Fool Stop Tarot Blog

Tarot Blast From The Past: The Ukiyoe Tarot

It's a blast from our past! First published in 1982, this deck celebrates a specific style of Japanese art. Ukiyo-e  is Japanese woodblock prints or paintings that depict the everyday life of ancient Japan (c. 16th century).

This Marseilles-style deck has long been a collector's dream and now we are bringing it back.

Aeclectic.net review by April Wagner "You can’t please all of the Tarot readers all of the time, but I think this deck could come very close. Readers of all skill levels and most backgrounds will find this deck useful. Although this deck has a very specific theme, it is not a niche deck."

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Tarot Passages review by Michele Jackson "The art is beautiful. The colors are rich and deep and the drawings are very detailed, particularly in the patterns depicted in fabrics."

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Amazon reviews from various "...not only stunningly beautiful, but it really works." "The subtle drama is carefully played out in each card." "Every card has such lovely colors and artistry."

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What do you think of this deck? Are you excited that we are bringing it back? Check back on Wednesday to test your reading skills with this deck

Five New Decks

U.S. Games is happy to announce the release of three new Tarot decks plus two new oracle decks for your holiday happiness. 

The Cat's Eye Tarot by Debra M. Givin, DVM, is an unusual deck in that the author and artist is also a feline-focused veterinarian. The card meanings and numbering follow Rider-Waite interpretations, with reptiles, fish, birds, and mice replacing the usual suit symbols. Even the newcomer to tarot will be able to relate to these delightful images of cats and learn valuable lessons from them.

Then we have Jennifer Galasso's Crystal Visions Tarot. It combines her love of crystal balls with a nod to a famous rock-and-roll singer. The luscious card imagery also illustrates the elemental aspects of each suit in order to aid the novice in forming associations with the cards.

Joie de Vivre Tarot is the latest from Paulina Cassidy. It features her trademark fantastical creatures and eye for detail. Those who take a journey through this wondrous realm will rediscover their own child-like spirit.

And don't miss our latest oracle card decks!

The Woodland Wisdom Oracle deck by Rev. Frances Munro features artwork by the talented Fantasy artist Peter Pracownik. Elves and fairies share their Woodland Wisdom to help you move your life forward in positive ways.

Last but certainly not least is the Rae Hepburn's Tea Leaf Fortune Cards. Rae Hepburn, an accomplished tea leaf reader, teaches you to unlock the ancient secrets of reading tea leaves. Follow a few simple guidelines, and you can immediately read your fortune.

Here are some recent reviews and interviews. If you have reviewed any of these, please send that link to Stella at US Games. We would love to feature that here and on our Facebook page and our Twitter feed.

• Christiana Gaudet Reviews the Cat's Eye Tarot
• Bonnie Cehovet Reviews the Cat's Eye Tarot
• Bonnie Cehovet Reviews the Crystal Visions Tarot
• Janet Boyer Interviews Crystal Visions' Jennifer Galasso (Jan. 2011)
• Christiana Gaudet Reviews the Crystal Visions Tarot
• Bonnie Cehovet Reviews the Joie de Vivre Tarot
• Christiana Gaudet Reviews the Joie De Vivre Tarot
• Zanna Star Interviews the Artist of the Tea Leaf Fortune Cards
• Zanna Star Intervies the Author of the Tea Leaf Fortune Cards
• Lizzie Reviews the Tea Leaf Fortune Cards
• Bonnie Cehovet Reviews the Woodland Wisdom Oracle Cards
• Tarot By Arwen Reviews the Woodland Wisdom Oracle Cards

So which ones do you want? Leave a comment. We want to hear from  you.

777 CONTEST

We have been having a lot of fun on Facebook with daily questions. If you are a regular there, you know we post all sorts of questions from the silly "deserted island" type to those that make you dig like "what cards would you take antique shopping."

Right now we have 679 folks who've "liked" our Facebook page. Of course we want to share the love with more. We are driving towards 777 as a magic number. Yes, there's a pun in there. Ask your friends to "like" our Facebook fan page. They can go here or they can like us by clicking on the Facebook link to the right on this blog. When we hit that magic number, everyone's name goes in a hat. We will pull a winner who will get their choice of the following decks:

• Brotherhood of Light Egyptian Tarot
• Morgan's Tarot
• King Solomon Oracle Cards
• Karma Tarot
• Sun and Moon Tarot
• Ask the Queens
• Imperial Dragon Oracle

We are 98 people away from that magic number as of 2/7/2011.

