Las Vegas-based occult publishing company Bloodstone Studios has just released a new tarot card set featuring the notoriously fantastical artwork of Dutch painter Hieronymus Bosch. They're kind of nightmarish, strikingly beautiful, and surprisingly cool overall:
From their web store:
Hieronymus Bosch actually lived and worked around the same period the original Italian Tarot decks were created, and like those decks, many of his paintings contained imagery drawn from popular European archetypes of that era.
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The concept behind this deck, and what makes it so very special, is the idea that Hieronymus Bosch was commissioned to create a deck of Tarot cards for a noble European family. If Bosch had created such a deck, what would he have used for the Trumps of the Major Arcana and the Suits of the Minor Arcana?
Bosch isn't alive to tell us, so I carefully searched through all of his paintings to find clues and repeating esoteric symbols. This led to the creation of an entirely new paradigm in the Tarot, with radical changes not seen since Aleister Crowley's Book of Thoth.
The Minor Arcana is divided into eight suits of seven cards each. The new suits are derived from symbols that recur throughout Bosch's paintings.
• Berries – Earth – Abundance, fertility, harmony, joy, friendship
• Birds – Air – Movement, travel, personal growth
• Skates – Water & Metal – Trouble, difficulties, indecision, fun
• Swords – Metal – Skill and ability, conflict, victory
• Vessels – Water – Untamed activity, blessings, sins and salvation
• Books – Earth & Air – Knowledge, intelligence, learning
• Coins – Metal – Business, career, success, wealth, money
• Sins – Fire – The troubles and desires of the human condition
As of this writing, the set is on sale for $25, down from $40. You can also buy a separate guidebook (in softcover or hardcover) that offers information about the artwork and meaning of each card.
