Back in 1968 John Starr Cooke and Rosalind Russel published an unusual tarot deck called "The New Tarot for
the Aquarian Age". The creative process that led to the construction of the deck was a series of
Ouija-board readings carried out by a group of John Starr Cooke's friends with the purpose of deciding how a
"reversed" tarot ideally should look like. The notes from the Ouija-board readings became so detailed, that
they could be used as directions for designing the deck and a concept for using it, called "The Royal Maze".
One detail was an unusual name for each of the major cards, the card equivalent to "The Fool", for example,
being called "The Nameless One", "The Lovers" being "The Unity" and "Strength" being "The Victorious One".
Also the suit-marks were differently named as Serpents, Pears, Blades and Stones. The deck came in several
print runs in the late 1960's and early 70's. John Starr Cooke died in 1976 and in 1992 his son and
daughter-in-law made available a set called "The Word of One" (which was also the title used for the
transcript of the Ouija-board notes). The "Word of One" was a package holding a reprint of the 78 cards of
"The New Tarot for the Aquarian Age" plus two other major arcana tarot decks created by John, "The Atlantean
Tarot" and "The Gypsy Medieval Tarot".
Recently a new tarot deck was published by a Los Angeles based company called "Saint-Art". This new 78 card
deck is called the "I Am One" tarot. The artist and author is given as Maya Britan. One remarkable detail is
that this new deck uses the same unusual card titles for the majors and the same suit-marks as "The New Tarot
for the Aquarian Age". I can't recall having seen these titles and suit-marks used anywhere else in any of
the hundreds of tarot decks published after 1970, except for the 1992 reprint. A closer look and comparison
reveals that Ms. Britan's deck is actually a redrawing of John Starr Cooke and Rosalind Russel's "The New
Tarot for the Aquarian Age". Ms. Britan does not tell how she was inspired to create this deck, neither does
she mention John Starr Cooke's name in the three-language booklet (Ms. Britan is apparently aiming for an
international market) that comes with the deck. On the contrary, she states in the booklet that: ...."The
"I Am One" tarot deck is a game of cards based on the ancient school of "Tarot" that was last used in Egypt
during the late 18th dynasty........". Britan goes on in the same nonsensical style, claiming that ...."the
Egyptian School of Tarot later was adopted by the Hebrews and their leader Moses, who was a "Royal Master
of Tarot"........ (!)
Ms. Britan could come up with the explanation, that the same entity that approached John Starr Cooke and
his friends via the Ouija-board and gave them the inspiration for "The New Tarot for the Aquarian Age"
had also approached her with the details. Then I can only wonder why that entity has entirely lost his
(her?) sense of artistic quality during the 35 years that had passed? Ms. Britan's pompous illustrations
are in my opinion very inferior to John Starr Cooke and Rosalind Russel's simply designed original deck.
Back in 1968 John Starr Cooke and Rosalind Russel published an unusual tarot deck called "The New Tarot for
the Aquarian Age". The creative process that led to the construction of the deck was a series of
Ouija-board readings carried out by a group of John Starr Cooke's friends with the purpose of deciding how a
"reversed" tarot ideally should look like. The notes from the Ouija-board readings became so detailed, that
they could be used as directions for designing the deck and a concept for using it, called "The Royal Maze".
One detail was an unusual name for each of the major cards, the card equivalent to "The Fool", for example,
being called "The Nameless One", "The Lovers" being "The Unity" and "Strength" being "The Victorious One".
Also the suit-marks were differently named as Serpents, Pears, Blades and Stones. The deck came in several
print runs in the late 1960's and early 70's. John Starr Cooke died in 1976 and in 1992 his son and
daughter-in-law made available a set called "The Word of One" (which was also the title used for the
transcript of the Ouija-board notes). The "Word of One" was a package holding a reprint of the 78 cards of
"The New Tarot for the Aquarian Age" plus two other major arcana tarot decks created by John, "The Atlantean
Tarot" and "The Gypsy Medieval Tarot".
Recently a new tarot deck was published by a Los Angeles based company called "Saint-Art". This new 78 card
deck is called the "I Am One" tarot. The artist and author is given as Maya Britan. One remarkable detail is
that this new deck uses the same unusual card titles for the majors and the same suit-marks as "The New Tarot
for the Aquarian Age". I can't recall having seen these titles and suit-marks used anywhere else in any of
the hundreds of tarot decks published after 1970, except for the 1992 reprint. A closer look and comparison
reveals that Ms. Britan's deck is actually a redrawing of John Starr Cooke and Rosalind Russel's "The New
Tarot for the Aquarian Age". Ms. Britan does not tell how she was inspired to create this deck, neither does
she mention John Starr Cooke's name in the three-language booklet (Ms. Britan is apparently aiming for an
international market) that comes with the deck. On the contrary, she states in the booklet that: ...."The
"I Am One" tarot deck is a game of cards based on the ancient school of "Tarot" that was last used in Egypt
during the late 18th dynasty........". Britan goes on in the same nonsensical style, claiming that ...."the
Egyptian School of Tarot later was adopted by the Hebrews and their leader Moses, who was a "Royal Master
of Tarot"........ (!)
Ms. Britan could come up with the explanation, that the same entity that approached John Starr Cooke and
his friends via the Ouija-board and gave them the inspiration for "The New Tarot for the Aquarian Age"
had also approached her with the details. Then I can only wonder why that entity has entirely lost his
(her?) sense of artistic quality during the 35 years that had passed? Ms. Britan's pompous illustrations
are in my opinion very inferior to John Starr Cooke and Rosalind Russel's simply designed original deck.