Tarot Decks

Hey, this is Eric Benson, the host of Climify. A podcast that connects design educators with climate experts to help bring more climate-safe projects into our design classrooms. Through my conversations with these climate leaders, I hope to help you "climify your syllabi" and to create the next generation of climate designers. In fact, at the end of each program, my guest co-creates a design assignment for you to bring into your classroom for your students. This season, we are talking to women leading the way in climate action through the lens of each of the drawdown.org solution sectors. You can tune in to "climify" anywhere you get your podcasts. Or directly at climate-safeiners.org/EDU/climify. We'd love if you join in the conversation on Instagram or LinkedIn at Climify Podcast. This is incomplete design history, a podcast that explores overlooked and ignored topics in graphic design history. It is our goal to deepen and expand the knowledge, understanding, and interpretation of design history. Because history is messy, it's incomplete. Thank you for joining us today. I'm your host, Mandy Horton. What do you think of when you hear the word "terro"? Chipsy, fortune tellers? Witches? Darkness and foreboding? Perhaps even something evil or a tool of the devil? On the other hand, you might view it as simply a game or a toy with no greater significance. Today, tarot cards are often associated with divination, cardamancy, and fortune telling, but this hasn't always been the case. It might surprise listeners to learn that tarot has secular origins, with no connection to the occult at least until the 1700s. So then why consider this as part of graphic design history? Tarot cards and their history can be examined in many ways, including their esoteric and occult significance, symbolism, and the history of games. You could also consider it as part of art or design history, and of course, its cultural history. Playing cards were originally hand-painted, however woodblocking and graving printing techniques were quickly adopted, allowing for the mass manufacturer playing cards, including tarot. It is how they found their way into popular culture, as well as how they found their way into the history of graphic design. They are a fascinating study in symbols, icons, mass production, and the evolution of visual communication. Playing cards appear in Western culture around the 14th century, and they show up fairly well fully formed. To most historians, this means that playing cards are not a Western invention. Playing cards have existed in Muslim cultures since at least the 12th century, and it is believed that playing cards made their way to Italy from Egypt and Turkey. The Maimlik deck is often cited as evidence of the Islamic origin of playing cards. This deck is dated to around 1500, and suits are made up of coins, cups, swords, and polo sticks. These suits are likely the influence for the suits most commonly seen in the minor arcana cards. Though the sport of polo was a tradition of Arabic and Islamic cultures, so the polo sticks had to be converted to something common in Western cultures, hence the transition to Ones, Rods, or Staves. The history of tarot is a bit murky, with popular stories told throughout history creating a mythology around the cards, most of which is probably untrue. Tarot cards were originally created in Renaissance Italy for Tarot, a game popular with the upper class, particularly with affluent members of the court and the wealthy. Tarot was a game of trumps, most likely played with a deck of around 22 ranked, but unnumbered cards. Players at the time would have known which cards trump or outrank the others. It is believed that the game of Tarot was created in northern Italy around the 1430s. One of the oldest known decks from this period is the Visconti's Forza deck, which is thought to have been painted around 1450 by the artist Bonifacio Benbo, who is perhaps more widely known as the painter of the portraits of Francesco Sforza and his wife Bianca Maria Visconti, along with many other commissions for the Visconti's Forza family. To set this history into the context of topics generally discussed in graphic design history, the game of Tarot, predates the invention of the Goudonberg press, though just barely, and the Visconti's Forza deck itself would have been produced around the same time as the earliest publications produced on the press, like the Goudonberg Bible. The cards in the Visconti's Forza deck used the Tempura paint, which was popular in the Renaissance era. Tempura was a mixture of colored pigments with egg yolks serving as the binder. This method produced a paint with surprising long-lasting effects, and its use dates back to at least ancient Egypt, though by the 1500s the use of oil-based paints would soon overtake the popularity of egg tempura. To be fair, this deck should probably not be considered as part of graphic design history, but rather part of art history due to its method of creation. Though it is hard to define the differences or the separation of what is art and what is design, for many the dividing line between the two is mass