Inspirations: a fantasy Tarot themed novel/film

[Papageno]

continued from the "cleansing the deck" thread.

drawing upon different elements from various books and films about metaphysics, Tarot decks, cartomancers, art ie. paintings and objet d'art, art dealers and auction houses and all that good stuff.

Let's start with some of my favorites:

1. Novel: The Golden Key, authored by Jennifer Robison, Melanie Rawn, and Kate Elliott.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Golden_Key_(novel)

2. Film: The Red Violin, 1998, directed/written by Don McKellar/François Girard
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120802/

3. Film: The Ninth Gate, 1999, directed by Roman Polanski
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0142688/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1

adapted from the novel, The Club Dumas, 1993, author: Arturo Pérez-Reverte Gutiérrez

4. Film: Angel Heart, 1987, directed by Alan Parker
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0092563/?r ... lmg_act_73

adapted from the novel, Falling Angel, 1978, author: William Hjortsberg
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falling_Angel

5. Film: The Picture of Dorian Gray, 1945, directed by Albert Lewin

adapted from the novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray, 1890/1891, author: Oscar Wilde (Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Pictu ... orian_Gray

6. Films: Indiana Jones movie franchise
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indiana_Jones_(franchise)

7. Film: Lara Croft: Tomb Raider, 2001
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0146316/?r ... lmg_act_33

8. Film: Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life, 2003
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0325703/?ref_=tt_sims_tt

9. Film: The Da Vinci Code, 2006, directed by Ron Howard

adapted from the novel, The Da Vinci Code, 2003, author: Dan Brown
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Da_Vi ... %20Demons.

10. HBO Series: Carnivàle, 2003 - 2005
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carniv%C3%A0le

Suggested premise:

The protagonist is a collector of Tarot decks and Tarot related art in general, ie. decks, folios of prints, sculpture, assorted ephemera, and related objet d'art.

The protagonist associates with artists, members of academia, occult practitioners, art dealers, auction houses, pawnshops, assorted collectors of Tarot, occult ephemera, rare books.

Who is the protagonist? Perhaps an art dealer, an academic, a pawnshop owner, a museum curator or a painter who works at a museum in art restoration (and therefore, perhaps even more expert than the curator), I like this model for the protagonist.
The museum art restoration painter knows all about pigment, styles, and techniques and maybe has a friend at the museum who is an expert on ancient manuscripts, and that person would know about how the paper was made and inks, just like the restorer.

The Tarot deck itself (or perhaps a print or set of prints) cannot be read in a conventional manner, or so go the stories that swirl around this Tarot deck, which is a myth, it doesn't exist or hasn't yet been discovered.

It's rumored that if you attempt to read the cards, the reader risks madness, as the cards reveal visions of past consultations and their portents, both good and bad. They also reveal glimpses into the lives of the previous owners of the deck and the querents.
This is a deck that cannot be read or controlled, it reveals to you only what it wants you to see.

How is this antique deck discovered? Perhaps the museum curator purchased the obscure deck of unknown origin from a pawnshop or auction and kept it hidden away.
Is it Visconti-like, Marseille, RWS, Etteilla, Thoth or none of these. Maybe something so original and unique that only one or a few copies exist because it or they were hand-painted.

what were the pigments? perhaps oil paints, egg tempera and precious pigments such as ground lapis lazuli and toxic cinnabar and malachite, the art restoration painter would know as would the expert on ancient illuminated manuscripts.
Perhaps body fluids were used in the mixing of the paints.

[Joan Marie]

The Tarot deck itself (or perhaps a print or set of prints) cannot be read in a conventional manner, or so go the stories that swirl around this Tarot deck, which is a myth, it doesn't exist or hasn't yet been discovered.

I would go to this movie.

Could I suggest The Sola Busca?

For more than four centuries the Sola Busca remained the only complete deck of tarot cards with anthropomorphic, dynamic figures on them. So it really lends to some cool story-telling possibilities.

There is already a ton of mystery and lore surrounding this deck. No one knows who made it. The Allegorical depictions on each card are amazing and there is no record of what they mean. It's been implied that the characters, although they have the names of famous people from history and legend, in fact represent real people who existed at the time. No "guidebook" or "Key" was ever found.

The deck was lost for a long time (I forget the details, but I will look them up and add to this) and then re-discovered in pristine condition. Just one copy.

Here is an interview I did with Giordano Berti, a tarot preservationist and Sola Busca expert.

[Joan Marie]

Here is an interview I did with Giordano Berti, a tarot preservationist and Sola Busca expert.

I just had a look at this interview again. There are a lot of good nuggets for a story!

BTW- after being passed around a few families for a few centuries, the Sola Busca was lost for 800 years,

[Papageno]

The Tarot deck itself (or perhaps a print or set of prints) cannot be read in a conventional manner, or so go the stories that swirl around this Tarot deck, which is a myth, it doesn't exist or hasn't yet been discovered.

I would go to this movie.

Could I suggest The Sola Busca?

You certainly may, I was tempted to make that suggestion myself, possibly make a list of decks and artists, but I thought it best to keep things more objective and neutral since there are so many titles and so many varied tastes.......and yes, I'd go see that movie too, provided Hollywood could actually find a really good writer, director, and cast lol, but it's got to be classy, no schlock.

