Terrestrial cover
tarot

Terrestrial

Surreal and visually striking tarot with magnetic yet unsettling imagery.

by Ara Gerhardt, Ad Zeeuwen · US Games · 1996

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The record

Ewwwwwwhhhh, I needed therapy after seeing this deck for the first time – but it has a strange magnetism about it which kept me infatuated for a while. Published by US Games in 1996, it came during a relatively dry spell in the world of tarot – the period just before lo scarabeo began publishing their 78 card decks (bless their cotton socks for keeping my tarot fetish satisfied, despite their oft-repeated mangling of what constitutes a tarot deck). Watkins, my London source for tarot in the last 17 years, didn’t have samples of this deck, but I bought it sight unseen anyway. What a shock! The images sent me reeling, knocking over a pile of self-help books, buddhas and joss-sticks. The LWB explains that the images are from nature, however these images have been mirror-imaged so the end result is disturbing and mutated. Despite this, there has clearly been some effort to find images which in some way express the meanings of the cards – the forlorn looking mutant on the 5 of Cups, the expansive, benevolent creature on the 6 of Coins. It’s been out of print for a long time, deservedly so. However, on the positive side, it presents a challenge to attempt to make a relationship with the

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The cards

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