Caitlín Matthews

I was excited to discover this old mass-market paperback fantasy anthology in a secondhand bookshop, where it had been mistakenly (?) shelved with the occult books. It includes some of my very favorite English fantasy authors, including Michael Moorcock, M. John Harrison, and Robert Irwin. The third of these usually isn't even classed as a genre fantasist, and an even more surprising author to see in the mix was Irwin's fellow Orientalist scholar Peter Lamborn Wilson! Editors Caitlin show more Matthews and Rachel Pollack have solid credentials as Tarot savants and authors of fiction both, and each contributes a worthwhile story to the book.

All of the individual stories were commissioned for this volume, and I have not seen any of them published elsewhere. The editors' stipulation was that Tarot should be used in the process of composing each tale. Despite the odd "Chapter One," "Chapter Two" in the story headings (but not the table of contents), there are no continuities of narrative, no shared characters, and no significantly overlapping settings among any of the stories. A few are science fiction, several are overt extensions or reinterpretations of ancient myth, and one or two are firmly in the horror genre. Moorcock's contribution "Hanging the Fool" is a 20th-century installment of his Von Bek metatext with no supernatural elements at all, and with a nod to H. Rider Haggard. Two of the stories, "Rembrandts of Things Past" by Sheila Finch and "The Devil's Picturebook" by R.J. Stewart, operate in a theological (as opposed to mythic) register, and I found them weaker for it.

On the whole, the tales in this volume are sophisticated and engaging. More than a few of the stories have Tarot diviners or experimenters as characters, and a handful have subsections named after trumps or other Tarot cards. In her introduction, Pollack cites Calvino's Castle of Crossed Destinies as precedent for the sort of work included here, but the presence of Tarot in these stories is more varied and often more subtle than in Calvino's book. The collection was first published in England in 1989, and my copy is the subsequent US release. I don't know if it's seen a printing in the 21st century, but it's a solid collection that I will easily recommend to those who share my tastes in fiction. show less

Not a book likely to have a large audience overall, but if you read or want to read Marseille-style tarot decks (decks without scenes on the pip/Minor Arcana cards), you may find this to be useful as all get-out. Matthews discusses ways of interpreting tarot cards that emphasize the practical more than the esoteric or purely psychological. Without scenes to set the tone for the pip cards, readers must rely on number and suit to read these cards, and Matthews shows various ways to do that. show more She includes some spreads, but she also shows how to read cards in a line or a tableau, methods that will be familiar to readers who also use Lenormand cards. She uses older names for the suits (Batons and Deniers instead of Wands and Coins/Pentacles) and for some of the trumps. I thought the book was pretty dense, and I'll need to reread parts of it, but I was delighted to learn about all these new (old!) techniques. show less

Leaving aside the good old Rider-Waite deck, which is such a standard that it's hard to ignore, this is easily my favourite Tarot deck. (It's also known as the Hallowquest deck, from the companion book of that name.)

The Arthurian nature of this deck is "true" Romano-Celtic, rooted primarily in the earliest and wildest of the Arthur stories, rather than the later romances. The Major Arcana is composed of central Arthurian figures. Aside from the court cards, the Minor Arcana cards are show more comprised of assorted British landscapes. Although no people are present, human traces (such as standing stones or huts) are often present, and these cards are exceptionally evocative. A truly beautiful and sensitively thought-out deck. show less

Mid-July update: I am faithfully reading this nearly every day, having begun Jan. 1, 2022. And when I don't, I quickly catch up.. plus I admit I also HAVE to read ahead sometimes.

This is a TREASURE!!! Stories of knights of the Roundtable that I've never ever heard (not that I am all that knowledgeable to begin with), and best of all, powerful stimulus for ancestral awakenings and inspiration. Thank you FOREVER, John and Caitlín, for all you have given us, including this gorgeous wellspring show more of story and magic.

Final Update:
Oh how I hated to say goodbye on the afternoon of Dec. 31 (yesterday). What an absolutely mesmerizing daily practice this ended up being. I know that the Matthews wrote this decades ago, but of course that's nothing in comparison to centuries of lore and stories. And for me, it was a revelation -- filled with tales I'd never heard, names I'd never read, and imagination illuminated day in and day out for 12 full months of history and Mystery.

Again, my deepest gratitude to John and Caitlín for their diligence and scholarship. It has been a beautiful, sometimes harrowing, always magical journey. A gift of a lifetime. show less