The Byzantine Tarot

Mind Body & Soul Ezine Card Deck Review: The Byzantine Tarot by John Matthews with artwork by Cilla Conway. Boxed set of 78 cards (3” x 5”) plus guidebook. Published by REDFeather. £33.99

"Wisdom from an ancient empire!"

"O Imperial City, City fortified, City of the great King... Queen of the queen of cities, Song of Songs, Splendour of Splendours." Niketas Choniates, 13th Century.

The founding of Byzantium was 657BC and this deck has an extraordinary ability to give us a 'spirit of place' and transport us in a reading. The instruction book provides the history and myths of Byzantium through new titles of Major Arcana cards, such as Holy Fool, Magus, Sophia, Patriarch, Diabolos and Kosmos. For each Major card, the book provides an explanation of the symbolism in 50 words, the 'Tradition' text is 300 words and a divinatory text of 200 words. For the Monors and Court Cards, the information is the same - symbolism, 'tradition' and in a reading, but will less text, approx, 30, 100 and 100 words respectively. For every card there are 5 keywords for upright readings, and 5 keywords for reversed readings.

 The spreads are: Holy Fool, 6 cards; The Byzantium, 14 cards; The Hippodrome, 7 cards; The Seven Pillars of Wisdom, 21 cards with sample readings provided.

a 15th century Mamluk Tarot was discovered in 1927 in Istanbul with 4 suits of cups, coins, swords and staffs, 4 court cards with a king, two governors and a helper and The Byzantium Tarot uses also  cups. coins, swords and staffs with court cards: Page, Knight, Countess and Count.    

John Matthews is an expert on many areas of historical research and has produced over 100 books on many genres including Arthurian specialities. The artist, Cilla Conway has a special interest in archetypes and mythology. See also The Intuitive Tarot and her latest deck 'The Shimmering Veil Tarot'.

From personal correspondence with the artist, Cilla Conway: "It took me three years to complete the artwork on all 78 images, and gave me the opportunity to visit Istanbul on three occasions. I worked in the ancient icon method of egg tempera on gesso boards (though I didn't attempt to use gold leaf for the gold backgrounds or frames). I used images from the Byzantine Empire - editing them so they'd correspond to the tarot, but if you know Byzantine imagery, you'll notice the origins. I loved providing the artwork for the deck, though it was hard work! The gesso boards I used are similar to the finished cards, so in a many cases, I was using a magnifying glass and tiny sable brushes, then scan them and send them to John Matthews who would compose the interpretations. He was brilliant! He would receive these images and say - for instance - 'mm, that sword is impossibly big!', and I'd say 'probably, but it has to be that big for the composition!'. So he'd provide the write up to my spec though we worked together and it worked well. My artwork from the deck were used in a theatrical play in Turkey a couple of years ago, I think it was in Ankara but I'm not sure. I think that was when the publisher had gone bankrupt so there would have been no issue with copyright! 

I loved this quality tarot deck. It can also be used for meditation! 

The content touches on many areas of background knowledge, expanding our understanding of the ways people lived in the past and how appropriate their world is to ours. People haven't changed! A look back in the beauty of times passed! Review by Wendy Stokes   https://wendystokes.co.uk