Gothic Tarot of Vampires
Vampire mythos and gothic romance as framework for tarot symbolism.
by Riccardo Minetti, Emiliano Mammucari · 1897
Find a copy →We link out and never sell decks. Buying through links may earn us a small commission.
The record
Before I discuss the Gothic Tarot of Vampires, I would like to examine the Vampire mythos. If you have not read "Dracula" for a while you owe it to yourself to go back and re-read it. It's racy, erotic, and considering Bram Stoker published it in 1897, it gives a different light to the story. It reeked of the seductive, and the sensual. It was a far different story than the 1931 Bela Legosi classic, which lacked the sexuality that the original story contained. However "Dracula" was neither the first nor the finest vampire movie. In 1922, F.W. Murnau directed "Nosferatu, A Symphony of Horror" with Max Shreck as Count Orlock. It is considered by some to be perhaps the finest Vampire movie ever. Many view the vampire as a Bela Legosi, or Christopher Lee - or now - Gary Oldman. But popular culture has lost the essence of the vampire. In the 1978 homage/remake of Murnau's classic by Werner Herzog - Klaus Kinski as the title character Nosferatu utters the line (paraphrased and translated poorly), "Can you imagine what it's like to live for a thousand years, and never feel love." And that's an important and overlooked portion of the vampire mythos. In our western Judeo-Christian culture,
The cards
