tarot
ISIS Tarot de Marseille
Japanese artist's Marseille-style deck with Egyptian goddess iconography and symbolism.
by Tadahiro Onuma · 2010
Find a copy →We link out and never sell decks. Buying through links may earn us a small commission.
The Canon's read
Tarot Canon's own assessment, written for this catalog.
Tadahiro Onuma's ISIS Tarot de Marseille came to the archive reviewer through a collector's grapevine and a direct purchase from Japan, trepidation included, and the deck rewards the journey: the Marseille pattern rebuilt with Egyptian goddess iconography by a Japanese deck-maker, three traditions meeting on one card face. Onuma's work belongs to Japan's serious Marseille scholarship, a community Anglophone tarot barely registers, and the Egyptian dressing recalls the pattern's oldest occult legend, tarot as the Book of Thoth, executed with Japanese precision.
The catalog's Japanese shelf, the Angel company's manufacturing dialect, this deck's scholarly synthesis, documents tarot's Pacific life in two registers: industry and artistry. Direct-from-maker purchasing keeps the deck a collector's small adventure. It suits Marseille collectors mapping the pattern's world travels, Japanese-deck enthusiasts, Egyptian-lineage romantics who like their legend well-made, and anyone who enjoys owning proof that tarot's conversations long ago outgrew its birth continent.
From the archive
An excerpt from a review at the Aeclectic Tarot archive, in the original reviewer's voice.
I want to thank Alec Satin for bringing this deck to my attention. I saw he scans on his blog, and had to have it! I purchased the deck directly from Mr. Onuma, with not a little trepidation, because I...
If you like ISIS Tarot de Marseille
Stay in the loop
From the Canon
Updates from Tarot Canon, when there is something worth sharing.