Some time ago, we decided to publish a Tarot deck…
I have a Tarot collection myself, started in childhood, taking over an entire shelf over the years. Every time I see a new one, I am curious about its voice. They are as different as people can be, depending on the artist who interpreted the cards. Often there are a few unusual renderings suggesting unusual ways to think about the established concepts. The more decks I tried, the more I started to feel like they were recordings, real people captured in the form of cards, ready to have a conversation.
When Chris Riddell asked me if I thought that we could make a tarot deck with his illustrations, I said yes. A pocket-sized Chris simulator full of strange wisdom, or whatever else will come out. Let’s make it.
We talked about the major arcana, and Chris drew them all in a beautiful green leather bound sketchbook, in ink. It’s very much his own interpretations. There’s Beauty and the Beast standing for Strength, Hel herself on the Chariot, Death and the Maiden, Saint Anthony as the Hermit…
We coloured them digitally, spending many Tuesdays in the Studio deciding on very precise shades of yellow to make golden cups shine against a dreamy sky, pondering the promising pinkness of pentacles, bone-dry swordscape hues, the verdant greens and blood-red of the wands.
Chris decided to give the sword suit over to hooded wraiths, and the wands to wizards. I worried for a moment what that might do, and then thought about it some more, and realised that it made sense. Wands for wizards, to make things happen with. And why not have dry intellect represented by living skeletons?
The Knight of Swords seems like a warning of taking an argument too far. That Queen cannot be argued with. The four of swords: a deep rest. Those wraiths don’t seem sinister to me, but stern and sometimes funny. I find them rather friendly overall, with Death, lord of all of them, leading by example.
For the booklet we consulted Frøydis Sollid Simonsen, Norwegian artist, poet, tarot reader and a long time friend. We spent hours on the phone talking about every card in turn, telling each other the stories of the people we saw depicted, making connections, and Frøydis gave a final interpretation of each one. We took them back to Chris who put everything in his own words.
Frøydis also designed the Cloud Tower spread which is included in the box – Three cards to consult about whatever is on your mind.
John put everything together for print – we managed after a few tests to wrangle a beautiful gold design onto the backs, and designed a box wrapped in an intricate drawing of a cloudy sky.
Finally, the proofs returned from the printer (Ivory Graphics, who were as always great to work with). We did readings for everyone around, and laughed, and talked, and wondered. The Cloud Tower has a voice all of its own. I don’t think we made a portable Chris after all. It is a kind and spooky thing, joking and reassuring and reminding the reader of their creative powers.
For the first edition we added an extra card – The Dragon. There’s no interpretation given, but we think that it stands for whatever the main power is that the reader can call on. Creativity, maybe. You decide.
We think that the Cloud Tower Tarot is an excellent deck to use for creative storytelling, and we’ll keep adding suggestions, instructions, spreads and videos about that on this blog. We’ve already got a stack of notes and diagrams. It’ll be good.
You can buy a copy, if you like, from Cycling Fish.
Meanwhile, my favourite card has always been the Page of Cups, finding that their cup is bottomless, containing all the dreams and stories of the world.
Hope you’re mostly happy!
More soon.