Ep. 25: The Fortune Teller, part 2

 


3.0/7.0




Hello and welcome back!  Today, I bring you part 2 of The Fortune Teller review and my continued journey through tarot history!

As promised, I have a few further recommendations for tarot history sources:

"The Esoteric Tarot: Ancient Sources Rediscovered in Hermeticism and Cabalah" by Ronald Decker

"A History of Occult Tarot 1870-1970" by Ronald Decker and Michael Dummett.

"A Wicked Pack of Cards: The Origins of the Occult Tarot" by Ronald Decker, Thierry DePaulis and Michael Dummett.

"A History of Games Played with the Tarot Pack" by Michael Dummett and John McCleod.

"The Tarot: History, Mystery and Lore" by Cynthia Giles.

"Mystical Origins of the Tarot: From Ancient Roots to Modern Usage" by Paul Huson.

Ep. 24: The Fortune Teller, Part 1

 

3.0/7.0 

Hello all and welcome to episode 24 of The Wytch Files!  This month I have a review of the novel The Fortune Teller written by Gwendolyn Womack.  The novel focuses on an ancient tarot deck and the ancient family of female seers who use the deck for prophecy.  I thought it would be interesting and fun to include a brief history of the tarot along with the review because I'm a nerd for all things divination.  The episode as a whole is very long so I have split it up into two parts for easier listening.  This is part 1 of the episode and part 2 should be up in a few short weeks (maybe sooner) as episode 25.

In the episode, I mention three Visconti group tarot decks and beautiful reproductions of these decks can be purchased today.  U.S. Games Systems, Inc. has beautiful reproductions of the Visconti-Sforza tarot and the Cary-Yale Visconti deck which you can purchase directly from them, at a local occult/card shop or on Amazon.  If you are on a budget and would like to get a cheaper but still beautiful version of the Visconti-Sforza or if you just need a study deck, I recommend The Golden Tarot by Mary Packard which also comes with a book that provides a bit of historical background.

Cards from Visconti-Sforza tarot deck

Maestro Osvaldo Menegazzi, the artistic powerhouse behind the tarot shop Il Meneghello in Milan, Italy, has created gorgeous, hand-made, quality reproductions of both the Visconti-Sforza and the Cary-Yale Visconti (a/k/a Visconti Di Modrone).  These are beautiful, quality limited editions with small print runs which are more expensive.  If you are in the U.S.A., you can purchase the decks (provided they are not sold out) from CollecTarot & Books which sells unique and vintage tarot cards.  They are located in Colorado so it is a great way for U.S. customers who want to purchase Il Meneghello decks to save on shipping.  If you are located in Europe, a great site to purchase Il Meneghello decks is at Tarot BG.