You are automatically in the contest just for liking the USGS Facebook page.

Help us get the word out. You can do that by going to the Facebook page and clicking on "Suggest To Friends." Tell them about the contest because they will be eligible as well once they like that page.

Ready?

Set?

GO!

Interview with Crystal Visions Tarot Creator

01/26/2011

Crystal Visions Tarot - Interview with Jennifer Galasso

Janet: Hello Jen! Thank you for taking time out to share the good news with the Tarot Gals readers and answer a few questions about your deck! 

Jennifer: Hello Janet! Thank you for taking the time to interview me about the deck!  

Janet: First, let's begin with your big announcement: you've signed a contract with U.S. Games Systems, Inc. to publish your Crystal Visions Tarot. How wonderful! So how do you feel?! Are you heading to Disneyworld? ;o) What is the timeline--any ideas when we'll be able to get our hands on your deck? 

Happy Birthday December!

 
 

 Happy birthday to you!

Happy birthday to you!

Happy birthday dear....

 

HEY! I don't know who to sing to. I need help. We have some great Tarot birthday cards here that Stuart Kaplan is happy to sign for you. So I am looking for a December birthday between 12/15 and 12/25. If that's you, leave a comment with your birthdate. We will contact you for your mailing address so you can get your birthday goody.

By the way, do you do a Tarot reading for your birthday? If you do, do you use a certain spread? Let us know.

That lovely 9 of Pentacles is from the Paulina Tarot. Keep your eye out for the Oracle deck coming from Paulina Cassidy soon.

© December 2010 U.S. Games Systems, Inc.

Getting, Giving and Generosity

 
    One card that represents giving is the Six of Pentacles. Right now is a big Six of Pentacles time for  many of us because it's the holiday season. Shopping is fun for some and not-so-much for others. Personally, I like to avoid the malls. A friend of mine, however, dives in with glee. He tells me that shopping energizes him and the more people the merrier. How about you? Malls? Online shopping? Something in between?

Well, what about those small, independently-owned stores? U.S. Games Systems, Inc. would like to give a big shout-out to the independent retailers. Without them, many of us wouldn't be able to pick up that newest Tarot deck or unusual deck of cards. And aren't some people just hard to buy for? Who is the hardest person on your holiday list to shop for? Do you use Tarot to help you come up with a gift idea? Maybe pulling a card with the intent "What does (person's name) want the most for a holiday gift" would give you an idea. If you try it, let us know!

 
Please do let us know where you shop. We'd love to hear about your favorite indie stores in your community. Feel free to share their website or concrete store address here. Let's spread the love for those who help us find what we enjoy.

Cards shown are the 6 of Pentacles from the Whimsical Tarot and the 6 of Pentacles from the Deviant Moon Tarot.

© December 2010 U.S. Games Systems, Inc.

Beginner or Fool: Which Are You?

I was born on April 1, and The Fool card has always been my favorite. I am always interested to step out into new ventures, embrace new ideas, and test the unknown. ~Stuart Kaplan

Every Tarot reader started out a beginner. Many may tell you they began as Fools and are still fools. When you first picked up that deck (or if you are contemplating picking up a deck), you are embarking on a fool's journey. Recently on Facebook, we discussed what decks we each began with and what decks we would recommend to others.

Of course the Rider-Waite Tarot came up more than once, but so many other decks as well.  Of course, it is always a good idea to pick a deck that appeals to you on a visual level. I know of at least a few readers who will have the Rider-Waite as their learning deck while using a second deck for the images.

There is something so timeless about the Rider-Waite Tarot to me. Who can see the iconic Fool and not know immediately what it represents? That's just one reason the Rider-Waite is the most popular Tarot deck in the world. One reader in Dallas, Ferol Humphreys, commented that she likes to keep a spare Rider-Waite in her purse so that she can give it away. Others talked of using it to teach with as well. But there is more than one Rider-Waite Tarot.

Here are some of our decks that a beginner might enjoy. There is the classic Rider-Waite(R), the Golden Rider Tarot, the Universal Waite(R) Tarot and more. The Pamela Colman Smith Commemorative set also features the Rider-Waite Tarot.

