The Fantastic Medical Tarot was published in 1982 in Nagano, Japan and is one of a trio of decks created by Shigeki Gomi, M.D. The other two decks he created are the Buddhistic Fantasy Tarot and the Entropy Tarot. Artistic medium: airbrush (no PhotoShop back then). All three decks are comprised of the major arcana only and were independently published in very limited editions of only 300 copies each.
In the booklet accompanying the deck, Dr. Gomi tells of his first encounter with the tarot and how he initially thought of them as rather fanciful playing cards. His interest grew and, during the late 1970’s, he began collecting different decks, quickly accumulating a collection of over 60 decks. He then writes that “an impulse developed in me to prepare tarot decks with my own illustrations."
The first fruit of that “impulse” was the Fantastic Medical Tarot.
Dr. Gomi’s careful attention to detail and quality is first apparent in the packaging. The Fantastic Medical Tarot is sturdily housed in an excellent quality two-piece box. The lid is emerald green with the title, artist and printing information in white lettering. The cards are printed on excellent card stock, brightly colored, heavily laminated, quite glossy with a slick texture and are a good size, measuring 3 3/8 x 4 ¾ inches. Card edges are smooth and corners are gently rounded. The cards are somewhat stiff and I don't think they would shuffle easily (they are a little large and the glossy finish makes them cling together a bit), but then, you wouldn't want to shuffle such a rare deck anyway.
The cards are represented by clinical depictions of human body parts and organs, some of which are diseased, for, as Dr Gomi comments “only by confronting disease does one recognize human mortality and the preciousness of life and thus is led to aspire to higher states of realization”. Dr. Gomi uses as his esoteric inspiration, the Rider-Waite Tarot and many of the cards have subtle touches of the traditional Rider-Waite symbolism blended into the artwork.
Kind of like: Gray's Anatomy meets Golden Dawn.
The Fool card shows a uterus, which contains a small embryo. It depicts a life just beginning, but still unborn, the future totally unknown and unpredictable. This central figure seemingly floats against an airy, violet background studded with icy white clouds. Upon closer inspection of the clouds, you can see that some of them closely resemble the mountains depicted in the Rider-Waite Fool card.
In the Magician card, we have a rather graphic depiction of what Dr. Gomi describes as “torsion in the sigmoid colon”. That's a twisted bowel to us laymen. This colon is in obvious distress (ok, it's constipated), a graphic illustration of “creative block”. Again, we see the influence of the Rider-Waite symbolism, specifically with regard to the traditional arm positions of the Rider-Waite Magician. One end of the colon points upward towards the sky (encircled by a lemniscate), the other end points downward. One hopes this Magician will be able to free his energy so that its reciprocal flow can be reestablished before something blows (sorry, I couldn't resist). There is no Magician's table; however, in the lower left-hand corner, we see the traditional symbols of the Magician's tools (cup, sword, wand, pentacle).
Strength is represented by a spherical collection of healthy cells; however, all is not well here for a large spherical tumor has erupted and is now considerably larger than the grouping of healthy cells. The rendering is cleverly done. Dr. Gomi has arranged the spherical groupings of healthy and diseased cells so that they take the form of a lemniscate. Once again, we are reminded of Dr. Gomi’s belief that we must confront our diseases and accept the reality of our own mortality in order to attain a higher state of realization (i.e. true inner strength is gained through awareness and acceptance). The symbolism is further emphasized by another Rider-Waite touch..... there are small red roses scattered about the central subject.
There are other wonderful cards. Justice is represented by a human hand, stripped of its skin so that we can see the complex interplay of muscle and tiny bones. A slender, glimmering set of scales is delicately poised between the fingers. The imagery doesn't stop there because, if you look carefully, you will see that the long fingernail on the pointer finger resembles..... a sword. So here we have two more traditional symbols of Justice – the sword and the scales.
The Moon has become one of my favorite cards. The body part depicted is one, well-shaped female breast; a captivating rendition of a part of the female anatomy which has elicited more sexual and romantic fixation and provided the inspiration for more flowery poetry and prose (all the way back to King Solomon himself), than any other part of the human anatomy. But, when it is viewed dispassionately and clearly; when all that romance and illusion is stripped away, what is it really? A rather disenchanting mound of fat and glandular tissue. Dr. Gomi has chosen to pictorially express this illusion vs. reality by cross-sectioning one small part of the breast. You will see traditional Rider-Waite imagery in this card as well. Just look down to the lower right-hand corner of the card and you will see a small lobster claw poking up out of the grassy background.
And finally, the World card, which is, appropriately enough, the human heart -- that amazing organ which circulates blood throughout the entire body. The organ that keeps the whole cycle going. It is, of course, surrounded by that traditional symbol, the garland.
The more I look at these cards, the more I find to mull over and appreciate. It is a deck that was obviously the result of much careful thought and precise attention to detail. The artwork is excellent (if a bit strange to view at first!). Extremely well-done and very original. Highly collectible.
Dr. Gomi has often been asked why he chose to illustrate a tarot deck with human organs as the central icons (many of them diseased). He has responded by saying that we are not only creatures of spirit, but also of flesh and blood. By accepting both, the physical and the spiritual, we achieve true realization and a higher state of being.
As previously stated, the Fantastic Medical Tarot was independently published in a very small edition of only 300 decks. If you happen to run across any of the three, grab them. Until then, I will keep intricately boned and muscled fingers crossed for you!
If you have any questions, please email Wicce and they will be forwarded.
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2000 by Paula Gibby
used with permission