When I first found out about this deck (recently, I might add) I jumped at the chance to have a look at it.  It's not a new deck; it seems instead to be several years out of print and, perhaps because of that, very hard to find.  Consider that I've been doing reviews for over two years now and only just now heard about it!  I have looked all through Kaplan's Encyclopedia of Tarot (all three volumes) and have not been able to find out anything much about this deck.

The title means the Tarot of the Templars, referring to the Knights Templar, which was a holy order of warriors and knights from around the times of the Crusades.  These were "an Order of soldier-monks bound by religious vows of poverty, chastity and obedience, and engaged in religious war in the Holy Land.  After their withdrawal from Syria at the end of the thirteenth century the Templars became the apparently innocent victims of a terrible campaign of slander and persecution mounted against them by the French government.  Many were dreadfully tortured during their judicial examination; others were burned alive in order to intimidate the rest into confession.  At the end of a short period of crisis (1307-12) the Templar Order was dissolved forever."¹

Many years later (as in centuries later) as hermetic and esoteric societies and philosophies became popular once more, fantasies surrounding the Templars and their Order began to emerge.  It was believed that their order had a secret level of esoteric mysticism and that occult power had been achieved and used during the Holy Wars by this group of warrior-monks.  Not a whole lot is known for a fact about the Knights Templar, but a whole lot of myth and mystery abounds!

The art style of this deck reminds me of a cross between a Tavaglione deck (Stairs of Gold, Delle Stelle, etc) and the Arcus Arcanum by Gunter Hager and Hansrudi Wascher.  Something of a comic strip style, such as you'd see in Prince Valiant comics.  The scenes that are rendered on the cards are done with weak type coloring with a predominant beige tone which leaves the user with the impression that they are really old (like yellowed old paper, not quite as dark as a parchment).

I've been trying to find the Templar connection with this deck.  Looking at the images, they don't appear to be pictures *of* Templars so much as pictures of people they might have interacted with and encountered during the time of their reign.  The cards have a very nice historical look to them and are designed to follow along the Marseille style.  Titles are traditional in the Major Arcana, done in French on the cards and numbered with Roman numerals.  Justice is 8 and Strength 11.  In keeping with the older style European decks, there is a Pope and a Popess instead of a Hierophant and High Priestess.  The Tower is titled House of God instead of the Tower; this is traditional among many older Marseille decks.

The image is centered low on the card with a gold patterned border around it; a white scroll appears across the top of that border to contain the Roman numeral for the card.  A larger, ivory scroll above the image area contains the title in French.  Each card's image is further scattered with Hebrew letters, the names of the corresponding Sephiroth, as well as astrological symbols, compass directions and points and even a few higher numbers (for example, the number 300 appears on the sack the Fool is carrying over his back).  These symbols appear in keeping with the belief that the Templars were a highly esoteric order.  I also found it very interesting that the Death card has the name Jehovah on a banner in the image.

 The Minor Arcana receive essentially a dressed-up version of the treatment of Marseilles style Minors; suits are Deniers (Coins), Batons (Wands), Coupes (Cups), and Epees (Swords). The aces are formally done and yet are very attractive, again the beige color is predominant.  King, Queen, Knight and Page are the usual court titles.  The court cards are very good in this deck; with the exception of the Valet de Baton, the Valets in this deck all appear to be adult male slaves, and don't look particularly well-treated, either.  Perhaps they are prisoners of war who have been forced into bondage.  The Valet de Baton looks like a wise old man from the Synagogue.  The Knights are excellently drawn period Knights and are probably renditions of the Knights Templar themselves; the Kings and Queens probably the royals whom they served.  The numbered cards are pretty much your standard pips and feature no scenes to help the reader determine their meaning.

The cards themselves are slightly larger than standard size and had a tendence to warp towards the back.  I've noted this tendency in many European decks.  It might be the coating which causes this.  The deck is printed on a thin flexible cardstock but is coated with a protective matte finish that is somehow slippery.  The edges and corners are nice and even.  They would shuffle and handle fairly well provided one could get a grip on them.  Between the slipperyness and the size of them, I had trouble holding onto them.  The back design is a tight metallic gold pattern against navy blue; conservative and generally excellent.  There was no little white booklet, which disappointed me, except that I'm sure if there was one, it would be in French anyway.  There is a book one can purchase to go with this, and that is entirely in French.  Personally I would bank on reading up on a similar type deck, the Oswald Wirth Tarot, which uses Marseille type imagery in an esoteric symbolism.  Most of the information it contains would be helpful for this deck also, and this one is more attractive.

I recommend this deck to anyone who has an interest in esoteric historical decks.  Of course it is a perfect addition for the collector of rare decks.  If anyone has a copy of Kaplan's Encyclopedias and has found a listing there for this deck, I would love to hear where it is so I can update this review accordingly.  This deck is rare and hard to find, so if you like what you see here and find a copy, grab it!

Click here for pictures

or here to return

Please use your browser's back button to return from pictures

for more information on the Knights Templar, I recommend:

The Knights Templar and Their Myth by Peter Partner, 1987, 1990
published by Inner Traditions/Destiny Books, Rochester, Vermont
ISBN 0-89281-273-7

Review Copyright 2000 by Gina M. Pace

Le Tarot Des Templiers by Willy Vassaux, 19??
published by Editions DERVY, Paris, France.
ISBN 2850768634

¹ Quote taken from The Knights Templar and Their Myth by Peter Partner, 1987, 1990, published by Inner Traditions/Destiny Books, Rochester, Vermont