Many people seem to be put off by this unique reworking of the Tarot when they first encounter it.  Every card is jam-packed with a variety of symbols.  Human figures tend to be androgynous and painted in outlandish colors such as green, orange, or alternating black and white.  A closer look at the cards, and greater familiarity with their symbolism will reveal a wonderfully conceived and beautifully designed set of Tarot cards.

     The artist and author of the cards, Julia A. Turk, appears to have a background nearly as exotic as the cards themselves.  As Ms. Turk herself tells us in the first pages of the book which accompanies this deck, she spent many years as a skipper in the yacht charter industry.  In 1988 she had a near-death experience in an automobile accident.  Her “amazing escape” from this accident brought her to a new understanding of life and her place in it.  Thereupon she appears to have begun a study of esoteric knowledge, which eventually led her to reconceive the Tarot in the form of the Navigators of the Mystics SEA.  She then spent several more years painting all of the images of the 78 cards in this deck.

First, I have to say that, as a former graphic artist myself, I believe this is one of the most aesthetically beautiful decks I have ever seen.  Ms. Turk’s accomplishment is even more incredible when you realize that each and every part of every card is there for a purpose.  Each animal, each object, each person serves a symbolic purpose.  Each color of each object has its symbolic meaning.  Even the positions of everything in the card has its own meaning.  These cards are rich with symbolism.  As a card reader, I appreciate the depth of symbolism in each card.  I find it allows more associations to be made in each reading.

     The Navigator Tarot is published alone and as a book and deck set.  I believe the book is an absolute must-have if you expect to have any chance of understanding these cards.  The book is more than worth the additional price.  Not only does it provide detailed explanations of every conceivable element on each and every card (right down to the reasons for the unusual hairstyles of the characters on the different cards), but it is an education in symbolism in itself.  Ms. Turk takes Crowley’s Qabbalistic approach as her starting point, but she does not feel bound by it.  In fact, one of her important contributions is her suggested reattributions of the major arcana to the paths on the Tree of Life.  Personally, I find her system much more compelling than any other I have seen, including those of the Golden Dawn and of Crowley himself.

By now it should be obvious that this is not a deck for beginners.  In fact, it may not be a useful deck for intermediate Tarot readers.  On the other hand, it is a must for collectors, especially of so-called art decks, and I recommend it highly for advanced readers and for those who have an interest in the correspondences between Tarot and Qabbalistic symbol systems.  This is primarily a meditative deck, at least at first.  The symbolism is so dense and unique that I am finding it is taking a lot of practice to get a working understanding of the deck for readings.  It is possible, however, and I think efforts in this direction should prove very fruitful.

Guest Review Copyright 1999 by Ken Fletcher; used with permission