Or you might be someone who prefers decks that simply tell you what the meaning is. For you, we have the Tell-Me Tarot or the Vanessa Tarot. Each deck offers meanings on the cards. Some like to be able to compare cards so they might prefer the The Complete Tarot Kit which offers both the Rider-Waite(r) Tarot and the Thoth Tarot. With the provided journal to write your observations in, you have everything you need with this kit.

One final deck a beginner might enjoy is the Whimsical Tarot. This little deck has been a favorite for years. Due to its continued popularity, U.S. Games Systems, Inc. has reissued it. This is a great deck for the younger set as well as the young-at-heart.

What elements are most important for beginners, do you think? Is it the accessible imagery or the straightforward meanings? Or do you think it is something else all together?

 

So what was your first deck? Do you still have it? Do you still read with it? Would you recommend it to others as a beginners deck? We want to hear your thoughts. Are you still a fool? Feel free to discuss in the comments.

Halloween Birthdays

Our Senior Art Director, Jody has her birthday right on Halloween.

Any other Halloween birthdays out there?

Let us know and you could receive  a special Tarot birthday card signed by Stuart Kaplan and friends at USGS.

 

 

 

Ode by Stuart R. Kaplan

I've been reading the Encyclopedia of Tarot Volume 1 by U.S. Games Systems founder Stuart R. Kaplan, and, quite frankly, I am surprised at how absorbing, fascinating and engaging the materal is (this from one who dislikes history, I admit!). One of the gems in ths book is the poem Ode by Mr. Kaplan:

Ode

In this ode to ancient tarot cards

I touch with care new friendships painted
on pasteboard faces drawn
during man’s obscure dawn.

The single-ended carnival figures
clad in full-length costumes conceal
the profound knowledge of antiquity.

Each gamester skillfully plays
with the arcane figures at his command.
The fanciful trickster separates
the fool from his money while
the wicked fortune-teller
with astonishing accuracy lays bare
the great prophecies of life.

As one card falls another
dares to take its place
much like the evolution of life itself.

The relentless processional
out of the past
unmasks each symbol of the present
and portends the limits which exist in
the future.

Despite the sly tricksters,
the gamesters,
the crafty gamblers,
the fortune-tellers,
none can answer the simplest of arcane questions,
whether the Major and Minor Arcana
were created together,
or took form each born of separate genius.

One yearns to discover
the ingenious mind that started it all.

What chance to find
face to face the wit who wrote
life is but a game of cards.

Instead we resign ourselves to accept
the allegorical pictures which we do not
fully understand.

Beautiful cardboard face
I love you as an old friend
despite your unyielding guard
of the symbols shrouded
in the mysterious tarot pack
that beguile and defy us all.

Stuart R. Kaplan

The ISBN for The Encylopedia of Tarot Volume 1 is 0-913866-11-3, available at your favorite bookstore or retailer. If you don't see it, just ask.

The Emperor card at top is a stylized rendition of Stuart R. Kaplan himself, as painted by Domenico Balbi in the Balbi Tarot pack (an interesting tidbit found in Volume 1, along with a full-page grayscale replica of the card).

-- Janet, Social Media Maven for U.S. Games Systems, Inc.

Welcome to the Fool Stop Tarot Blog!

Stephen Winick Interviews Stuart Kaplan

This is a never-before-published article by Dr. Stephen Winick, a folklorist, writer and editor for the Library of Congress, based on an interview he conducted in 2008 with U.S. Games founder Stuart Kaplan.

“I liken myself to The Fool in the Tarot deck,” Stuart Kaplan told me.  “Every day is a new adventure for me between researching, managing U.S. Games Systems and the Creative Whack Company, collecting, and traveling.”  As the long-established president of an important Tarot and playing card company, the manufacturer of the most popular Tarot decks in the world, and the creator of the voluminous reference work The Encyclopedia of Tarot, Kaplan has long since proved his wisdom in Tarot matters.  Yet the Fool remains a particularly apt card for Kaplan, for many reasons, not least of which is his birthday: April Fools Day. 

The Fool stands for new beginnings, for blank slates, for innocence.  It’s also the card of taking a chance, seizing an opportunity.  As the first of the sequence of the Major Arcana (at least according to the most popular theory), it stands for the first step of a great journey.  All of these apply to Kaplan, who as a young man took two steps that would help revitalize Tarot, first in the U.S. and then around the world: first, he began importing Tarot cards to the United States.  Then, he began publishing them through his own company.