This brand-new, hot-off-the-presses tarot deck is published as a first tarot attempt by an artist well-known for his illustration in rune and oracle decks.  He has also done many other kinds of work, but these are the ones I know him best from, and from which he will most likely be remembered within the tarot community.  I remember the first time I ever saw a deck illustrated by him; it was the Celtic Oracle (now out of print), which was a collaboration with Nigel Pennick, and which I saw in the US Games catalog about seven or eight years ago.  At the time, I fell in love with it, and when I was finally able to get a copy a few years later, I was absolutely thrilled with it!

When I discovered that he had illustrated the Rune Oracle (later renamed the Witches Runes) which was a collaboration with Silver RavenWolf, I immediately seized upon the chance to grab it, based on my experience with his previous work.  I was not disappointed.  And now, finally, this talented artist has brought his vision of the tarot to breathtaking new life with his creation of the Nigel Jackson Tarot.

This deck takes imagery from the Marseilles style but interprets it with a fresh perspective, yet it stays within the historical context of the deck.  We are not looking at ultramodern, newfangled scenery here; beautiful costumes, lovely old ships, castles and pastoral countrysides fill the images of these cards.  The titles in the Major Arcana are faithful to the older European norm, with such famous fellows as the Juggler, the Popess and the Pope, and Fortitude, which is placed at number 11, and Justice at 8, according to Marseille standard.  Modern Roman numerals accompany the titles which are placed in the white borders underneath the image area.

The Minor Arcana are, in a way, my favorite part of the deck.  Usually when a deck is done in the Marseilles style, you will see numbered cards that are just plain pips, which are cold arrangements of suit icons without benefit of any scenic interpretation.  In more modern decks, the scenes have been used, without benefit of the traditional pip arrangements.  In the Nigel Jackson Tarot, scenes are combined with pip arrangements so beautifully that they seem totally natural together.  Suits used here are Swords, Staves, Cups and Coins.

Aces borrow a concession from the Rider-Waite style, in that they feature a hand emerging from the clouds offering the single large suit icon; however each icon is then wrapped in a banner bearing the Latin term for the element to which the suit corresponds (Ignis for fire, Aqua for water, Aer for air, and Terra for earth).  Interestingly, and significantly, this deck uses Swords for Fire and Staves (wands) for Air.  Not everyone will be comfortable with this arrangement; however, except in the Aces and courts, it's not a big issue.  Court cards in this deck appear to have been more inspired by the Rider-Waite deck than anything else, although I don't mean this to imply that they are unoriginal.  Court titles include a King, Queen, Knight and Page in each suit.

The cards themselves are larger than standard size which showcases the artist's work well.  We're not talking about the large Crowley deck though, it's not so big as to be uncomfortable!  The cardstock used is thin and flexible with a silky smooth texture along the polished edges that is a genuine pleasure in the hands.  The deck shuffles and handles pretty well for its size.  Most people will not have difficulty handling it.  Back design features a dark blue with stars pattern.  This deck is published in a mini-kit style which consists of the deck, in its own box, packaged with a small paperback book approximately 150 pages in length and then these are presented in a slipcased package.  The total presentation is neat and tidy and attractive, and those of you familiar with my reviews know that the lack of an individual box for the deck has been my biggest beef with many a deck-and-book set.  Llewellyn's new mini-kit design takes care of that wonderfully and gets my complete approval.

The book itself contains a lengthy and detailed description of tarot history and theory which I found both well-proposed and accurately presented.  It goes on to describe each of the cards within its theoretical context; the book explains that this tarot deck has been created with a Pythagorean application that has never been published before.  The logic applied sounds reasonable but I have no experience with Pythagorean theory so I cannot say whether it is accurate or not.  I do know that it is nice to know where Jackson is coming from on his cards, but a person can comfortably work with the cards without getting too heavily into his head.  The book goes on to cover the cards a second time, using their divinatory nature as the focus.  Several spreads are used in the book, all original.  Not one is the Celtic Cross.  A section on Magickal Meditation and a glossary round out the book nicely.

I cannot recommend this deck and book kit highly *enough*.  I really liked it that much.  Beginners, advanced tarotists, and collectors will all be able to enjoy this deck thoroughly.  It's priced reasonably, and within the next couple of months should be easy to find on your bookstore shelves.

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Review Copyright 2000 by Gina M. Pace

Nigel Jackson Tarot by Nigel Jackson, 2000
published by Llewellyn Worldwide, Inc.
ISBN 1-56718-365-4