Phantasmagoric Theater Tarot
by Graham Cameron
 
This deck, one of the newer offerings from US Games this fall, is a cartoon-like exploration into the weird and unusual.  I've heard more people compare this deck to the "Nightmare Before Christmas" than anything else.  Sometimes it reminds me of illustrations from Shel Silverstein books.  Whatever way you cut it, it's a fun and different deck.
 
Despite the fact that the deck looks childlike, there is, in fact, a good deal of esoteric symbolism throughout the deck.  Some of this is traditional but a lot of it comes directly from Cameron's mind.  Several important symbols appear over and over throughout the deck; a puzzle piece, a question mark, dice, and the number 56.  This number is important to Cameron.  He describes it in the booklet as his own chosen number.  Interestingly, there are 56 Minor Arcana in a traditional tarot deck, so it's not hard to figure out where this number comes from.  The puzzle pieces are used to indicate whether the cards have a masculine or feminine influence.  Dice indicate twists and turns of fortune in our lives, and the question mark?  That is up to you to write.
 
The Major Arcana follow traditional titling and order according to the Waite model, with Strength being 8 and Justice 11.  The only difference in the titles is the Grand Master is substituted for the Hierophant.  Otherwise they are all the usual fare.  I sort of expected them to be weirder than that, frankly.
 
In the Minor Arcana, the suits are your typical Swords, Wands, Cups and Coins.  Court titles are the King, Queen, Knight and Page.  According to the booklet, heavy elemental correspondences apply, as well as various theaters of life such as the circus, the desert, etc, but these show up on the cards in the form of scenes, backdrops, rather than titles or names.
 
The larger card size makes for difficult shuffling and handling, especially for small hands like myself.  A nice card stock is used, however, and the edges are nicely buffed and smoothed.  The back design is a harlequin checked pattern in blue and violet with the 56/dice/puzzlepiece/questionmark logo on it from both ends, making it reversible.  The booklet which comes with this deck is excellent, giving really good information for each card.  I was disappointed that only the Celtic Cross Spread was used.  I would love to see a whole book on this deck by the creator.  His grasp on the meanings of his cards is terrific, and he conveys that to the reader very clearly.
 
All in all, this is one of the more interesting decks I've seen produced lately.  I did think that there was a lot of potential that wasn't being tapped into fully with the system Cameron describes.  Titling and spreads and such could have been manipulated to work with the theater of life analogy better.  However, it's a very good deck, useable as well as artistically interesting.  I don't know if I'd recommend it for a beginner, but it's good for anyone with some experience and collectors as well.
 
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Review Copyright 1999 by Gina M. Pace
 
Phantasmagoric Theater Tarot by Graham Cameron, 1999
published by US Games Systems, Inc.
ISBN 1-57281-195-1