Review by Terri Clement
The Gorgon’s Tarot by Dolores Fitchie
Published by Schiffer Publishing Ltd., www.schifferbooks.com
ISBN: 978-0-7643-4590-6
Retail: US $45.00
Looking for the next big thing in Tarot? Look no further The Gorgon’s Tarot by Delores Fitchie has arrived. Truthfully, this deck is HUGE! Holy Cow! :D Filled to the brim with powerful, predominantly female imagery, with loads of critters and creatures to boot!
This super-sized round deck measures in at a whopping 5 5/8” in diameter. It is housed in a heavy duty card board box with magnetic closure and has red pull tab and stays. The deck is held together with a plastic sleeve and sits in a compartment inside the box. The companion guide sits alongside the deck.
The Gorgon’s Tarot is a 79-card deck, yes – 79 cards. The Blind Gorgon is an unnumbered card added to the Major Arcana. This card along with the Devil card both contain a splash of red, the remainder of the deck is done in black and white, with minimal nudity. It is an interesting and easy to read deck, though due to the size they are difficult to shuffle.
There was a bit of an inky smell upon opening the box, but that subsided quickly. There are perforation marks on the edges of the cards. The images are printed on flexible cardstock with a shiny lamination. The card faces have a ½” border with the card number on the top and suit or title on the bottom. The back of the deck features two snakes intertwined with a leaf in their mouth. The image is reversible friendly.
In this deck Strength is number VIII and Justice is XI. The suits are Wands, Swords, Cups, and Pentacles. The courts are titled Pages, Knights, Queens and Kings.
This deck is quite the mix between traditional Rider Waite Smith symbolism and the unconventional.
The unnumbered Blind Gorgon (obscured from the sun) is a hauntingly beautiful card, in the background there is a blood red moon in the pitch black sky and a river below, there are trees to each side. In the center, there is a blindfolded woman in a black gown. There is a little squirrel-like creature on her shoulder. She holds a mirror and a leash to her terrier companion in one hand and a scroll in the other.
According to the companion book, this card can indicate the need to think twice before moving forward and that sometimes it’s okay to put the brakes on.
Temperance (Alchemy for the soul) features a starry night with an angelic being standing in the foreground with one foot on solid ground and the other in water, while fluid flows between a black chalice and a white chalice. There are flowers to her right and a griffen (half lion and half eagle) are to her left.
The companion book says “Meeting others half way (Marcia Masino). Good timing. Moderation. Fine Tuning.”
The 10 of Cups shows us a dwelling in the back ground with a rainbow overhead. Water is abundant for the newly planted crops, and the villagers are celebrating in the foreground.
The companion book tells us here that life is good and there is community happiness.
The companion guide is a small paperback that is 168 pages. There are small images for each card in the deck with some artist thoughts and key phrases for each, including a reversed interpretation.
The Gorgon’s Tarot deck can easily be used right out of the box for those who can use images to tell a story, whether you are a beginner or an advanced reader.