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The Vampire Tarot
by Nathalie Hertz
This new tarot deck,
by the creator of the Fantastical Tarot and published by US Games, has
been something that I've been looking forward to for a while. Those
of you who have read my review of the Fantastical Tarot know that I liked
it, and was eager to see how this talented artist would handle the vampire
concept. On the one hand, this is a dark and violent deck, not something
that would be suited for everyone to use. However, on the other hand,
Hertz's fantasy art style, which is extreme and, well, bony-looking, is
indeed *well* suited to portrayal of the dark vampire world, and excellently
captures the gothic and bloody look and feel of the world of the undead.
What is interesting to
me in this deck's case is that Hertz seems to pull from various sources
of vampire legend and lore, and does *not* tend towards any one specific
culture or type. Those who are looking for a deck which is based
on Anne Rice will not find what they are looking for here; neither will
fans of "Bram Stoker's Dracula." This is not your average vampire
story brought to life. Hertz illustrates these cards with a variety
of different characters who show that vampires can and do exist at all
levels of society, in all cultures, and they are both dark and romantic
in a Gothic way. This is vampire fantasy, not horror/thriller material.
This deck is, in my opinion,
a marvelous example of what a themed tarot deck should be. It takes
the meaning of the cards but renders them along a story line which matches
the theme of the cards instead of being a direct representation of the
traditional meanings. You won't find these fantastical vampires merely
acting out the scenes in the Rider-Waite. Although I do think this
deck is Rider-Waite based, in most cases the symbolism is quite altered
to fit the theme. In a few instances you can recognize the basic
elements of the Rider-Waite card upon which the Vampire card is based,
however most of the time it is different.
The Major Arcana cards
feature the traditional titles according to the Rider-Waite model.
None of the titles have been changed. I'm not sure how I feel about
that, considering that the theme is so dramatically different, a new set
of titles would have been warranted. Strength is 8 and Justice 11.
The cards are black and the image takes up the vast majority of the card
face, but has two beautiful borders down the sides of the image, in a grey
leafy vine motif. The title appears underneath the image and is done
in a white lettering with red shadowing. Roman numerals are used
and they appear at the top of the card with minor flourishes on either
side of them.
Since the titles in the
Major Arcana have not been changed, it's a pretty safe bet that the suits
in the Minors will also remain the same. Swords, Cups, Wands and
Pentacles are used, and the Court titles are King, Queen, Knight and Page
as would be expected. However, some interesting methods are used
in the Minor portion of this deck, which is actually my favorite section.
The Aces all feature a coffin effect surrounding the suit icon. After
that, however, the numbered cards in each suit not only follow the vampire
theme itself, but have various small subthemes running throughout.
All of the images in the numbered cards of the suit of Swords portray various
creatures rendered in stone, as statues. The Wands, which look like
large pencils with silver caps on them, show what look to me to be paintings
on the wall and the paintings have the action while the pencils in the
foreground show the number of suit icons. The Cups are featured in
the foreground of their suit with curtains in the background, revealing
various doors, windows and mirrors for each card. And in a change
of pace from the others, the Pentacles suit has the pentacles hanging at
the top of the card while the action goes on underneath, instead of having
the icons in the foreground.
The cards themselves
are the standard US Games size and are printed on good quality cardstock
with the usual semi-gloss coating for protection. The edges are smooth
and nicely polished and the corners well rounded. This deck is the
usual deal when it comes to shuffling and handling. I always have
trouble with the larger decks and the standard size for tarot decks is
a large size for me, so..... it's what most people usually expect, but
I'd prefer a smaller size. The back
design is a red and black abstract that is symmetrical enough to be
reversible, though since it's hand-drawn I can't tell if it's perfectly
reversed. The little white booklet is actually fairly good since
it explains the imagery as it relates to the meaning. It doesn't
just say "Magician - empowerment" or anything bland like that.
I recommend this deck
more for people who are interested in collecting dark or gothic artwork.
It can be used for readings, but it's not going to appeal to everyone,
so it's more something that a niche market would go for. I think
many people who would like it would find it better for self-readings than
for readings for the public, because you never know what clients are going
to be offended by. The amount of blood shown in this deck might be
a turn off for many people. It's not a deck I'd buy for a beginner,
either, unless that beginner was just collecting and not planning to get
into reading seriously. I think it would work better to start with
the Rider-Waite and then jump over to this, rather than try to learn straight
from this deck.
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Review Copyright 2001
by Gina M. Pace
The Vampire Tarot by Nathalie
Hertz, 2000
published by US Games
Systems, Inc.
ISBN 1-57281-291-5