Necronomicon Tarot (Tyson)
Overview
Like most of us (I assume), I first came across The Necronomicon as a child when reading the enthralling horror stories of H. P. Lovecraft, especially those now included in what is called The Cthulhu Mythos. Those stories, and the book itself, are used as the background for The Evil Dead series of movies, and numerous other ventures into the realm of Horror. I had a copy of one of the original editions of The Necronomicon itself - the Simon version from 1980 - that, while interesting, was somewhat incomplete, apparently, so it seemed, as H. P. Lovecraft intended! And the question always remains - did Lovecraft actually invent The Necronomicon, or did he "discover" it in some arcane, unknown collection from the very distant past? Hopefully, we will never know!
Nevertheless, my experience with the story remained relatively passive until, one day, trolling my local Chapters (once a Canadian bookstore chain,) I came across The Necronomicon Tarot by Donald Tyson and Anne Stokes, and bought it on the spot. What better way, I reasoned, could there be to bring together the mysterious occult world of Tarot - let's face it, half the reason why people want to have Tarot readings is because they want to experience that little fear of the Unknown, the Mysterious, the ominous dark magic that sends shivers down the spine - and the tales of evil gods and monsters from Lovecraft's spine-tingling mythos?
Wandering through the deck - truly so, as each card is a rediscovery of tales and terrors from my teenage years - I encountered beautiful and horrific imagery, tied back to Tarot symbology, linking it with the Cthulhu Mythos and the powers of the Old Ones. Entertaining food for thought indeed. Each of the four suits of the Minor Arcana tells a tale of the consequences of humans encountering and mingling with demons and powers beyond their comprehension or ability to control, as frightening now as it was back then, but nevertheless thrilling and enthralling. A journey well worth travelling on.
As always, some cards stand out more than others to me. The Hermit is as frightening now as my childhood tremblings were then, and Bast is as enticing as she was meant to be millenia ago to the ancient Egyptians. But the card that stands out the most to me is the Ace of Swords - a screaming face with glowing, fiery eyes that pierce through everything else right into your soul! A truly awesome card. Oh - the Madness in those eyes!
Details of the Deck:
Tradition: RWS - Independent
Major Arcana: 22 cards
Minor Arcana: 56 cards
Court Cards: Knave, Knight, Queen, King
Fire Suit: Wands
Air Suit: Swords
Water Suit: Cups
Earth Suit: Disks
Designer(s): Donald Tyson
Artist(s): Anne Stokes
Publisher: Llewellyn, 2007
Major Arcana:
0 - Fool: Azathoth
1 - Magician: Nyarlathotep
2 - High Priestess: Bast
3 - Empress: Shub-Niggurath
4 - Emperor: Amun
5 - Hierophant: Dagon
6 - Lovers: Deep One and Bride
7 - Chariot: Beast of Babylon
8 - Strength: Shoggoth
9 - Hermit: I’thakuah
10 - Wheel: Yog-Sothoth
The Necronomicon Tarot came in a large, if flimsy, box, but didn’t come with a LWB. Instead, it came with a decent sized landscape book - 8 inches by 5 inches in landscape format - fully detailing the deck and its premise in the pantheon of Lovecraft’s horror world. Tyson has included an introductory chapter on The Necronomicon, and there is a description of every card in the deck, along with a black and white picture of the card, describing the scene and its relation to both the tale of the deck and the relationships between Humankind and the Deep Ones - the undersea dwellers from Lovecraft’s mythos. The deck is also listed as being the third part of a trilogy, the other parts of which turn out to be The Necronomicon and Alhazred as described above, although there is now also a Grimoire of the Necronomicon and a workbook entitled The 13 Gates of the Necronomicon - so now a series of 5 works.
Donald Tyson, on further investigation, turns out to be one of the most prolific Occult writers and Researchers of modern times - a fact I didn’t learn until much later. I’ve included him in my list of Researchers on this site, where I can waffle on a lot more about his work in both Tarot and The Occult in general.
And, within the deck, I became re-acquainted with those characters and places of my youth - Yog-Sothoth, The Hounds of Leng, Shub-Niggurath, Nyarlathotep, Cthulhu himself - and even a few gods from other pantheons, such as Bast and Ishtar. What a scintillating collection of demons and terrors indeed with which to populate the Major and Minor Arcana of Tarot!
Upon further investigation into Tyson, I found out that he had "completed" The Necronomicon of the mad arab Abdul Alhazred, as well as written a biography of the mad arab in the form of an occult fantasy novel, Alhazred, detailing his mad meanderings through the Arabian deserts and the monsters, demons, Old Gods and learning he encountered there. Having hunted down and read the novel, it is an absolutely wonderful read, well worth the investment of time and money. It allows you to map the cards in the Tarot deck to Alhazred’s experiences, and also touches on the Ancient Egyptian genesis of the Major Arcana as promulgated by Court de Gebelin in the 1800’s.
11 - Justice: Spawn in Sphere
12 - Hanged Man: Well of the Seraph
13 - Death: Tsathoggua
14 - Temperance: Reanimators
15 - Devil: Cthulhu
16 - Tower: Great Ziggurat
17 - Star: Ishtar
18 - Moon: Hounds of Leng
19 - Sun: The Empty Space
20 - Judgement: Guardian of Eden
21 - World: Yig
I am producing a whole write-up on on Donald Tyson and his work as part of the Researchers on this site, so stay tuned. In the meantime, I finish this page with my favourite verse from Lovecraft's Fungi from Yog-Sothoth:
XVI. The Window
The house was old, with tangled wings outthrown,
Of which no one could ever half keep track,
And in a small room somewhat near the back
Was an odd window sealed with ancient stone.
There, in a dream-plagued childhood, quite alone
I used to go, where night reigned vague and black;
Parting the cobwebs with a curious lack
Of fear, and with a wonder each time grown.
One later day I brought the masons there
To find what view my dim forbears had shunned,
But as they pierced the stone, a rush of air
Burst from the alien voids that yawned beyond.
They fled—but I peered through and found unrolled
All the wild worlds of which my dreams had told.
Where to buy your copy…
W.I.P.
