Tarot et cartes divinatoires : Histoires illustrées

by Laetitia Barbier, Stephanie Scudiero (Translator)

Depuis plus de 500 ans, le tarot est le plus populaire et le plus accessible des outils ésotériques, pour l’introspection et comme pour la divination. Il prend aujourd’hui une part de plus en plus grande de notre culture. Pourquoi? Parce que, peu coûteuses et faciles à transporter, parfaites compagnes de voyage, les cartes de tarot invitent à un voyage intérieur. Les hommes sont depuis toujours attirés par le jeu et cherchent un sens dans le chaos de signes qui les entoure. L'imagerie vivante des «arcanes» nous parle comme aucune autre langue, droit au coeur, tissant à travers chaque carte une histoire universelle, un chemin métaphorique. Ce livre de 400 pages richement illustré explore 500 ans de jeux illustrés pour comprendre, carte par carte, cette imagerie à la croisée des chemins de l'imaginaire médiéval, de la sagesse ésotérique occidentale, du folklore, mais aussi de l'art contemporain et de la culture pop. Avec des centaines d'images tirées de plus de 100 jeux, rarement publiées et souvent oubliées dans les archives des bibliothèques, cet ouvrage nous offre la première histoire visuelle du tarot.

Genres: Tarot, Art, Nonfiction, History, Occult, Magic, Witchcraft

368 pages, Hardcover

First published December 14, 2021

Reviews

[daemyra, the realm's delight · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another beautiful tarot book for the coffee table. It’s not perfect, but the essays are up-to-date with current tarot thinking.

Knocked off a star tho because for me, was hoping for more of a theme to the visual history of tarot beyond the author’s personal preferences. The tarot cards shown are beautiful but lack a more compelling structure, in my perspective.

[Shelly Mateer · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is basically a dictionary of different tarot decks and their history. I personally love the artwork on tarot cards and wanted to know more about their history. Boy, did I learn. I prefer the classic card designs myself, but the book includes more modern designs also. Toward the end of the book, some of the artwork got a little bizarre, but it is artwork nonetheless. It’s a great book for anyone who wants to learn about all sorts of tarot and divination cards, but don’t get it if you’re not prepared to see a few private parts, sometimes in unusual places!

[Queer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Didn’t really cover Rider Waite variants.

[Jen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is one of those tarot books that makes me want to clear off a whole table and just sit with it for an afternoon. Barbier has an excellent eye, and the sheer abundance of historical cards, fortune-telling games, oddball playing cards, art, and old cartomancy material is genuinely exciting. I especially loved seeing the Majors placed beside so many different visual cousins, because it reminds you that tarot imagery did not arrive fully formed in a little occult bubble. The section on cartomancy is a real strength too, and the book is generous about showing readers things that are usually locked away in pricey deck catalogues or archives. Still, it is a curated visual archive, not a comprehensive history, and I think that distinction matters alot. Some pairings are evocative and useful for contemplation, but the book can move so quickly from visual resemblance into symbolic suggestion that newer readers may not always know what is documented context and what is poetic interpretation. I also wanted more room for the modern decks, because the selection feels a little narrow after such a huge feast of older material. But honestly, this is a beautiful, intelligent book that treats the cards as art objects with long, strange lives, and it belongs on the shelf of anyone who wants their tarot world to get bigger.

[Chris Browning · Rating 5 out of 5]

Because of my very rigid religious upbringing I get a frisson of danger just seeing the book on my to read pile, and I have to say that’s probably one of the reasons why it’s taken me so long to finish this. Because part of me still worries I’m basically sealing my hellish fate just by owning the thing. The other reason is that it’s absolutely bloody gorgeous, a feast for the eyes that’s a lot to take in and so demands slow and careful reading. I can’t claim to understand even half of the text, but it’s beautifully evocative and the whole book balances classic and strange older tarots with more modern and unusual variations. A truly fascinating book

[Jonathan Frederick Walz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Overall quite good, interesting,and useful...but the project needed a copy-editor.Which makes me sad, because it could've been a 5 1/2 star book, but ...

[Penny Wright · Rating 2 out of 5]

The pictures were neat, but the writing was really lacking. This is written by an art historian, and it's pretentious as heck. I barely made it through the introduction before rolling my eyes.

[Erin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Beautiful art. I wanted more history. I think there’s a historical work out there to be written with these pretty of pictures.

[annabel · Rating 3 out of 5]

interesting and introduces a lot of different divination decks, but i think i wanted a little more in depth history lol

[Ivonne · Rating 4 out of 5]

More of a compilation of graphic and historical references used in Tarot cards, with a little bit of signification. Great coffee table book, not so much for research or learning.

[Dragonu Magician · Rating 4 out of 5]

'Perhaps this time it will be back
at the beginning'

[Roberto · Rating 5 out of 5]

A beautiful book

This is an astonishing book...full of beautiful images and very accurate information for interpretation and analyses.
Brilliant and very well integrated. Very good collection of decks images on tarot and other decks.

[Irene · Rating 3 out of 5]

The art is beautiful. However... I don't know. It's not bad for what it is, but I think it's kind of a... missed opportunity.