I included this deck just to try and make your brains explode. This is another compelling deck designed by my friend Riccardo Minetti. In this deck he plays with the idea of gender and how it influences our understanding of the cards. In the Manga Tarot, all the cards that are traditionally male are depicted as female and vice versa. Arcana V becomes The Priestess, and looks very much like a traditional High Priestess card. Arcana II becomes The Priest. For ease of discussion, I’ve pictured them together here. Many of us blend associations of the card’s number in with the name, image, symbolism, and other associations together to create a card’s meaning. When a deck

The other day I mentioned that I often thought of the Hierophant as the Teacher. Perhaps one of the many reasons I love The Gaian Tarot so much is that it names and depicts Arcana V as The Teacher. The creator, Joanna Powell Colbert, says that this card is the Humble Teacher, as in a Holy Fool or Crazy Saint. The emphasis here is (as it was in the Fey Tarot's Hierophant) less about tradition or formal education and more about wisdom, teaching, and learning. Taking The Hierophant in this direction raises questions about the importance of tradition (is it important?), about the role tradition should or shouldn’t play in teaching or education. Is Arcana V still Arcana V as The

In this deck, this card is called “The Wisest” (printed on the actual card), while in the book, it is called “The Wise One.” The creator (who many of you know is Riccardo Minetti from Lo Scarabeo) says that this card is of a venerable and wise creature, the source of infinite, ancient, and wonderful memories, of experience and advice. He has learnt great things over time, and has fathomed the abyss of knowledge at length in order to learn. He also says that in this deck, the Wise One is the consort to the Seer (the High Priestess) and that they are the spiritual mother and father. The Seer is a custodian of wisdom and the Wise one answers and guides. To me, it sounds

You are so lucky today! Instead of just reading my babble about the Hierophant, you get a behind-the-scenes peek at the what goes into creating decks. The creator of The Pagan Tarot, Gina M. Pace, has very graciously shared her story behind this deck's Hierophant. It's a fascinating tale, and, Gina, I thank you so much for sharing it with us. Tarot cards, particularly the major arcana, have layers of meanings and it can be difficult for a card to evoke all possible meanings. Sometimes a deck’s theme shapes what aspect of the card is being portrayed. In general, I tend to shy away from the vilification of The Hierophant. However, sometimes it makes sense in the context of a deck. The