production. And the first mass produced Tarotky deck was the Solabuska deck, which came out in 1491. The Solabuska deck was likely designed by Nicola Dimistro Antonio, who engraved metal plates that when printed produced an outline design that would later have been hand-painted by the artist himself, almost like a coloring book. This evolution from hand-painted to printed cards was seen in the production of regular playing cards as well, using both woodblock and engraving techniques. Eventually cards would also be printed in color. Tarotky was a simple game of cards, but the tarot, as they became known more widely in the 1700s, were used for cardamansi and had an association with esoterism and the occult. The transformation from Renaissance era games to something mystical or supernatural happened in France in the late 18th century. Known as the French occult revival, the renewed interest in even infatuation with all things Egyptian was at least partially responsible for misattributing the creation of the tarot to ancient Egyptians. In his book The Cards, Patrick Male describes esoterism as traditions in western civilization that are distinct from both traditional or official religious conventions and scientific rationalism. And further, male points out that while many who use the term occult and popular culture are referring to the satanic, the term also is used to refer to knowledge that is hidden, with a connotation that the hidden knowledge is supernatural. The word tarot is a French name for Tarotky, the final teasilin according to French pronunciation. As Tarotky or tarot as it would become known is introduced to France and the card makers in Versailles who do not understand the symbolism of the characters or the allegories that they represented in Renaissance Innoley begin to standardise the iconography of the tarot throughout the 16th century according to Male. The oldest known deck from the Marseille tradition is dated to around 1639. While Tarotky essentially dies out in Italy in this era, it begins to spread in France and Switzerland. But even so, it isn't until around 1776 that tarot becomes associated with esoterism and the occult. Apparently, a Frenchman named Antoine Court de Gaublin observed a group of women playing tarot in apprisions salon and decided the cards were part of the Hermetic tradition, which meant that they were not cards at all but pages from a secret ancient Egyptian text, the Book of Toth. Hermeticism was a movement that was named for Hermes Très Magistis, who was thought to be a sorcerer from ancient Egypt and based on his very obscure writings which were written in a symbolic form. Though in truth these writings were not as old as they were thought to be, it turns out that Hermes Très Magistis was a fictitious character who nevertheless inspired a movement in a whole system of beliefs. Antoine Court de Gaublin was the French pastor, a Protestant premassan who seems to have made the first connection to ancient Egypt, falsely, in a publication titled "Lomond Primitief" or the Primeval World in 1781. The book found its way into the hands of several well-known historical figures, including US President John Adams and French King Louis XVI. And even though Taro only had a small chapter, it was enough to make a lasting impression. The Egyptian roots of the Taro have largely been debunked by historians because the symbols used on Taro do not match with existing symbols prominent in Egyptian culture. There is no evidence of an evolution of these symbols in Egyptian culture either, and they can't have come out of nowhere. Author Helen Farley reminds us that Egyptian culture was full of symbols of animal-headed gods and images from nature such as snakes, falcons, hawks, and the like, but nothing similar to that appears on the historical examples of Taro. Where such examples do exist are on the decks created long after this association was made. Also the terminology for both playing cards and tarot cards emerges from the word for paper, which the ancient Egyptian culture did not have access to. Jean-Paptiste de Liette was one of the first and most influential fortune tellers of the time, and is considered to be the first professional tarot occultist to make a living by card divination. Writing under the pseudonym "Atella" A deliberate reversal of his actual name, Aliet, to make it appear more mystical, Aliet published a book called "A Way to Intertain One Self with Cards," which presented the cards as a tool for fortune-telling. It was these two books, "Lomoned Primitief," and "A Way to Intertain One Self with Cards" that led to Tara being associated with esotericism and the occult, but also with carnimancy. Eventually, the idea of playing a game with the deck of Tara would disappear altogether. Jean Bechti Staliet also designed his own deck, which he imbued with Egyptian imagery, as well as signs from astrology in the zodiac. Male described Aliet as "so intrigued with the exotic imagery of the cards produced during the Renaissance, but dislocated from their original context, and influenced by his interest in hermeticism and belief in a golden age buried in the distant past. He