|
| Necronomicon Tarot | 
| Authors: Anne Stokes, Donald Tyson
Publisher: Llewellyn Publications
Category: Book
List Price: $26.95
Buy New: $14.43
You Save: $12.52 (46%)
New (19) from $14.43
Avg. Customer Rating:  4 reviews
Sales Rank: 125955
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 240
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.1
Dimensions (in): 8.4 x 5.5 x 2.5
ISBN: 0738710865
Dewey Decimal Number: 133.32424
EAN: 9780738710860
ASIN: 0738710865
Publication Date: September 1, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
|
| Similar Items:
|
| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
Grim Agents of Cosmic Forces...
In the early twentieth century, legendary horror writer H.P. Lovecraft described an ancient tome as "the unmentionable Necronomicon of the mad Arab Abdul Alhazred . . . a book which I had never seen, but of which I had heard monstrous things whispered." In the early twenty-first century, best-selling author Donald Tyson wove the myriad rumors and whispers of Lovecraft's dread grimoire into the epic fantasy novels Necronomicon and Alhazred. Intended as a trilogy, this tarot completes Tyson's formidable work.
The Necronomicon Tarot brings the phantasmagoric desert wanderings of Alhazred to life in a stunningly visceral deck and companion book. Seventy-eight captivating illustrations by fantasy artist Anne Stokes capture the mythic and monstrous world of Tyson's Necronomicon while remaining true to the underlying structure and tradition of tarot. Prepare to enter a world where the accursed and tormented poet wanders in search of the greatest and darkest magic ? divination with the dead.
This kit includes 78-card tarot deck with a black organdy bag and 240-page companion tarot book.
|
| Customer Reviews:
Hauntingly Beautiful Esoteric Deck February 24, 2008
6 out of 6 found this review helpful
I want to start off by saying two things. First, this deck is hauntingly beautiful. And second, this deck is not for everyone. The subject material and design will intrigue and delight some folks or repulse and disgust some others. You will love it or hate it.
Having said that, my own opinion is that I really do like this deck, and did some back research on this before even writing this review. Reading through the book with the deck, I saw in the Introduction that the deck is based on Mr. Tysons own work "Necronomicon - The Wanderings of Alhazred". So after glancing through the included book, I acquired a copy of Tyson's Necronomicon and read through that, wandering back and forth between the book and the deck.
The deck is based on the Ryder Waite deck. It contains 22 Trump cards and 4 full suites with court cards of king, queen, knight and knave. The suits are broken into disks, swords, cups and wands. Each suit has its own theme color to make them easily distinguishable from the other suits. The reverse of the cards is a very clever design of Cthulhu, intriguingly done.
The correspondence "is designed to be in harmony with the set of esoteric correspondences used by the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn." And reading through the accompanying book confirms this. The suits are Wands - fire, Cups - water, Swords - air and Disks - earth. This desk also relies heavily on reversal reading of the cards, so that has to be taken into consideration when working with this deck. The deck is meant to work mostly with ritual magics and meditation, and is not considered a "fortune telling" deck.
Looking at the images will tell you this as well. Ms. Stokes has presented us with some images that will really give you pause to consider. While I think they are stunning, other people I have shown this deck could not deal with it. And still others quoted H. P. Lovecraft's work as fiction and didn't take the deck seriously.
The concept of necormancy is not new, and to eventually write a book on Necromancy and call it the Necronomicon would not have been so far fetched if it had not been that the book first appeared in a fantasy novel.
This deck is a natural progression of this process, working into using a deck designed for use in necromancy and the magical arts , calling upon real and imagined images to create a world within the deck that draws you towards the ideas and concepts that Mr. Tyson explains in both of these books.
The images work well with the usual meanings of the decks, but the designs are dark, raw and not for the weak of stomach. While the card for the Two of Cups shows a priestess of Bast pouring wine for a youth and having a statue of Bast in the background and implies what we usually associate with this card as a minor card of love, we contrast this with the Four of Wands, which shows a noble woman sitting staring amorously into the eyes of "The Deep One", very reptilian looking, having a tryst. A very different view of the meaning of enjoyment, harmony and satisfaction.
