunately, if you want to get a copy of the deck, nicely packaged and with a LWB, there is a new version published by Metro Books in 2009
Details of the Deck:
Tradition: RWS
Major Arcana: 22 cards
Minor Arcana: 56 cards
Court Cards: Page, Knight, Queen, King
Fire Suit: Wands
Air Suit: Swords
Water Suit: Cups
Earth Suit: Coins
Designer(s): Helena Paterson
Artist(s): Courtney Davis
Publisher: Thorson, 1990 / Metro Books 2009
Where to buy your copy…
W.I.P.
Almost immediately on opening out the deck I learned two important facts about modern Tarot (i.e. Tarot as developed from the late 19th century onward) that I hadn't previously been aware of:
A lot of modern tarot decks are based on the Rider-Waite deck, while another significant portion are based on the Aleister Crowley / Golden Dawn Thoth Tarot, while yet another large group are based on the medieval Tarot decks of Italy and France, represented by the Tarot de Marseille (TdM) tradition, and yet another group being true individual decks.
Disappointingly, the "Pip", or number cards, of the Lower Arcana suits are not always illustrated in the same way that those of the Rider-Waite deck are. I was to learn later that this is representative of the Tarot de Marseille and Minchiate traditions.
Having said that, this Celtic Tarot is beautifully illustrated in a style similar to that used in The Book of Kells and the Lindisfarne gospels, which Davis mixes with other Celtic styles such as La-Tène. The Major Arcana are richly bedizened in Celtic and Arthurian heroes, heroines and warriors, fitted into the roles of the cards. Here we encounter Arthur (The Emperor) and Merlin (The Hermit), with Danu playing the role of Justice, Covetina starring as The Star, Cuchulain riding The Chariot, and so on. While the deck follows the Rider-Waite standard, it is difficult to use for some aspects of reading, such as reversed cards, as the Pip cards do not allow for that type of use, so not really a deck for Beginners, although experienced cartomancers will be able to draw insights from the scenes of the Major Arcana and Court cards.
I do have to admit that when I was scanning in a new set of images from this deck for this website, I was absolutely awestruck by the truly fantastic detail Courtney Davis has rendered in his artwork. It is absolutely stunning, and, as a person not artistically gifted in any sense of the word, I can truly appreciate how many hours must have gone into the creation of each image. I certainly would never have had the patience to produce such detailed designs, so I doff my hat to the artistic skill of Mr. Davis. Absolutely amazing!
Major Arcana:
0 - The Fool
1 - The Magician
2 - The High Priestess
3 - The Empress
4 - The Emperor
5 - The Hierophant
6 - The Lovers
7 - The Chariot
8 - Strength
9 - The Hermit
10 - Wheel of Fortune
11 - Justice
12 - The Hanged Man
13 - Death
14 - Temperance
15 - The Devil
16 - The Tower
17 - The Star
18 - The Moon
19 - The Sun
20 - Judgement
21 - The World