projected something esoteric onto the cards. Perhaps the last nail in the coffin, which solidifies Tara as something esoteric and occult, is its importance to the hermetic order of the golden dawn. Similar to the French, the British had their own occult revival, appropriately named the English occult revival, which brought its own fascination with magic, sorcery, carnimancy, and divination. A secret organization known as the hermetic order of the golden dawn was founded in 1888, during the English occult revival. The founders of the group compiled and developed a system of philosophy, rituals, magical incantations, and symbols that incorporated elements from the cabala, rose in crucianism, and free masonry, as well as material from the Egyptian book of the dead. Its concepts and works were also influenced by theosophy, a leafiest Levi, and late medieval grimwars. Theosophy is a term that equates mysticism with God or divinity, while a grimwara is a book that is said to contain spells, rights, recipes, or other magical incantations. An elifiest Levi is yet another influential author of a book on magic. Levi's book Transcendental Magic was published in 1855. The hermetic order of the golden dawn held Tara in carnimancy with the cards in high esteem, and many members created their own sets, imbuing them with associations to hermeticism, cabala, rose in crucianism, ancient Egypt, alchemy, and by extension science. Alchemy was the practice of attempting to transform metals such as lead into gold or silver, and believe it or not, alchemy is the forerunner to chemistry. This is such an interesting connection because the practice of alchemy has connections to magic, and in fact modern science practices, like the scientific method, developed out of the study of magic. Alchemical signs and symbols and associations would also make their way into tarot. Ultimately, this mix of beliefs and their symbols have become associated with tarot. Historically, the creators of various decks mixed in match symbols and iconography from hermeticism, the cabala, Christianity, Rochene Crucianism, Masonry, alchemy, and ancient Egypt, according to their beliefs. What might surprise most people is the association with Christianity. Since there are some that believe that the cards are a cult in the satanic sense rather than the hidden or secret knowledge sense, but the Christian influence is definitely present. In fact, specific cards from the major arcana present Christian themes and connections, including the Pope, and also the high priestess, was at one point known as the Pope S. The devil card in particular has Judeo-Christian roots. While many ancient religions have scriptures detailing the struggle between good and evil, on tarot cards the devil is influenced by its ties to Christianity. Also remember that cultures that the tarot emerged from, including Tarotchi, from Renaissance Italy, and the subsequent tarot from the French occult revival were predominantly Christian cultures. While there is a wide variety in tarot decks today, there are some decks that are considered important to the development of tarot and its iconography or use of symbolism. We've already mentioned the Viscanzi Swarza deck, a hand-painted set from the Italian Renaissance, and one of the earliest known decks that has survived as a model for future decks such as the Solabuska deck. The Solabuska deck is the earliest known printed deck, and perhaps the earliest example of graphic design in terms of tarot history, or at least mass production techniques. The Solabuska deck is also the first deck to include both trumps, later known as Major Arcana, and numbered cards, or the Minor Arcana. Though this combination is thought to really be a combination of games, like when a chess board is also a checker board, rather than an indication of a combined deck. The Marseille's deck is one of the most important decks in history, although to call it a deck is a bit misleading since this is a tradition of mass manufacturing of tarot cards in Marseille France. Soon after the introduction of the cards to France, Marseille became a major center for the manufacturer of tarot cards, and the tarot de Marseille soon enjoyed great popularity. It is still considered to show the classic set of images for the Major Arcana, and the later occult decks have almost all based their pictures and symbolism on this French one. It was this mass manufacturing of cards in Marseille that helped establish a standard of iconography for tarot cards. The weight Coleman-Smith deck is probably one of the most well-known decks, although historically it has been known as the Rider Weight deck, and anyone with previous interest in tarot would probably know it by this name. This deck was developed by Arthur Edward Weight in 1910, and was eventually published by the London publisher Rider & Company, hence the name Rider Weight. Weight was a member of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, and essentially served as the Art Director of this project while Pamela Coleman-Smith was the artist or designer who actually created the images for the cards. Around the same time period