Not such a long time ago, everybody knew the Milky Way. Only the last generations have lost touch with the stars because of the light pollution that makes it impossible to see much more than the brightest stars. (Light pollution has terrible consequences, but that's another topic).
Some years ago, I started star gazing. It's much easier nowadays than it used to be when I tried my luck with a circular star map and found it very confusing. There are very good mobile apps (Google Star Maps, Sky View Free and Sky Tracker are good), an excellent planetarium software called Stellarium, and great, simple books like Star Gazing for Dummies that helped me start... and may help others who have the same love for the stars and want to get to know them.
By now, it's a habit with me to follow the movement of the stars, planets, moon and sun, and I feel more alive when I know where they are, more connected to the cosmos around me.
Obviously, my card collection reflects my love for the stars, and here are some of the decks I have.
Arcana of Astrology is a beautiful and unique oracle deck. There are cards for all the zodiac constellations and planets, moon phases, asteroids and eclipses. I use it for my tarot calendar, i.e., I put up each month the zodiac sign of the month and the planet ruler of the decan.
That's why my cards are photographed with magnets
The same artist also created a Compendium of Constellations that I want badly
I also have Astronomical Playing Cards, a little deck published by Piatnik, that I like very much.
The spring constellations, Aries, Taurus and Gemini, are associated with hearts.
The winter constellations, Capricorn, Aquarius and Pisces, with spades.
The pictures of the constellations are inspired by Charles Hodges' deck.
Another deck of playing cards is called Night Sky Playing Cards, created by Jonathan Poppele.
They're beautifully done, simple and clear. I have written my own meanings, based on the mythological context of each card, to use it as an oracle deck.
And then tarot.
First of all, the Celestial comes to mind.
I'm not totally on board with the esthetics of this deck - the paintings are beautiful, albeit very busy, but the sickly blue borders are horrible and it took me some time to get over them. I love the fact that the author included constellations from all over the world (I'm not sure but I think she's Australian), and that she didn't simply follow the Golden Dawn associations. She counts the decans differently, starting with the Aces, so the GD decans don't fit, which is interesting.
Her choice of constellations and planets for the cards are intelligent and even where I'm not sure I follow her, I totally respect her reasons. This is a deck made with a lot of love, a lot of thought, a lot of knowledge.
Ophiuchus for Five of Cups - now this is wonderful since I re-named Ophiuchus for my own use! I call this constellation Hodor because it looks like Hodor and I think Hodor deserves it.
Pluto rules Judgement - the stern god of the realm of the dead, and Scorpio.
The queens are associated here with fixed signs, not cardinal like in GD, and that's a good choice, too. The Princesses, who have no zodiac associations, are paired with the seasons, also a very good idea.
In short, if you love the stars, get this deck. Even if it's a bit difficult to see the constellations in most cards. I may one day take a silver pen to the cards and emphasize the stars of the constellations. Or maybe not
The Constellation Tarot is simply gorgeous, and I wrote an enthusiastic review of it.
The constellations are the main heroes of this deck, at least in the majors.
The associations of constellation and trump card are thought-provoking and not based on an esoteric system but by a direct connection to the meaning and mythological connections of the constellation.
Again, the Southern constellations are included, in my book a definite plus. (I had a long time ago a discussion on AT with a European member who didn't want to have a deck that includes constellations she can't see. I found that strange. Imagine someone lives in the North of Sweden - they see very few constellations! what a meagre deck they should use if they would accept only what they have above their heads at night! Why not make a deck that includes constellations visible from all kind of places so a user like me feels connected to people in Chile, New Zealand and Hawaii who see constellations I can't see? Besides, star lovers are known to travel to see constellations they desire to see!)
The minors are more or less pips, enriched by the colouring and the background that give a strong sense of the element. They're really easy to read.
The Mantegna Tarot in its Lo Scarabeo version (drawn by the highly gifted Atanas Atanassov) consists of different "abstract" cards like the virtues etc, and very beautiful planet cards. I use them on my tarot calendar and for my daily planetary readings.
They're mythological and not astronomical, but that's fine because it also belongs to the lore of the stars, and the whole business of counting time.
Its total opposite is the Quantum Tarot, a deck based on modern physics and astronomy.
Mythology plays a role, too, but in a totally modern scientific-poetic environment.
It's a great deck, and I'm so glad I bought it even though I didn't read with it often.
Even more scientific is the Solar System set of cards that were not made for oracle use at all.
I bought them together with the Star Tarot and the Mantegna Tarot, what a wonderful day it was when they all arrived!
And look at the Sun cards from the Star Tarot, the Solar System cards and the Mantegna Tarot:
Wonderful, isn't it? I really love to compare and see the facets of our human perception of these luminous heavenly bodies.
The Star Tarot, in spite of its name, doesn't really have much star lore or connection to actual constellations. It's very beautiful though.
Cathy McClelland is a great artist, and the cards are rich in symbols. But if you think it's star-affine, no it is not.
The Tabula Mundi, on the other hand, doesn't mention stars, but in one of its most powerful cards recalls real stars:
- tabula mundi tarot xxi universe.jpg (142.39 KiB) Viewed 1639 times
Can you see the four fixed constellations, symbolized by the four animals from Ezechiel's vision that became symbols of the four evangelists? M.M. Meleen didn't only draw the constellations, she also emphasized the main star of the constellations - and these are the famous royal stars. Aldebaran in Taurus, Regulus in Leo, Antares in Scorpio and Fomalhaut in Aquarius - just wonderful to see them on the card. There are nights when I managed to see all four, magical nights when the sun is not in a fixed sign so you can catch the fixed signs at night.
There are more decks that I WANT and don't have yet - the Cosmos is on my wishlist (why why why is shipping so expensive????) and so is the simple but beautiful little Ptolemaic Constellations Oracle deck.
Oh, the night has come down while I wrote, and I'll go outside now to watch the stars. The moon will come out late, waning crescent as it is right now, so there are many lovely hours to say good bye to the summer stars and greet the autumn/winter constellations.