Ms. Stokes designs are very powerful. The Magician card is one of the most powerful Magician cards I've seen in a while, with the Magician raising a spirit from a grave. Now that's magic!. The Fool card is Azathoth - fat, naked, dirty and alone playing happily on his pipes. Such innocence, such blindness to the world around him.
The deck continues along in this fashion, and should really been seen and felt and contemplated to understand how this deck can work for your own path. I have found it to be compelling to use, but as I said, it is not for everyone.
However, I do recommend that you take a look at this deck and decide for yourself. I do think it is a remarkable deck, and if you have read Tyson's Necronomicon, you will find this deck as fascinating a work as
the book. boudica
Dark Twist of an Old Favorite February 22, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
These cards are awesome. I hate to open with such a mundane line, but there really is no other way of expressing the jublilation fostered by the dark images of this deck. The Author takes great pains to adhere to the Golden Dawn Tarot Model, and with great success. The gods, devils, and people you encounter throughout the tarot journey within this deck create a gloomy, darker miasma in the room, but the meanings ascribed to the cards couple with the images in a perfect blend of harmony and despair. True the Necronomicon is not the most happy-go-lucky text (or texts however you believe) but this deck deals with the dark in such a way that enlightens. This deck is unique in its delivery of symbolism and has a rich mythos behind it. Great for lovers of HP Lovecraft, Tyson, or just those of us who do not see sunny-faced magic bunnies dancing among candy-coated mountaintops in our dreams. (If you do see such things, this tarot is probably not for you.) This Deck is for any of us who dare to look into the chasm of the human psyche without the fear of being swallowed by the darkness within.
 Pretty Art October 10, 2007
5 out of 7 found this review helpful
I found this Tarot deck fun to look at and play with. While I do not believe I would use it for real Divination, still I will use it for some Pathworking experiences with the Mythos.
The artwork is pretty and the colors are truly stunning. I would like to see better drawn art but I realize that that is probably not going to happen where the Cthulhu Mythos is concerned. Thus this deck will serve as a nice way to Pathwork as well as put me in the mood to read some Lovecraft and Chtulhu Mythos works.
I gave it 4 out of 5 possible stars because I don't agree with some of the card associations regarding characters from the Mythos. I do not feel the need to justify this to anyone as it is only 'my' personal opinion and taste however if you're new to Tarot, Sorcery or Cthulhu Mythos & Lovecraftiana, then this deck will be something you want to explore.
The Stars Are Right August 3, 2007
40 out of 42 found this review helpful
That is not dead which can eternal lie,
And with strange eons even death may die.
-- Necronomicon
The Necronomicon Tarot by Donald Tyson, illustrated by Anne Stokes, is a brilliant adaptation of H.P. Lovecraft's work to the Tarot format. For those not familiar with HPL, he was an early 20th century pulp fiction writer whose work focused on the other-worldly horrors of ancient magic and forgotten civilizations. He created the Necronomicon as a literary device, an imaginary tome of ancient magic upon which much of his hideous mythology was based. Tyson himself has continued that lineage with two novels and this Tarot, the third in his trilogy. The Tarot comes in a boxed book and deck set, together with a mosquito-net style bag. Given the subject matter, I was a little disappointed that it did not include a shrunken head, or at the very least some dusty old bones, but I suppose there are postal regulations to contend with.
The deck itself is of standard size, and the usual Tarot format of 22 Major Arcana cards, and a Minor Arcana in four suits of 10 plus four court cards. The art work is vivid and brightly colored, set against a black background that makes the cards almost glow. The design of the Major Arcana itself is roughly traditional (whatever that really means), with the substitutions one would expect for the theme. Most of them will be immediately recognized by students of the genre: Nyarlathotep is the Magician, Dagon is the Hierophant, the Hounds of Leng haunt the Moon, and of course Great Cthulhu himself appears as the Devil. Each suit of the Minor Arcana is based on a particular theme, and for the most part, the cards are descriptively illustrated, and follow the Golden Dawn pattern. The Wands, which we are told represent Fire, somewhat surprisingly concern themselves with Atlantis, and Deep Ones make frequent appearances. The Cups reflect an Egyptian theme, tracing the progress of an acolyte of Bast. The Swords concern themselves with betrayal, distrust and death, while the Disks chronicle the adventures, and eventual success, of a necromancer.