several members of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn began designing or commissioning their own decks. In 1907, images of the Solar Buse Gidec were donated to the British Museum, which allowed the Solar Buse Gidec to become a major influence in the design of the Weight Coleman-Smith deck. Weight and Coleman-Smith were both Americans living in London, and is likely that they saw the Solar Buse Gucards on display at the museum. Weight had become a leader in the Golden Dawn and was considered a scholar, writing extensively on occult and esoteric beliefs. The design he dictated was tied to the esoteric evolution of the tarot, as well as the beliefs and ideologies of the Golden Dawn Order. Pamela Coleman-Smith had been trained as an artist at the Pratt Institute in New York and had made her weight a London after the death of her father. From there she was encouraged to join the Golden Dawn in 1901 by friends in the organization, which is likely how she met weight. It is important to note that many women were accepted as members into the Golden Dawn, and according to Patrick Mail, unlike many other 19th century esoteric societies, the Golden Dawn included women as full members. The cards developed by Weight and Smith became very popular and were a commercial success. Similar to the Marseille Deck tradition, many decks since the creation of the Weight Coleman-Smith are inspired by it. So much so that in many instances the images are either directly appropriated or otherwise pretty closely referenced. Patrick Mail also tells us that Pamela Coleman-Smith was paid a flat sum. Probably a rather small one at that for her work on the illustrations for the cards. Has she been paid in royalties the financial troubles in her life would have likely been greatly mitigated, perhaps even eliminated. For students of design history who have studied the arts and crafts movement, the illustrations on the deck are very reminiscent of the style of illustration from the books produced at the Calmscot Press. For example, the illustrations of the cards are similar to the style of the Calmscot Chaucer, a book published by the Calmscot Press on Chaucer's Riding, which includes pictures illustrated by Sir Edward Burn Jones, which were then engraved on wood by W.H. Hoop. Though there are many examples of illustrations from this era that reflect a similar style, and it makes sense that they would be influenced by the popular trends of this time. Coleman-Smith is said to have been inspired by the symbolist art movement, and it should be noted that the pre-Raffiolite brotherhood were essentially the British version of the symbolist movement. The comparison of Edward Burn Jones is relevant here in making the connection since he was associated with the pre-Raffiolite brotherhood, aesthetic movement as well as the arts and crafts movement. Recently historians have begun referring to the deck, historically known as the writer-weight deck, as the weight Coleman-Smith deck, or sometimes the writer-weight-Smith deck, to acknowledge the role of Pamela Coleman-Smith in its creation. It should surprise none of the regular listeners of this podcast that she had previously been omitted from this history. However, before weight and Coleman-Smith developed their historic deck, in 1888, Golden Dawn leaders, Samuel Little McGregor Mathers also created his own version of a terror deck, which is known today as the Golden Dawn Terror. This deck was illustrated by Mathers' wife, Moina, and the design of the deck was certainly influential to other members of the Golden Dawn, many of whom created their own personal decks. However, the deck has certainly not seen the popularity of the weight Coleman-Smith deck, and does not appear to have gone into mass production until 1977. One other deck, also designed by a member of the Golden Dawn, has been quite popular. It is the Toff Terror designed by Alistair Crowley, and illustrated by Lady Frida Harris. Alistair Crowley is probably the most infamous member of the Golden Dawn, and according to mail, the magazine John Bull referred to Crowley as the "wickedest man in the world." A description that male notes has had an enduring legacy which should be noted by the hit song Mr. Crowley by Ozzy Osborne. Crowley had a large inheritance and was intrigued by magic. He joined the order of the Golden Dawn though he was not well liked within the group and was later denied advancement within the order. This and other disagreements between weight, matters and Crowley as well as other influential members of the Golden Dawn fractured the group ultimately leading to its end. The order had formed in 1887 and was disbanded in 1903, lasting 16 years total, though some of the splinter groups carried on their own practices for a number of years after that. Crowley led one of these splinter groups, ignoring the original rules of the order he gave himself advancements in the group and was known to have experimented heavily with drugs and performed ritualized sex as part of his practices. He also publicly performed some of the secret rituals of the Golden Dawn, much to the dismay and embarrassment of other