Abysmal

Collection Palestrina, a French publisher working outside the mainstream tarot houses, opened its catalog with this one: the Abysmal Tarot, or Tarot de L'Abime, twenty two cards built entirely around the Prince of Darkness in his many guises. Credited to an assorted group of artists rather than a single hand, it reads less like one creator's vision than a gathering of takes on the same dark theme, a gallery of demonic and devilish portraits rather than a unified narrative arc. Twenty two cards is a compact format, enough for a themed gallery of figures but a real departure from a full reading system, and the assorted-artist credit suggests Palestrina wanted a range of interpretation over a single consistent style. Nothing about the deck softens its theme: demonic and devilish figures are the explicit subject, not a Halloween gesture layered onto gentler material. It suits readers who want dark and gothic imagery treated seriously, and collectors following small French esoteric presses from their first release onward.