Sylph
22-card tarot featuring butterflies with Latin names in abstract grayscale.
by Tyran Grillo · Adam McLean · 2006
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The record
I love butterflies the vibrancy of the colors flitting through the air and The Sylph Tarot brought a promise of butterflies, 22 of them with their Latin names scrawled across the top of each card but the cards feature abstract gray-scale softened images. Wait a minute black and white and butterflies? The art is breathtaking soft grayscale accented with stark whites and blacks. And beautiful card backs. Each card is labeled with the card name on the bottom, and the corresponding number in the English/American school (Justice is eleven), numbered and Hebrew lettered on the top along with the Latin Butterfly name. Some cards have been renamed (Fool = The Innocent, Magician = The Mimic, High Priestess = The Pollinator), and some remain with their original names (The Empress, The Emperor, The Hierophant). I got the feeling that some of the names may allude to that particular butterflies traits but was confused at the inconsistency. I spent a day looking up butterflies on the net Death is the Nymphalis antiopa, known as the Mourning Cloak Butterfly, which makes sense. The Devil is the Aporia crataegi. I found an entry that told me It used to be a pest of orchards in southern E
The cards