members such as mothers. It's hard to maintain an elite secret organization when someone is spilling your secrets. In Crowley's deck, the connection of the tarot to Toth dates back to Anton Court de Gablin, who had mistaken the deck in a game of cards a group of ladies was playing for what he believed were the pages in a secret book, the Book of Toth. Toth was an Egyptian deity and was the god of the moon, wisdom, knowledge, writing, hieroglyphs, science, magic, art, and judgment. Author and historian Patrick Mell refers to the Toth deck as the second most important deck in the 20th century. The way Coleman Smith deck is presumably still the most important. Like many others developing their own decks, Crowley wrote a book to accompany the deck, the Book of Toth, and the illustrations for the deck were completed in 1944. However, the deck would not go into commercial production until 1969, long after the deaths of both Crowley in 1947 and Lady Frida Harris in 1962. Even though the Toth and Wake Coleman Smith decks were created by influential members of the Golden Dawn, they are visually quite different. The Toth deck, painted by Lady Frida Harris, drew inspiration from Art Deco, Art Nouveau, and modern art movements such as Cubism, while the Wake Coleman Smith deck was influenced by the arts and craft era and symbolist painting movement. The Toth deck is said to have had a tremendous influence on the rise and popularity of tarot in America in particular. Most modern tarot decks include 78 cards, which includes 22 cards of the major arcana and 56 cards in the minor arcana. The term major arcana translates to the greater secrets, while the term minor arcana translates to the lesser secrets. By now, it should be abundantly obvious that tarot cards contain a diverse and eclectic mix of symbols, and depending on the deck there could be a variety of icons and symbols used. In terms of symbolism for the suits in the minor arcana, swords represent nobility, cups represent the clergy, coins represent merchants, towns, people, and burgers, while staves represent peasants and servants, and the court cards of course represent the nobility. While kings and queens have been symbolically linked to adult men and women, and sometimes husbands and wives, pages and knights have been connected to girls and boys, or sometimes daughters and sons. If we take time to examine one card in particular from the Wake Coleman Smith deck, the will of fortune, we can see just how eclectic the mix of symbols is. Appearing in each of the four corners are symbols of the Christian evangelists. Matthew is represented as an angel, Mark is the lion, Luke is the ox, and John is the eagle. However, these symbols also refer to the zodiac according to Jessica Hunley. The eagle is Scorpio, the bull is Taurus, the lion is Leo, and the angel is Aquarius. The top center is the Roman numeral 10, which in numerology is often connected to the idea of completing a cycle. So the number 10 for the will of fortune is actually quite fitting. Below that is a sphinx holding a sword, which shows the influence of Egyptian symbols, and this belief in ancient Egyptian secrets that the cards held. Two other characters surround the wheel, a snake, thought to represent typhoon, those snakes have symbolically been also tied to water, fertility, women, or goddesses, and the second character is a nubus, another Egyptian character or symbol co-opted into the cards. The spokes of the wheel are surrounded by alternating Latin and Hebrew letters, spelling out the word rota, r-o-t-a, Latin for wheel, or Torah, t-o-r-a, tying to kabbalistic themes. These Hebrew letters are also symbolic in that they represent the tetragramaton, the four letters yad-hi-wa-hi that represent the name of the Hebrew god Yahweh. The eight-spoked wheel is also inscribed with alchemical symbols representing mercury, sulfur, water, and salt, as well as the four elements, earth, air, fire, and water, which are also said to be represented through the terra by the four suits of pintacles or discs, wands, swords, and cups respectively. The study of terra symbolism has also been connected to the study of archetypes, influenced by the work in writing of Carl Jung. Carl Jung was a Swiss psychiatrist and founder of analytical psychology who introduced the concept of the collective unconscious and synchronicity. He inspired the New Age movement with his interest in occultism, eastern religions, as well as mythology, and of course his pioneering work on archetypes. Archetypes can be seen as reoccurring symbols in literature, art, and mythology, and writers such as Joseph Campbell and Rachel Pollock have connected the major arcana to what is thought of as universal archetypes. These ideas have shaped modern storytelling. In particular, George Lucas, creator of Star Wars and Indiana Jones, has cited Joseph Campbell's book The Hero with a Thousand Faces from 1949 as a major influence. Ultimately, the symbols used in any given terro deck, at least since their development during the French occult revival on, have been used to imbue the decks with magic, mystical, or spiritual power. Similar to how symbols