Twenty-Two Keys of the
Personal tarot project created for an illustration project in 1999.
by Susan Kay Topa · 1999
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The record
This is my first and most magical Tarot deck. In 1999, knowing little to nothing about tarot cards, I walked into an occult bookstore to purchase a deck that might help me with an illustration project I wanted to make a deck myself. I thought it would be a good way to pass the time. I poured over a photo album with samples of cards from numerous decks and found nothing that spoke to me until I saw a little, hand-written booklet with a picture of a red lion on the cover and the words Twenty-Two Keys of the Tarot inside. Trembling slightly, I asked the man at the register if he might have the deck to that book. He disappeared, eventually returning with an off-white box containing 22 cards. This has been here forever, he said. I asked the price. He told me to name one. I paid. Twenty-Two Keys of the Tarot is a majors-only deck by Susan Kay Topa, signed and dated March, 1979. The cards are hand-pulled prints on off-white, thick card-stock. Hand-printing necessitates meticulous rolling, cleaning, and alignment of numerous printing blocks. In order to get more than one color, each card needs to be run through the press multiple times. The ink retains a three-dimensional quality. T
The cards
