We have before mentioned Eileen Connolly's tarot in our review of "New Thoughts on Tarot", which
illustrated the deck in black and white. The full color deck is now available in an edition from US
Games System Inc. While the box says, that the deck is created by Eileen Connolly, the artwork is by
Peter Paul Connolly, Eileen's son. In my review I called Mr. Connolly's artwork "naturalistic
poster style" and the actual deck does not change that opinion. Not that the cards are not agreeable,
they are indeed. Mr. Connolly's drawings are all portraits of nice and friendly people in agreeable
settings; a tarot deck depicting an ideal world, people living in a golden era, an idealized existence
among chivalrous fellow human beings. Every sign of problems, contrasts and nastiness is eliminated.
A card like Eight of Swords, which usually illustrates poverty and human expulsion, shows in The
Connolly Tarot a male person, which could be a young minister or a bookkeeper, looking out of his
window, wondering why there are stuck eight swords into the snow.
When I occasionally conduct a tarot workshop, one exercise I often use is to have the participants look
at the cards to decide, which persons are attractive to them, and whom they would not be pleased to meet
in actual life. Such an exercise could not be done with the Connolly deck. The people are all so loveable.
There is no Devil nor Death, just "Materialism", a nice young person, chained to the four symbols of
the tarot, and "Transition", a cloaked person, being offered a bowl of cleansing water by a nude putto.
I have searched for a card to illustrate these words, that just implied a bit of nastiness or depression,
but I could not find one. For a card interpreter, who wants to be sure, that the outcome is a happy one,
this deck is a must. And it will be ideal, if you want to introduce the tarot to your younger children,
but still want to protect them against the realities of life.
Mr. Connolly's colors are strong and clear and at times luminous. The rather heavy contours make the
characters stand out brightly, giving an impression very much like stained glass art, actually more
than can be found in the deck called that. The scenery does occasionally give strange associations,
for instance I wonder, why The Fool is situated in front of the White Cliffs of Dover. There is an
extra card called "Gateway to Meditation".
The deck comes in a cardboard box with a 21 page leaflet. The general quality of the product is excellent
and equivalent to most other packs from US Games Systems Inc.
We have before mentioned Eileen Connolly's tarot in our review of "New Thoughts on Tarot", which
illustrated the deck in black and white. The full color deck is now available in an edition from US
Games System Inc. While the box says, that the deck is created by Eileen Connolly, the artwork is by
Peter Paul Connolly, Eileen's son. In my review I called Mr. Connolly's artwork "naturalistic
poster style" and the actual deck does not change that opinion. Not that the cards are not agreeable,
they are indeed. Mr. Connolly's drawings are all portraits of nice and friendly people in agreeable
settings; a tarot deck depicting an ideal world, people living in a golden era, an idealized existence
among chivalrous fellow human beings. Every sign of problems, contrasts and nastiness is eliminated.
A card like Eight of Swords, which usually illustrates poverty and human expulsion, shows in The
Connolly Tarot a male person, which could be a young minister or a bookkeeper, looking out of his
window, wondering why there are stuck eight swords into the snow.
When I occasionally conduct a tarot workshop, one exercise I often use is to have the participants look
at the cards to decide, which persons are attractive to them, and whom they would not be pleased to meet
in actual life. Such an exercise could not be done with the Connolly deck. The people are all so loveable.
There is no Devil nor Death, just "Materialism", a nice young person, chained to the four symbols of
the tarot, and "Transition", a cloaked person, being offered a bowl of cleansing water by a nude putto.
I have searched for a card to illustrate these words, that just implied a bit of nastiness or depression,
but I could not find one. For a card interpreter, who wants to be sure, that the outcome is a happy one,
this deck is a must. And it will be ideal, if you want to introduce the tarot to your younger children,
but still want to protect them against the realities of life.