and icons have been used to imbue money with the authority of governments, kingdoms, or rulers to certify their legitimacy as currency. Terror would continue to evolve with the New Age movement, to become in some cases more of a meditative tool, or use for self-reflection rather than for fortune telling. There are too many terro decks to describe them all, however I do want to share with you some of my favorites, or at least some of the ones that I find to be very interesting. Ditha Moser designed what is known as the Young and Steel Terro Deck in 1906. This deck was a collaboration between Ditha Moser and Albert Burger, as well as Joseph Glanz, a printer for the Viener Verchtata. It is unclear how many decks were produced originally, however they were accompanied by an elaborately designed wooden box or casket to hold them. The cars were re-issued in 1972 and again in 1982, and are an excellent example of Young and Steel design. Ditha Moser is not well recorded in graphic design history, however she was the wife of prominent designer Columnon Moser, who was known for his association with the Vienna Sessession and was a founder of the Viener Verchtata. Columnon Moser is noted as both an artist and a graphic designer, and it is likely that his wife Ditha partnered with him on many of his designs, though this is not well recorded either. He died in 1918, and Ditha is said to have stopped producing art and design altogether after World War I. Though this might have had more to do with the untimely passing of her husband rather than the end of the war. The Young and Steel Taradek is a great representation of design work from this era. It displays geometrically abstracted designs and motifs. It is likely that Ditha Moser's deck was intended for game playing and not fortune telling, and the Trump cars or the major arcana are not the typical representations, characters, archetypes. Instead they are deeply personal to Moser and reflect her life in Austria. The numbered cards are in the traditional fringed suits, hearts, spades, diamonds, and clubs, yet have four court cards. Though it should be noted that the pack appears to be incomplete by typical standards, and is missing several of the numbered cards or the minor arcana. The deck only includes four of each suit, the 10, 9, 8, and 7 in the black suits, and the 1, 2, 3, and 4 in the red suits. This is actually described as the Austrian tarot. This deck is more appropriately called a tarot deck, that is T-A-R-O-C-K for the German version of the name tarot, and the game that would have been played with this deck is called Cunningrufen, which translates to call the king. Still, they are an exquisitely designed deck if you appreciate the geometric abstraction of the Young and Steel, and can still be purchased online today. In the 1970s, famous surrealist artist Salvador Dali was in talks with movie producer Albert Broccoli to design a tarot deck for the 007 film "Liven Let Die." This project was never realized, though the film did prominently feature tarot. The deck used in the film is called the tarot, which is by Scottish artist and illustrator Fergus Hall, and was originally a major arcana only deck. The new versions of the deck do include a minor arcana. Dali apparently was still intrigued by the idea of a deck and produced his own deck, which was published in 1984. The oversized surrealist Dali deck features Dali himself as the magician, and is, as one might expect, visually quite striking. The major arcana includes Roman numerals, Arabic numbers, and Hebrew letters, and the names of the cards are printed in both English and Spanish. The deck is currently available from Tashin along with the supporting book. One of my favorite illustrators, Edward Gory, created a parody deck called the Fantod Pack. This deck includes 20 cards and is described as an Oracle deck by the Eclectic Tarot. Some might think of Oracle decks as major Arcana only decks, but this isn't exactly right. Oracle decks are typically smaller than tarot decks, and though they vary in size, they usually have as few as 20 to 30 cards and can have as many as 40 to 50. The deck is named for Gory's own press, the Fantod Press. Authorship of the Fantod deck is attributed to a "Madam Grota" weird, as Gory had a penchant for authoring books under pseudonyms that were derived from "ANAGRAAMS" of his name. The chords are "Gory-esque" and reflect his personal humor. My personal favorite cards include the Child, which is an illustration of a child-sized skeleton pulling an old-fashioned toy against a dark patterned wallpaper. The ancestor, which is a bearded, faceless character in a fur coat, and giving Gory's own wardrobe included a number of fur coats, one couldn't help but wonder if this character represents Gory himself. The bundle and the urn are also favorites along with the Waltzing Mouse, though anyone familiar with the archetypes usually associated with the major Arcana would note that these are wildly different themes. Another interesting discovery during this research was the HIV Tarot created by artist Kim Ableis. The HIV Tarot was originally developed in 1992 to promote awareness