Decks of the 80s

Tarot decks published in the eighties.

Arcus Arcanum Tarot A male-oriented deck, the Arcus Arcanum Tarot has brightly coloured comic book type artwork and uses the typical suits of cups, wands, swords and disks.

Art Nouveau Tarot The Art Nouveau Tarot by Matt Myers is decorated in a gorgeously coloured, vibrant (though rather eighties-looking), stained-glass style of imagery. The major arcana are reasonably traditional, while the minor arcana are unique in that they tell the story of four couples going through the trials and tribulations of life together.

Barbara Walker's Tarot The Barbara Walker Tarot depicts goddesses and gods from mythology all over the world. Positive, negative and in-between deities are all shown, creating a deck which can seem a little disturbing to those unfamiliar with the myths.

Cosmic Tarot The Cosmic Tarot is a popular mystical New Age deck, that has the 78 full illustrated major and minor arcana cards. The ink drawings on the cards are coloured in pastel and have a attractive, somewhat eighties feel.

Karma Tarot A modern-looking, different tarot published in the eighties. The Karma Tarot cards are based upon artists and musicians the creator knew while living in a commune in Copenhagen.

Medicine Woman Tarot The artist draws on the energies of Mother Earth in the Native American fashion, using pastel, positive looking artwork to create a feeling of harmony, reverance, and wonder in the Medicine Woman Tarot.

Merlin Tarot The Merlin Tarot has 78 cards based on the Arthurian legends. The reordered major arcana, aces, and court cards are beautifully drawn, but the suits (Birds are Swords, Serpents are Wands, Fish are Cups, and Beasts are Disks) have very spare pip cards. They are disappointingly repetitive and difficult to interpret intuitively.

Morgan's Tarot Morgan's Tarot is not really a tarot in the strict sense, but 88 cards of modern, alternative, amusing and strange archetypes and situations. It was first self-published in the seventies, and then later by US Games.

Motherpeace Tarot The Motherpeace Tarot is an unusual deck with definite feminist leanings, but unlike many feminist decks it does show a few males. This was the first of the round Tarot decks.

Mythic Tarot Gods and Goddesses, demigods, heroes and villains from Ancient Greek mythology and legends are depicted on each of the 78 Tarot cards in the popular Mythic Tarot. First published in 1989 and reprinted almost every two years afterwards.

Native American Tarot The Native American Tarot depicts folklore, religion and way of life of several different tribes. Some images show historically authentic traditions from a wide range of tribes, but others are unique to the author. The new suits used are blades, vessels, pipes and shields.

Norse Tarot Featuring Nordic myths and ancient legends plus Gods, sagas and Runes from the lives of the Vikings, the Norse Tarot has watercolour artwork scenes with elaborate borders. Now out of print.

Ravenswood Eastern Tarot The colours in the Ravenswood Eastern Tarot are simple - black line drawings on plain white - but the theme is exotic and mixes tarot symbols with Middle Eastern art. The deck is meant to be coloured by the user.

Renaissance Tarot The Renaissance Tarot deck has gorgeous artwork with touches of gold. All twelve deities of Olympus and several other Greek and Roman gods and demigods are pictured in the major arcana. The minor arcana are pips illustrated with small scenes from Greek mythology.

Sacred Rose Tarot The Sacred Rose Tarot is a standard Tarot deck that has had some Qabbalistic symbolism added to the colourful artwork, inspired by medieval stained glass and Byzantine icons. Suitable for readers of any level.

Solleone Tarot Colourful, super-real and in-your-face, the Italian-published Solleone Tarot cards have a medieval style and occasionally use bloody and violent imagery.

Tarot of the Cat People Cats of all varieties, including lions and leopards, accompany the colourful Cat People in this deck for all those cat lovers out there. The artwork in the Tarot of the Cat People is beautifully done.

Tarot of Transition The Tarot of Transition is an Egyptian-themed deck with quite plain artwork in the familiar sideways perspective of Ancient Egyptian art. The majors depict deities, like Isis, Ptah and Hathor, and the minors are divided into suits of Ankh, Ded, Heset and Kheprera.

Ukiyoe Tarot The Ukiyoe Tarot adapts Marseille symbolism into a Japanese style deck, with traditionally dressed figures on the Major Arcana, and undecorated minor arcana. Now out of print.

Voyager Tarot The Voyager Tarot is a deck of pure symbolism that reflects our present day circumstances, in bright and colourful photographic collages of images from multiple cultures. James Wanless's deck is intended to be used for self-empowerment and self-awareness.

Wonderland Tarot All the characters from Alice in Wonderland in this Rider-Waite reworking. The Wonderland Tarot also includes Tweedledee and Tweedledum as the Lovers.

Yeager Tarot of Meditation The Major Arcana cards of the Yeager Tarot of Meditation show scenes with life-like human figures and are interesting, using a lot of black and yellow, but the minor arcana artwork is of lesser quality.