How the Tarot evolved over the past 40 years.
In the 1960s just as in the late-80's the tarot cards did not really differ from the first-known ones of early 15th-century Italy which were decks of colorful cards, showing medieval scenes, court figures with sticks and swords and shiny pentacles.
Readings could however be a little scary and were shared exclusively amongst “secret circles” by a category of people which could easily be described as “occultists”.
Today however the scene is a quite different.
The Tarot Deck has evolved with cards that are multicultural, nonhierarchical, nonthreatening, almost user-friendly. In the last 10 or 15 years, hundreds of new Tarot decks have appeared, packaged with guidebooks for do-it-yourself divination. Thousands of Instagram accounts on tarot-readers and readings came to life
The card-and-book sets are being sold in normal stores and bookshops (ie. Payot in my hometown, Geneva). There Tarot decks reflect many cultures. There are “egalitarian tarots” in which the King and Queen have been dethroned by Mom and Dad cards and lots of other categories : Tao Tarots, Angel Tarots, a Teddy Bear Tarots…
However, according to the internationally recognized tarologist /art-film director Alejandro Jodorowsky, all deviations from the Tarot de Marseille are nothing but inglorious bastards (!).
And yet the Tarot Deck can not stop evolving and – most of all - his influence has reached the Art World (ie. Andy Warhol, Niki de Saint-Phalle) and the Fashion World.
Did you know , for example, that Karl Lagerfeld and Christian Louboutin have a say in more than the future of fashion?
They below are among the faces on a series of tarot cards in “Contemporary Magic: A Tarot Deck Art Project” which is considered the “chicest tarot reading ever".
Curated by Stacy Engman, the works focus on major artists and fashion creatives, including Lagerfeld (King of Wands), Marc Jacobs (Knight of Pentacles), John Currin (Ten of Cups), Tracey Emin (the Empress), Louboutin (Nine of Cups), and more.
The Tarot Deck has undoubtedly become of our everyday culture; for the joy of Tarot Lovers such as myself.