The theme immediately invites a comparison with the H. P. Lovecraft Tarot, by Friedman and Hutchinson, published by Mythos Books, and now sadly out of print. Its first edition was cast in bluish-green tones, and its second edition appeared in sepia, while the Necronomicon Tarot is in full, bright colors. The HPL Tarot provides a more thorough illustration of Lovecraft's works -- it is very much a Necronomicon in itself, which might, to those not familiar with Lovecraft's work, make it a little difficult to use as a Tarot. The Necronomicon Tarot, on the other hand, is immediately recognizable as a Tarot deck. While a familiarity with Lovecraft's work would certainly add to one's appreciation of the deck, it should be easy to use by those familiar with the Tarot in general, and, thanks to the detailed book that accompanies it, by those with an interest in the theme who are just beginning their study of the Tarot.
The book, "Secrets of the Necronomicon," is very well written, and would be very helpful to those not familiar with the work of Lovecraft, or with the Tarot itself. It includes chapters on the Necronomicon and its history, the Cthulhu Mythos, and Correspondences, which discusses the Tarot, and specifically its relationship to the Golden Dawn. There are detailed black-and-white illustrations, descriptions, and suggested divinatory meanings for each card, and finally a suggested layout for reading. The divinatory meanings roughly follow the GD standard, though there are occasional differences. If you don't happen to like the GD interpretations, you can focus more on using the card's description as a starting point for your own imagination and understanding of the card.
And there is a lot to imagine here. As Tyson points out, the Necronomicon itself is made out of the stuff of dreams, not out of wood pulp and glue. Its roots are deep within the unconscious, and its "reality" is in its ability to bring forth things that are hidden to ordinary waking consciousness. As such, it is a theme well suited to the Tarot, which is itself a product of the collective unconscious.
But what is this all about? Why all the excitement over a book that does not exist, over monsters that were invented by a pulp writer in the early 20th century? No one could take all this stuff seriously! After all, no one believes in metaphysical Evil anymore; it's evil with a small "e." Human frailty and corruption, not monsters and devils. Right? Maybe. But, methinks, thou whistleth a bit too loudly in the graveyard...
Nietzsche used the word "blinken" to describe a kind of narrow-sighted, closed-mindedness that refuses to recognize anything other than what makes your own world comfortable for you. It's easy to say there is no "Evil," if you have never faced it. It's easy to say Tarot cards are rubbish, if you have no talent for reading them. It's easy to walk through the graveyard at night, if you don't look behind yourself. And it's easy to ridicule what others believe, until your own little world falls apart.
Then, like Pandora's box, the collective unconscious opens wide, and every horror that has stalked the human race since before recorded history lunges forth with vengeance. The stars are right, and that which became Tiamat to the ancients, and Cthulhu in the mind of Lovecraft, rises from the sea to shred what remains of your "reality." Madness, yes, but "reality" too. More drugs? Drugs can alter your brain so you don't see what is socially unacceptable, but they do not change the "reality" of what lies beyond the blinken.
Therein lies the fascination of the Necronomicon. Sure, it's a myth, but that is what a myth is -- a map of the world that lies beyond immediate experience, a signpost in the twilight zone that lies beyond the blinken. Someone else's experience of a world as yet unknown; and whether imaginary or historical, it is just as valid. And this is the value of the Necronomicon Tarot, along with other "dark" tarots, like the Bosch and the Gothic -- they are images of what lies in the collective unconscious, imaginary and at the same time very real. They speak to, and listen to, a part of the mind connected with the primal origins of humanity, and perhaps with the forces out of which humanity arose. They are gateways to a "reality" that we don't ordinarily see -- the stuff of which dreams and visions are made -- and they are ways of getting beyond the intellectual, moral, and spiritual "blinken" of modern culture.
|
|
|
Wildlife, nature and the Environment
Sponsored Links
Learn how to get your own Amazon Book shop | |
