This is not the first time the Arthurian cycle of legends have been the theme for a tarot deck, but
Anna-Marie Ferguson's deck and text is a worthy addition. Particularly I find her text is very
informative so readers, who are not particularly familiar with the large complex of tales, chronicles,
romances and legends, that constitute the Arthurian cycle, get a very good idea of the characters,
stories and symbolism connected with the theme. It is a virtue, that Anna-Maria Fergusson explains
in detail the symbols inherent in the 78 cards (and there are lots of symbols).
The opening chapters are fair introductions to tarot and to the legends; card reading is briefly
described as well as a few spreads but this aspect is, however, not the author's pretext. The main
part of the book deals with the detailed description of the cards. We are told, who the characters
depicted on a particular card are and which part they take in the Arthurian stories. We are shown
a large number of places, where the events took place and we are told a number of the stories.
Very many details to be explored in the cards are pointed out: plants, animals, emblems, colors etc.
It is so fortunate that Anna-Maria Fergusson is a competent artist, so she could do the artwork
herself. This is an ideal situation; too many tarot decks radiate the artist's inability to bring
another person's aspirations into being. The only thing that can be criticized is that Fergusson's
watercolors are much too detailed for the card size, which is probably the publisher's decision.
There is no loss of details in the reduction, but it would have been nice, if the cards were twice
the size. The box is better than other boxes we have recently seen from Llewellyn; I was about
to praise it highly, but then the bottom 6-7 cards in the stack happened to get stuck under
the folded cardboard edge that holds the deck.
The title of the deck is actually "A Keeper of Words" subtitled "Legend - The Arthurian Tarot"
but it seems natural to refer to it as "Arthurian Legend Tarot" which is perhaps also what
the publishers intended.
I am pleased to see, that Llewellyn has recently made three interesting tarot decks available; this
one in particular is my preference. This may be because the artist/author was born, grew up and was
educated in England, and therefore appeals more to me than many a US-deck.
The opening chapters are fair introductions to tarot and to the legends; card reading is briefly
described as well as a few spreads but this aspect is, however, not the author's pretext. The main
part of the book deals with the detailed description of the cards. We are told, who the characters
depicted on a particular card are and which part they take in the Arthurian stories. We are shown
a large number of places, where the events took place and we are told a number of the stories.
Very many details to be explored in the cards are pointed out: plants, animals, emblems, colors etc.
It is so fortunate that Anna-Maria Fergusson is a competent artist, so she could do the artwork
herself. This is an ideal situation; too many tarot decks radiate the artist's inability to bring
another person's aspirations into being. The only thing that can be criticized is that Fergusson's
watercolors are much too detailed for the card size, which is probably the publisher's decision.
There is no loss of details in the reduction, but it would have been nice, if the cards were twice
the size. The box is better than other boxes we have recently seen from Llewellyn; I was about
to praise it highly, but then the bottom 6-7 cards in the stack happened to get stuck under
the folded cardboard edge that holds the deck.
The title of the deck is actually "A Keeper of Words" subtitled "Legend - The Arthurian Tarot"
but it seems natural to refer to it as "Arthurian Legend Tarot" which is perhaps also what
the publishers intended.