Tom Benjamin: This Might Hurt Tarot

[Papageno]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DqOQbZzmZpQ

[Joan Marie]

The title to this post sounded like clickbait to me, until I saw that the name of the deck is "This Might Hurt"

I had thought when I first read "This might hurt tarot" there was someone or something out to damage the Tarot itself.

It's a provocative name for a deck.

[Diana]

The Judgement card is really cool.

[Papageno]

I love the Death card.

look at the lower left image of a man grasping paper money in his hand, in a vain attempt to escape or bribe Death.

I find this very amusing given some people's responses to COVID-19, the rich fleeing to second homes or flying abroad, only to be scorned or turned away.

[Nemia]

I didn't notice this deck until now, and I'm glad I found this thread and looked at it now!

It's a great deck - very clever interpretations. In this case, I don't have problems with the cartoon style - I see it as equivalent to the teatrical style of the original RWS, and I think Colman-Smith would have liked this deck. I think this is an ideal beginner's deck. You see the card and just KNOW what it means. Isabella Rotman has her feet solidly on RWS ground - but her eyes, hands and brains in the Here and Now.

Very relatable, inclusive (although - are there enough Asians?), and free of gender stereotypes.

Maybe not free enough - Emperer and Hierophant, our figures of male authority in the patriarchy, are always stumbling stones in such decks, and here they really seem quite negative figures. Rotmann's text reflects her ambivalence: it gives "at its best" and "at its worst" interpretations.

Personally, I think that we have reached real gender liberty when it's possible to think of wise old men with natural, not usurped or automatic, authority, and to accept them just as easily as a sassy young genius or a wise old crone from a minority population. Well, if that takes time, it just shows how oppressive the automatic adulation of powerful men was.

ETA: The artist addresses this whole thorny issue here and does so very intelligently.

I always look at these two cards in a postmodern deck because it's so difficult to find the right balance. I can't go along with automatic acceptance of Emperor/State and Pope/Religion, but I find a totally negative depiction unsatisfying. Rotmann really tried to give us both sides of these difficult figures. Well done.

The deck is also body inclusive - another full-bodied World here (the World Spirit Tarot and the Trionfi della Luna have similar World dancers - but they're blue!). There are much more female than male figures, and all of them are young. For a middle-aged reader like me, there are not many figures that look like me. Well, there's one old man on the Death card and of course some of the Queens and Kings.

But is it really necessary to have all ages represented? It's a deck of youthful energy, and that's okay. It's possible to read young persons as allegories. After all, we all carry the children and youngsters we once were within us.

The artist, Isabella Rotman, has a website where you can order the deck, a beautiful spread cloth, look at all the cards and read her descriptions.

For Europeans, the deck is available in the absolutely brilliant Little Red Tarot Shop - what a great shop that is!

I don't know when I'll have money again to buy decks but this one has jumped onto my list. It's very charming and intelligent, and it nails especially the minor cards from the vague "robed person looking at the sea" that you see in so many new decks, and puts them into a perfectly understandable context (Two and Three of Wands - so difficult for beginners to make the difference stick, but look at them!).

ETA: I'm still looking at clips about this deck and looking at the online pictures - I LOVE the Justice card with its crochet collar. Warmed my heart to see this detail.

[Papageno]

I think this is an ideal beginner's deck. You see the card and just KNOW what it means. Isabella Rotman has her feet solidly on RWS ground - but her eyes, hands and brains in the Here and Now.

Very relatable, inclusive (although - are there enough Asians?), and free of gender stereotypes.

It's a very fine contemporary deck.....my favorite card is still the 9 of wands, which I've already mentioned in a different thread....or two.

are there enough Asians?

perhaps Asians don't significantly influence her sphere of experiences and her psyche, maybe she simply doesn't come in contact with many Asians, hence the lack of Asians in her tarot deck...are there any Asians, I don't remember, my copy of that deck is buried and I'm too lazy to dig it out.

She's from Chicago, which has a very significant African American populace, therefore, it's not surprising that her perceptions are reflected in the deck and feature many African Americans.

publishing a tarot deck that's all inclusive for the sake of being inclusive comes off as disingenuous, to me at any rate.
IMHO, if you take that route, the deck becomes more of a political statement rather than being a good tarot deck.

The World Spirit deck is lovely, it's an earlier publication, so I take that into consideration...the artwork is very charming, although to a certain degree it almost tries too hard to be inclusive.

The artist implemented some much need changes.....such as in the unfortunate Sun card from the first printing and other redrawings.......however, I don't understand why they changed the Magician card and omitted the indigenous shaman and replaced him with a Caucasian hipster type dude.....that just seems contradictory to me in terms of the inclusivity theme.....whatever.

It's not a disaster by any means....perhaps that was simply a marketing decision, maybe an attempt to reach a new and younger
audience?

Yes, the Trionfi della Luna also features the Venus of Willendorf influence, definitely not my favorite template for a World card, but in both decks they work very harmoniously, and Patrick Valenza can make just about anything work beautifully........blue?
Blue is good, doesn't bother me, much like the paintings of various Hindu and Buddhist deities.