For more than four centuries the Sola Busca remained the only complete deck of tarot cards with anthropomorphic, dynamic figures on them. So it really lends to some cool story-telling possibilities.

There is already a ton of mystery and lore surrounding this deck. No one knows who made it. The Allegorical depictions on each card are amazing and there is no record of what they mean. It's been implied that the characters, although they have the names of famous people from history and legend, in fact represent real people who existed at the time. No "guidebook" or "Key" was ever found.

The deck was lost for a long time (I forget the details, but I will look them up and add to this) and then re-discovered in pristine condition. Just one copy.

Here is an interview I did with Giordano Berti, a tarot preservationist and Sola Busca expert.

Giordano Berti is a scholar and gentleman of the old school, and he is most gracious.

I also consider his latest edition of the Sola-Busca to be the definitive version.
The card stock is substantial, the backs are gorgeous and the printing of the images is not only exquisite, but they also make perfect sense.
The finish is silken.

Although this is based on the very enviable and desirable 1998 Wolfgang Mayer edition, I think Berti's latest edition exceeds the Mayer printing in 2 important respects.
First, the backs are lovingly printed with a richly textured coral red/orange pattern designed to emulate the original backs, whereas the Mayer edition has blank backs (I never understood that feature). The art backs of the Berti edition "breathe", they have life and spontaneity.

Secondly, the Mayer edition has sharply squared edges, while the original cards have rounded edges and Berti's version respects that, and very elegantly at that.

I also like the fact that Berti allows for an appropriately tinted border (to match the color of the actual card borders) of just a few millimeters so that you actually see the entire body of the card, and that minuscule margin is so skilfully tinted that you don't notice those few millimeters because they blend into the actual card borders almost seamlessly. It is illusory but the subtlety of the effect is impressive.

Other publishers crop the borders to give the appearance of "authenticity" but you're still only seeing a cropped border.
In addition to cropped borders, other publishers over enhance the colors to the point of being unconvincing, other editions are ridiculously chromatic.
I also don't care much for the "red granite" backs on other editions. They're not done well, IMHO. Yes, it's supposed to be authentic, but those designs don't lend themselves to the overall artistry of the deck, they clash with the images, they do not compliment the Sola-Busca imagery.

Berti's cards are breathtaking, the colors are vivid and balanced, and they are convincing....they make sense.
His art box housings are lovely and if purchasing the Sola-Busca, you should also get a copy of the book by Sofia Di Vincenzo/preface by Giordano Berti, published by U.S. Games Sys., 1998.

Speaking of art conservation and restoration, think of it this way. The original cards are many hundreds of years old, I don't care how well they are cared for in the British Museum, pigments deteriorate, even if they are never taken out for exhibitions, never exposed to harsh lights, and kept in special temperature and humidity-controlled storage.

Even van Gogh paintings are restored, and those paintings are from the late 19th century.

[Joan Marie]

I have a copy of the Mayer version and yes, the plain white backs were a disappointment, but I got used to it. The squareness also took some getting used to. I think they have an intrinsic value though just for the weirdness of the journey they took.
I don't know this for a fact, but it felt like Mayer was focused on reproducing the art on the cards and not on them being really usable as cards, as a deck per se. They are gorgeously printed.

It's great what Giordano did with his new edition. I don't have it yet.

Since 2009, the original deck, has been the property of the Italian Ministry of Culture Heritage in Milan, where they are kept.

I saw a video at one time, I think it was Mary K. Greer, but I could be wrong, but some group traveled to Milan and met with Giordano and they got to see the original deck which by all accounts is beautifully preserved and kept very safe.

There is (sorry my memory so sketchy on details) a story about why they were found in such great condition to begin with. Something about the unusual way they were stored.

[Papageno]

It's great what Giordano did with his new edition. I don't have it yet.

it's well worth it, trust me on this one.

I don't own the Mayer edition, I gathered the info from several internet sites.

you should Google the Palazzo Serbelloni Busca, what an eye-opener. OMG talk about old aristocracy!
I believe there are still surviving descendants, but who knows where the original cards are now.
Maybe they disappeared with the older branch of the family, maybe the surviving branch still has them secretly in their possession, I have a feeling that might be the case, but who knows.

reminds me of The Ninth Gate, the collector, Victor Fargas who says wistfully, "...old families are like ancient civilizations, they wither and die."

[stronglove]

wow! i immediately thought of julia turk’s navigators of the mystic sea, she wrote three novels based on her tarot, just read the synopsis, you’ll love this, she uses a tired and overworked psychiatrist as protagonist, he throws a tarot deck into the waste basked and it explodes, catapulting him into the world of the deck, a bit like alice

part 1 deals with the pips



part 2 with the court cards



part 3 with the major arcana

[Papageno]

wow! i immediately thought of julia turk’s navigators of the mystic sea, she wrote three novels based on her tarot, just read the synopsis, you’ll love this, she uses a tired and overworked psychiatrist as protagonist, he throws a tarot deck into the waste basked and it explodes, catapulting him into the world of the deck, a bit like alice

Thanks for the heads-up.

Her artwork is very compelling and I had no idea that she had authored these novels based on her Tarot.
Of course, I'm familiar with her name, she's very established, somehow I just never paid attention.......

[Raven]

Thank you, Papageno. Great compilation.

[sarahtmagic]

Falling Angel is one of my all-time favourite novel, but I don't really like the way the presented the story in the film!