I don't really have a special reason for using the Royal Fez Moroccan tarot except that it is a difficult deck to find and it's nice to have an excuse to show it off. Also, I suppose I think of summer heat when I think of Morocco, and there seems a lot of sunny yellow in the images. It's not a particularly attractive deck and the card back is a rather dull plain blue, but it does have a peculiar charm of its own. It might have a claim to be the very first Rider-Waite-Smith clone.
This is the description of the deck from Tarot Garden:
In the late 1950s, Roland Berrill -- the founder of the MENSA organization -- came up with the idea of the Royal Fez tarot deck. He hired artist Michael Hobdell to execute the artwork. Hobdell died shortly after completing the project, and Berrill died before his original print run of 500 decks was marketed. Eventually, around 1970, the decks were picked up and marketed by Rigel Press, Ltd. Later, U.S. Games and AGMueller published a non-limited edition (ca. 1975) that remained in print for a number of years.
Berrill's deck was purportedly based on a legend that tarot was a remnant of secret societies that once existed in Fez, Morocco. Indeed, the black-and-white backgrounds of the images might suggest Moroccan landscapes, architecture, and culture. However, the foreground imagery is undeniably lifted from Waite and Smith's work.
1. Birth of the Muses – June 14: This card shows how our inspiration and creativity is manifesting.
4 of Wands
This seems like a very auspicious card for celebrating this particular day. The two young women holding a single bouquet look like Muses celebrating at an outdoor party while other couples are dancing in the background. The number 4 is associated with things that are stable and grounded, while the suit of Fire is linked to creative energy. The combination of the two suggests that my energy is currently focused and fruitful. This is good news because recently a friend and I started work on a new tarot deck together. Rather than featuring two young women, the corresponding RWS card shows a man and woman, seemingly at their own wedding party. The Moroccan Fez card seems even more light-hearted. I have never really understood that roofless canopy hung with flowers. It's like a room without a roof or walls - a symbol of openness and freedom perhaps. Maybe the four upright wands are the four Minor suits, and the freedom to walk among them equates to the Soul and thus to the Majors. Our tarot deck is currently in the early planning stages, so perhaps the card is saying that the structure still needs a lot of work. It reminds me a little of the famous barn-raising scene from the movie musical "Seven Brides for Seven Brothers."
2. Vestalia – June 15: An ancient Roman festival dedicated to Vesta, Goddess of the Hearth. This card shows us our hearth, the fire at the center of our life and home, and how to tend to it.
5 of Cups
This is rather funny because, as those who have read some of my posts on CoT for the last few months will know, my wife and I are currently fighting a campaign to stop a renovation project planned to replace the windows and balconies of our condo that will bankrupt us. The cost of this crazy cosmetic upgrade, designed only to make money for a crooked development company by certain members of our equally crooked strata council, who are clearly getting a "cut" as a reward for their efforts, will force us out of our home where we have lived very happily for the last 12 years. This explains the sorrow in the card. Hilarious that he's looking out of one of the perfectly fine windows that we are told need to be replaced. The two upright Cups suggest that all is not lost. We have submitted to the CRT (Civil Resolution Tribunal) a list of grievances, pointing out many irregularities in the way the whole miserable affair has been conducted, and perhaps their report will uphold our complaint and stop the project. Hopefully my wife and I will be able to toast each other with those two upright cups. I would also like to think the man in the picture is me and I have just pushed our main enemy on council out of the damn window!
3. Night of the Teardrop – June 16: Remembrance of the tears of Isis causing the Nile River to overflow. This card shows what our emotions are telling us at this time.
The Magician (1)
Isis' tears are grief for her lost husband Osiris, but they also create the Nile which brings fruitfulness to the land: the life-enhancing power of grief. So, what does the Magician have to tell me about fruitful suffering? Well, I always wanted to be a magician or a powerful spiritual person, but look at this particular Magician. He's the wimpiest looking wizard I've ever seen. The straggly beard and weak eyes, and that infinity sign that looks like he's struggling to make a balloon animal. This is the kind of tenth rate magician I have turned out to be. Oh well, next incarnation I'll be majestic like the RWS Magician! This guy is not even holding up his Wand to bring down the lightning. It's all tangled up with the balloon animal. And I don't much like him being walled around by restrictive battlements and bundled up in that clumsy cloak. Goodness knows what he's pointing at with his left hand - calling for a round of applause for his pet monkey, perhaps. But even though I know I'm a bit of a failure, it's empowering to be able to admit it.
4. Juno, Goddess of Fertility and Union – June 17: Celebrating the ancient Roman goddess for whom the month of June is named. This card shows us an area of fertile growth in our lives.
