Wizards Tarot

Overview

Welcome to Mandrake Academy! - essentially a school for Wizards - whether pre- or post-Potter, you can decide for yourself, as I've never read that, and never intend to!

Anyhoo! So this is the basis for the Wizard's Tarot - essentially an educational romp through the mysteries of the Arcane and the Occult. The backstory of this deck, contained in the very big and very informative Little White Book that comes with the deck, which provides you with a LOT of useful Occult knowledge about a very wide range of tools and methods of divination, astrology and the arcane arts, covering fields such as Herbal Magic, Runes, Spellcraft, Lunar and Solar Magic, Astral Travel, and so on. There is so much information in the LWB, it's almost worthwhile buying the deck just to get the book!.

While much of the Majors retain their standard names, there are a few deviations that firmly place the intent of the deck into a much more gentle plane of existence than the standard RWS roles. So we have Death becoming Transfiguration, Temperance naturally becoming The Alchemist, and The Devil becomes The Dark Lord, continuant with the fantasy nature of the deck. In that vain, the court cards also depict sets of mythological beings - Salamanders for the Fire suite, Undines (or Mer-people?) for Water, Sylphs (or Fairies?) for Air, and Gnomes for Earth.

As I mentioned, the LWB is a marvellous book, with over 260 pages of Occult knowledge, so that, as you progress through discovering the deck, you also get immersed in Wizardry practices such as casting spells, writing up runes, making elixirs, crystal work and casting a magic circle. Perhaps the only aspect that’s missing is using the deck for shadow work, which, given its provenance, wouldn’t be my first choice of use for this enlightening deck!

Details of the Deck:

Tradition: RWS

Major Arcana: 22 cards

Minor Arcana: 56 cards

Court Cards: Page, Knight, Queen, King

Fire Suit: Wands - Salamanders

Air Suit: Swords - Sylphs

Water Suit: Cups - Undines

Earth Suit: Pentacles - Gnomes

Designer(s): Corinne Jenner

Artist(s): John Blumen

Publisher: Llewellyn, 2011

Home

Major Arcana:

0 - The Initiate

1 - The Magician - Basic Magic

2 - The High Priestess - Divination

3 - The Empress - Herbal Magic

4 - The Emperor - Headmaster of Mandrake Academy

5 - The Hierophant - Mythology

6 - The Lovers - Spellcraft

7 - The Chariot - Astral Travel

8 - Strength - Familiar Creatues

9 - The Hermit - Librarian / Candle Magic

10 - Wheel of Fortune - Guidance Counsellor

Seriously though, this RWS-based deck comes with some beautifully illustrated cards, with the Major Arcana being based on the "Professors" that teach the students their various arcane subjects at the Academy. While the artwork is obviously created digitally, it is, nevertheless, wonderfully done and very enticing. And the 'PIP' cards are also decorated, too! (Always an excellent feature!) The four suites of the Minor Arcana are used to depict four of the races that populate the world of Mandrake Academy, but remain fairly close to the RWS standard, thus allowing an easy transition for experienced users to translate their readings to. However, given the wealth of information in the LWB, the deck is also a great starting point for novices to Tarot, giving them a huge foundational knowledge with which to work from.

As I said, the Major Arcana is populated by the professors from Mandrake Academy, and a motley and interesting crew they are! However, we start off The Fool’s Journey with The Initiate - and indication that here is somone - YOU - who is just about to start down that tremulous and experiential pathway to self-wisdom and power that eventually - or so we assume - leads to self-awareness and empowerment.