The Poe Tarot
Trisha Leigh Shufelt
Red Feather (December 7, 2021)
Reviewed by N. Richards
Absolutely delighted to be in possession of and reviewing this most intriguing of Tarot decks from a classic “Gothic” “horror” and esoteric point of view. Straight away it feels like a Tome within a tome within a tome, a veritable spiral of literary and artistic genius along with a heartfelt passion.
A sturdy and compact wraparound book style magnetic box, with a stunning black and white illustration of the revered Gothic horror author Edgar Allan Poe by the Author of the deck Trisha leigh Shufelt adorns the cover.
This is Trisha`s second full length Tarot deck. The first one was the CARTA newcomer award winner. (HeARTful spirits tarot)
Trisha has given us a thing of beauty in the Poe tarot , the contrasting red raven wing covered 192 page booklet gives us one of the most interesting and even intimate looks into the creation process from the foreword to the introduction. which is one of the more inspiring ones that I have read.
The 78 card deck features an illustration on each by Trisha herself featuring Poe as the protagonist within the journey of Tarot. Each card contains a quote from the great mind of Poe himself, somehow the illustrations conjure up perfectly the ” Poe moment” within a literary context and the classic tarot motif itself . It feels like a natural “marriage” if ever there was such a thing . There is a synergy in this deck that’s hard to define , like a trinity between Tarot itself , Poe and the work of Trisha Leigh Shufelt.
The cards themselves are a very high quality card stock in white with black and grey , the card edges are gilded ruby red, the back of the cards feature a polarised raven image symbol and name of arguably Poe’s most well known and loved works.
There are changes to the names of the minor arcana suits , wells for cups, quills for swords (mightier indeed) , candles for wands and paws for pentacles Each card is given a brief overview and fascinating insight into the quote upon the cards along with the more traditional keywords relating to that card as well as reversals.
Although this deck does feel more suitable for adepts , there is nothing here that can’t be understood for beginners also, it could work well as an introduction to tarot or an introduction to the work of Poe. I almost envy anyone getting into either subject for the first time via this magnificent deck.
Working with the deck is more intuitive and that’s what seems to me to be being encouraged here, some of the examples that I came across were the 9 of swords (quills) summed up by the quote from the tell tale heart “it is impossible to say how first the idea entered my brain,but once conceived, it haunted me day and night” keywords for this within the tarot are, of course, sleeplessness, insomnia, overthinking etc. Or the hermit from the major arcana “Not one, of all the crowd, to pry into thine hour of secrecy ; be silent in that solitude.” from spirits of the dead. keywords again of course chime perfectly , solitude, introspection inner wisdom.
Apart from all of the juicy wisdom and insights available within this deck , the actual artwork on each card is also a feast for anyone with a “gothic” sense of aesthetic.
Set to become one of my personal favourites of the season of spook for sure.
