Merryday Tarot

Overview

My next 8 decks, from this one to the Ibis Tarot, I bought from a collector who was selling off her collection of decks. She had some really interesting decks to sell, but at the time I could only afford to buy eight from her, and I missed out on many others that were either very rare or very interesting - or both! In any case, what I got were eight awesome decks at a really good price, and I am still very pleased with my purchases.

The Merry Day / Merryday Tarot was designed and created by Louisa Poole, and features a unique translation of traditional Rider-Waite (or, more accurately, Golden Dawn) Tarot imagery, but with a focus on numerology and archetypal mythology. It incorporates multicultural themes, such as African and Native American symbolism, along with alternative titles for most of the Major Arcana cards (e.g., "Time Lord" for Temperance). The deck is known for its beautiful artwork and a gentler, more positive approach to some of the darker traditional cards.

There does seem to be some confusion over whether the name is Merry Day or Merryday, as both the box and the documentation that comes with the deck display both variations randomly. Personally, I prefer Merry Day, but to each their own, eh!

As I already mention, Louisa has given the majority of the Major Arcana cards different names that fit in with her story of the deck, or given them additional names. So, while we still have the Fool, he is also a Wizard! The Magician becomes the Apprentice, the High Priestess is the Oracle, the Hierophant is the Mentor, and the Chariot turns into a Student. You check out all of the name changes below. While many of these new names hold some reflection on the traditional RWS purpose of the cards, some are more difficult to comprehend, such as the aforementioned Time Lord and the Journeyman for the Hanged Man - an allusion that is often saved for the Eight of Pentacles. I love the originality of these changes, as they bring additional depth to the Major Arcana from Louisa’s perspective. I particularly love the change of Death to Metamorphosis - one of the more usual allusions of that particular card, here spelled out!

Another adaptation Louisa makes is with the Court cards and the Aces. The Kings of each suit are tagged with the element name of the suit - King of Fire, King of Earth, King of Air, King of Water. The Knights become Warriors, and the Pages become Elementals. Meanwhile, each Ace is the Dragon of the suit element - Air Dragon, Fire Dragon, Water Dragon and Earth Dragon - all changes that reflect the Faerie and elemental basis of the deck.

Finally, instead of a little white book, Louisa has included a flash card that lists all of the cards and their appellations, along with an introduction to the Four Seasons and You, all shown below. There is a book, published much later, which I don’t have, sadly. In any case, this deck is well worth having, if you can find a copy.

Details of the Deck:

Tradition: Golden Dawn / Numerology

Major Arcana: 22 cards

Minor Arcana: 56 cards

Court Cards: Elemental, Warrior, Queen, King

Fire Suit: Wands

Air Suit: Swords

Water Suit: Cups

Earth Suit: Pentacles

Designer(s): Louisa Poole

Artist(s): Louisa Pool

Publisher: Jackie and Rick McCabe, 1997

Home

Major Arcana:

0-22 - Fool, Wizard

1 - Apprentice

2 - Oracle

3 - Empress

4 - Emperor

5 - Mentor

6 - Lovers

7 - Student

8 - Strength

9 - Teacher

10 - Lady Destiny

The artwork of the Merry Day deck is truly wonderful - a much gentler display of the RWS iconography, as one reviewer puts it. It certainly is much more colourful and imagination-filled than many other decks. The realms portrayed are definitely more on the Faerie side of things, as J. R. R. Tolkien would have described it, filled with vibrant landscapes and mythical creatures, not to mention mythical races, perhaps. In any case, the scenes are vivid and enrapturing, taking you beyond those of the basic RWS deck. Plus, many of the denizens portrayed, when not other-worldly derived, seem to come from the hippies and heads of the late 1960’s and early 1970’s era, adding to the Flower Power mythos that tried to save a doomed world from the horrors of war and imminent mass destruction. The Apprentice (Magician) card to the left and the Student (Chariot) card below are prime examples of that motif.

Ms. Poole has also included keywords at the bottom of each card that help ground the reader in the RWS tradition, as otherwise the deck could possibly be difficult for a novice to absorb. She has also included the Numerological resolution for each card where it isn’t apparent, such as in the Time Lord (Temperance, #14) card resolving down to 5 and the 4 of Cups (58th card in her notation) resolving down to the numerological value of 4 (5+8=13, 1+3=4). Of course, this only works with her numbering system of the cards, which may not be the same for every other deck.