The Beatles Tarot

[Charlie Brown]

I've had the good fortune to acquire a copy of The Beatles Tarot. It is an absolutely lovely, thoughtful deck and a very different sort from what I'm used to using. It's a unique beast that I think is going to challenge my reading in some interesting ways. It's far too deeply enmeshed in tarot symbolism to treat as an oracle deck but, at the same time, is too deeply enmeshed in its thematic subject matter to read as a straight traditional deck. Because of its singular character, I'm finding the companion book to be an almost indispensable addition to the set. It goes deep into Beatles lore in order to explain the creators' thought processes and, in doing so, presents some new and interesting perspectives on the cards' traditional meanings.

I drew two readings in order to help myself get better acquainted with the deck. I wasn't too specific with the phrasing of my questions but did have a very firm vibe in mind of what I wanted to learn.

First, I wanted to know what sort of a deck this is. How will it work for me as a reader? I drew three-card majors-only

It's a vehicle (VII) for manifesting (I) a hidden side to my reading skills (II)

Second, I wanted to get a sense of the deck's personality. How does it express itself? For this, I drew one card from each of the four suits and a summation/quintessence from the majors. The spread is based after a traditional tirage en croix

Light/Paul/Pentacles: Page of Pennies
Dark/John/Swords: King of Words
Superconscious/George/Cups: 5 of Cups
Subconscious/Ringo/Wands: 9 of Sticks
Quintessence: XII: The Hanged Man

So, based on these cards, we see that the deck is playful, yet seriously so and dependent on a firm structure (Page of Pennies, with help from the book). It may, if anything, be a little too dependent on its internal thought processes, leaving it a bit distant to those not in the know (King of Words). This sense of distance is, at least in part, central to the deck's persona. All Things Must Pass, after all, and it is understood that these cards traffic in a moment of time that grows ever more distant (5 of Cups). Foundationally, it is and isn't part of the group (9 of Sticks). It's a traditional RWS deck that reads like no other RWS deck. Like Ringo, it may be underestimated by the ignorant and callow. Ultimately, The Beatles Tarot both presents and requires a different perspective (XII).

[Myperception]

It's a total different feel from tarot deck. It looks more to an oracle or lenormand card to me. But very nice concept !

[Joan Marie]

This really does look like a fun deck that would be surprisingly deep.

And my guess is it is a real rarity.

I have a friend who lives just outside London and he got a visit one day from representatives of Sir Paul McCartney because they learned my friend had come into possession, through a long network of flea markets and record traders over decades, of something Sir Paul felt belonged to him. Some recording I believe it was.

It was confiscated on the spot and my friend threatened with further action. He was really shaken. And the thing is, the actual ownership of the item was questionable, I can't recall the details exactly, but the item had been gifted long ago and exchanged hands. But my friend had no chance at all to defend himself or explain anything. He'd paid quite a lot for the thing and of course was not compensated by Sir Paul when it was taken. He felt as if he'd been mugged on his own his own doorstep and he had no means to fight it.

My boyfriend was sued a few years back by David Gilmour (of Pink Floyd) for trying to sell a decades old bootleg LP on EBay. He had to pay Gilmour (I think it was €600) and I can't recall what happened to the record, which he had bought when he was a kid, and I kind of hate to ask because he gets angry every time he has to think about it.

My friend in London is just a poor guy who loves music and has been collecting all his life. But Sir Paul M apparently spells copyright not just with a capiltal "C" but in all shouty caps. If you saw my friend and how he lives you'd never want to believe that Sir Paul, multi-millionaire, would go after someone like that in that way, but he did.

I think it would be flattering that people so many many many years later would be interested enough in the Beatles still to make something lovely like this deck, and the book, but that's how it is, so Charlie Brown, you've got your hands on a rare thing there.

[chiscotheque]

Charlie Brown -
I'm glad you received the deck. I thought your 2 readings were interesting and successful, especially given your unfamiliarity with the deck. part of the different perspective presented and required is from the inside-out, rather than the literally upside-down one might initially assume form the Hanged Man. that is, from inside the Tarot and so it's esoteric meanings rather than its surface appearance, and from inside the Beatles - their emotional psyche-selves rather than their brand name, fan-built, mop-top personas.

in this way, and so at core, the BT is not like a Lenormand or Oracle deck at all.

with the Hanged Man we see Stuart Sutcliffe - an adolescent friend of the band who died tragically, and who most fans don't know anything about. i'll leave it at that, alluding to what i said above, except to add that his youth and the age of John & Paul seen on the HM card underscores a theme running throughout the cards pulled by you, CB, and so too your query. namely, that theme is child-like, childishness at times, and childhood itself. as you noted: playful, but serious - in playing we lose ourselves and at the same time create ourselves and learn who we are.

Paul holds his step-daughter in an extravagant pose, echoing her but giving her pride of place (if you will).
John is at Strawberry Fields - his childhood escape & his great song about childhood. further - if darkly - we see the memorial at Central Park near where John was shot by a man who claimed to do so because the Beatles, in his estimation, had betrayed children.
George has lying down and fallen beside him dwarfs - almost macabre childlike figurines, children-become-old-men.
Ringo, disconnected from others, has as a kind of guardian angel a putta; a joke on his sexual charm? which nevertheless is (was) childlike.

Please don't take this as some kind of re-evaluation of your reading CB, just one of the things i saw and wanted to share. although really i just wanted to say i liked your reading.

Joan Marie - yes, the Beatles are extremely proprietary, notably Sir Paul, whose smiley nice-guy persona is appallingly at odds with the cut-throat reality of his business-ness-ness. luckily &/or arguably, the BT is not stolen property but Fair Use in a mode and a medium which is itself transformative.

[dodalisque]

The Beatles Tarot is like a pop song: apparently simple on the surface, but there's a lot going on underneath, and behind.

[dodalisque]

The deck is very firmly based on the Rider-Waite-Smith. In fact if you compare the corresponding RWS cards with the ones in Charlie Brown's spread above, you will see many similarities to Pamela Colman Smith's images. Paul on the Page of Pennies elevates his child in the same way that the RWS Page of Coins reveres his coin. The Page cards feature the Beatles children; Knights show them with their favourite cars; Queens are devoted to the Beatles wives; Kings are the mature Beatles themselves. The Majors follow the contours of the history of the band. Each Beatles album appears in chronological order in the Majors. Each Beatle has his own suit: Paul/Pennies,John/Swords,George/Cups, Ringo/Sticks.