about HIV/AIDS. This appears to have been more of a series of Tarot-themed illustrations rather than a true deck of cards. The publication has Tarot images on one side and has information about transmission and prevention of HIV on the back in both Spanish and English. There is a wheel card, but other cards are atypical including Journey, Desire, Legacy, Chance and Knowledge, though they all stick close to themes represented in the major Arcana. The HIV Tarot was briefly re-released in 2018 as part of an exhibition titled Lost and Found, Safer Sex Activism, at one gallery in West Hollywood. There is an interesting juxtaposition of high and low culture in the history of Tarot. In the art and design world's fine art, such as painting, sculpture, etc. has held the highest places in culture, while design, especially mass produced items, has often held a lower position, simply through its availability or perhaps its role in popular culture. In her book Tarot and other meditation decks, author and historian Emily Alger, describes Tarot as primarily a popular or low art rather than a high art form. Where high art generally includes architecture, sculpture and painting and is distinguished from low art, such as pottery and other crafts, they go on to explain that low art includes folk, kitch, camp and mass produced art, all of which are supposed to be distinguished by supposedly lesser quality of creativity and expression that is purportedly found in high art. Alger's use of the words "supposed" supposedly and purportedly imply a level of disagreement with this line of thinking. It is interesting that here the comparison is between high art and crafts. Author Patrick Male also discusses the differences between art and craft and Tarot's role in that spectrum, though neither are discussing Tarot's cultural value in terms of graphic design. However, Alger's description uses the term "mass-produced art," which in her line of thinking is probably where the field of graphic design lies. Male discusses Tarot as an art that exists in popular culture and is therefore a low art, yet has the ability to rise out of that category when it is associated with fine artists. So the deck designed by Salvador Dali is an example of Tarot rise to a higher level of culture. However, the Tarot deck or Oracle deck designed by Edward Goury is likely viewed as camp or kitch, and is likely viewed as a lower art. Though for the record this is my favorite and I do not agree with this designation. When histories of graphic design were first being established, and prior to that when the field was being established as a professional field, the designers and subsequent historians were working to elevate this field. And due to their place in low culture, it is no wonder that these artifacts have not been considered as part of its history. I also can't ignore the role of women in this history. With most of the well-known decks of the 20th century and beyond being designed by women, such as Moyna Mathers, Lative Frida Harris, and Pamela Coleman-Smith, historically the work of women has often been viewed as lesser arts. Women are often associated with craft over art, for example. So it is likely that the role of women in the history of Tarot also had its designation as a lesser art. What started out as a game played by the affluent and wealthy during the Italian Renaissance, Tarot later became something tied to the esoteric and the occult. During the counter-culture movement of the 1960s, Tarot began to transition away from being a tool from fortune telling to a new age means of self-reflection, introspection, and self-help. While they still occupy a rather small corner of graphic design history, Tarot cards continue to play in the sandbox of symbols, icons, languages, and meanings that can still influence modern graphic design practices. This episode was produced with the aid of a grant from the University of Central Oklahoma, research and writing credits for this episode are from me, Mandy Horton, with additional research assistants provided by Dean Kelly, Colby Striller, and Taylor Hill, story editing was provided by Spencer Ge, sound design and engineering by the University of Central Oklahoma Center for eLearning and Connected Environments, music by Christina Geocona and Patrick Conlon of Onyx Lane. If you would like to contact me about this episode or about the podcast, please email me at [email protected], that is H-E-L-L-O at ideh.fm. Our website can be found at ideh.fm. You can also connect with us on Instagram at incomplete design history. Subscribe to incomplete design history wherever you get your podcasts. This episode only barely skimmed the surface. There's more that could be said about the symbols used in the major arcana cards. Visit the episode page on our website for a list of the books that we used. In particular, Tashin's beautiful book, Simply Titled Tarot, delves far more deeply into the symbolism with several examples from a wide variety of decks. And a special shout out to fellow Oklahoma, Patrick Male, and his very accessible book, The Cards, which also proved to be an amazing resource for today's show. [Music]