High Priestess (2)
This is good news for a tarot reader. The inner world of the unconscious is blossoming for me today. It's true. A guy walked into the bookstore where I work and we immediately struck up a conversation about tarot and meditation that taught me a lot. It felt like a breakthrough moment. All thanks to Gary Tzu, who has written several books on the subject. Both his energy and his intellect were very inspiring. I already have a perfectly satisfactory spiritual path but this guy felt like the real deal to me. By some weird coincidence he also has a PhD in Law and was able to give me very good advice about a complex real estate issue that is poisoning my life at the moment. He fell out of the sky exactly when I needed it.
5. Festival of Strawberries – June 18: As the strawberries ripen, this card shows us the sweetness in our lives and encourages us to live in the moment.
Stength (8)
The real estate issue I mentioned yesterday has been a nightmare but, paradoxically, a wonderful experience for me. It galvanised me into action and revealed a powerful, courageous part of myself that I did no know existed. In order to fight a crooked real estate developer I had to learn discipline and make friends with my lion side, my personal power. People are suddenly treating me with a lot more respect. Confrontation has always been a problem for me but now I have broken through that inhibition I feel that anything is possible. I wish I had gotten angry and learned this lesson 40 years ago.
6. Oak King – June 19: A dedication to the Oak King, who is now near the height of his power in his battle with the Holly King. This card shows us our strength.
3 of Coins
It is the Day of the Oak King so I was pleased to see the suit symbols embraced by a tree. The strength shown on this card comes from my talent for collaboration. The tarot deck my friend and I are working on is a wonderful experience for me. I'm not very self-motivated but can sometimes be useful standing to one side and making suggestions, so our working arrangement is ideal for my personality. I must be the guy on the left, a little bit in awe of my friend's energy and talent.
7. Scrying – June 20: In the tradition of scrying at the time of Midsummer, this card shows us a blessing to come.
Knight of Coins
Money! Excellent. Hopefully this suggests my campaign to stop the crooked real estate developer and his allies on our strata council will bring me financial reward. The CRT (Civil Resolution Tribunal) are currently investigating the case and if they rule in our favour, which they should, then that coin the Knight is bringing as he rides to the rescue will be worth $50,000 to me in savings. This is money I don't have and would have to borrow from the bank to pay for a needless development project. I would be paying interest on this loan for the rest of my life.
8. Summer Solstice – June 21: We are at the height of the sun’s power, the longest day, in the Northern Hemisphere; OR in the Southern Hemisphere this day is the turning point for the days to get longer. This card shows us how to shine our own light like the Sun.
Death (13)
The way for me to shine my light is to be ruthless towards my enemies. This is my Bhagavad Gita moment. The current council are the crowned heads that will roll. I have to overcome my horrible tendency to be over-nice and not be afraid to destroy their assumption that the power gifted to them by their officlal status grants them unassailable authority. Hopefully the old council will be forced to resign and will be replaced by newer more honest representatives. The hands sticking out of the ground look to me like people voting at a meeting.
9. Honey Moon – June 22: This card shows us how to release anxieties or worries, how to enjoy ourselves.
The Moon (18)
That's nice for the Moon card to show up on the Day of the Honey Moon. I see this as a companion card to the High Priestess who came earlier. The subject then was the unexpected sudden inspiring presence in my life of the writer Gary Tzu, who has a lot to teach me about the inner world. The card seems to predict that my enjoyment is to be found in yearning after deeper knowledge of the unconscious. I haven't formally meditated for several years, so perhaps now is the time to begin again. The Moon is also a common symbol for Art. so this seems to auger well for the new tarot project. Time to go deeper.
10. Saint John’s Eve – June 23: Like the herbs traditionally gathered on St. John’s Eve, this card shows what protects or heals us.
3 of Cups
What heals me is the celebration of friendship. I have only recently been realising how important my friends are to me. We support one another and give each other strength and encouragement. I was brought up as an only child and have always preferred to be alone, so this has been a surprising late discovery for me.
11. Guru Purnima – June 24: Indian festival of expressing gratitude to teachers. This card reminds us of a lesson we have learned, or an experience or person who taught us something, that we should remember and have gratitude for as we move forward.
10 of Coins
This carries on from yesterday. I am feeling tremendous gratitude for the simple comforts of home and for my amazing wife and daughters. There has been no shortage of unhappiness and hard times over the years but I am feeling very blessed these days.
12. Parvati, Earth Mother – June 25: The card shows us how to ground ourselves and how to connect with the earth’s abundance.
10 of Swords
Oh boy. What a card to draw for today. Maybe the card is suggesting that I ground myself by going for some acupuncture treatments! Death, the ultimate grounding experience. I guess by dying and rotting I will be directly "nourishing the earth"! Well, I am 65 now and starting to think about death as a reality rather than a nasty rumour that really has nothing to do with me. Frankly, the experience is quite releasing. With death staring me in the face as an ugly fact, I feel less constrained, more willing to take chances. I wasn't expecting that. I assumed the thought of death would make me more gloomy. What the hell, you only live once! I hope that cliche is not true. I'm going to need all the reincarnations I can get.