On Decks: Sefirot – The Spheres of Heaven Tarot
! This deck contains images of frontal nudity and non-sexualized genital nudity.
A tarot deck made as part of fantasy historical fiction - as part of the game! Being someone's favourite, elevated above Waite's decoction, countless specific indies, Golden Dawn masterpieces! Aurel's gone mad! Bonkers! And he even loves the tarot enough that he not only has his Mass Market copy, but he also managed to snag a cheap copy of the original Kickstarter edition as well from Vinted (which comes with golden foil decorations and two extra cards)!
Well, yes. Sefirot was one of the first patch of the decks I ordered when my hyperfixation hit in the full force. Together with Terra Volatile, Tarot of the Divine and Star Spinner It's a funny bit of foreshadowing that this one survived and remained one of the most important decks I've kept. And one I developed special bond to, even!
You see, pretty much every book of tarot recommended doing specific daily activity of getting to know your specific deck. Being autistic and working through my specific brain-gear-preferences, that included the whole lot of symbology. which back then I didn't quite know how to separate out. So, of course, in the bout of insanity I picked a deck which has non-illustrated pips, when none of my resources dealt with that (even if the majors are fairly similar still)! Luckily, the guidebook points to two books they used as their inspiration - A Key to the Wisdom of the Age for the majors and Jodorowsky's The Way of Tarot: The Spiritual Teacher in the Cards1. In this way, my bout of insanity, proved to be something of a divine providence as it not only let me peer to the history of RWS but introduced me to the Marseille tarot as well. All of that kicked me down the massive rabbit hole of wider Tarot. Unfortunately my old notes are lost now, but most of them were just reframing stuff from four books I've always used for this endeavour. Yet just going through this made me appreciate this deck.
In the images above we can already see the categorization this decks falls into. The Fool is that of Pamela Smith, and it bears Hebrew letter Aleph, rather than Shin which belong to Judgement (in this deck, Gate). The Justice stands at a place where Waite put her, as oppposed to her traditional Marseille spot of 11 and the Courts also resemble that of RWS2. "Stewpot" is a proper term I suppose. Usually, these decks aren't my cup of... stew, as most of them search for Marseille/Thoth influences and then stubbornly cling to Pamela's illustrated scenes, almost as if terrified of even slightly innovating on these golden cows. This deck is unique in that it does the opposite - the majors are based on Waite and Case, while the minors are uniquely designed pips, with philosophy of Jodorowsky's approach to Marseille.
Then there are unique artistic takes on some cards, independent of all the traditions in favour of their own worldbuilding and historical fiction they created. One would think this would diminish any serious use of the deck, however that person I just made would be wrong. The designs themselves are still deeply grounded in Tarot traditions and philosophies that created them in real life. I do think the historical fiction adds a cute framing and "explains" the multicultural approach, not that you really need an excuse for that kind of thing - yes if you are hyper-serious then the fictional mentions of their continent of Discordia can take you out, but many decks do have purely fictional framing of situations situated in their world - Shadowscape tarot for example.
Like I do think it's charming that even in their fictional history they poked a bit of fun on the way tarot evolved.
Pips are the strongest parts of this deck, by a mile. This is not to say the Majors and Courts aren't stunning and well-made. But most of them are distinct, and reflect, or point to, some specific meaning. This pointing isn't so brutal as to overwhelm us with only this specific meaning (as is my main problem with scenic minors now). It's like prodding. You will miss out on purely playing cards freeform-ness, that Marseille deck users also point out, however, I will say Marseille minors and their designs are also limited in what they can evoke.
Look at the designs above.
The coins forming a stable column, which reflects the stability of 4 as a symbol, but then 5 is almost like a ruin, or fallen column. Since 5 is usually change or destruction.
In the swords we see the challenge of 7 intercept like hot metal through the formation of swords already there. An interloper graphically specified as the Other. In 8th of Swords
It's minimalistic but it is one of the most intelligently designed set of non-scenic pips I've ever seen, on the same level as Thoth's pips.
There's not MANY negative things in this deck, its flaws sparse.
This Cup design for example gives me nothing - I struggled a lot to find directions and nudges in this suit I felt otherwise
Also some explanations in the guidebook are just poor in general, which I will blame on Jodorowsky's numerology (I may be a touch too mean to the sod just like many numerological system Jodorowsky kinda falls apart at numbers 6 - 10 which just blend and blend and the delineation from other numbers becomes fuzzy). Like... OK, but what does it mean, kind of deal ya know. What's catastrophe of 5 vs catastrophe of 9. For Jodie it mattered a lot, but I really don't want to be forced to reread Spiritual Teacher of Cards for that ya know. That book feels like a self-inflicted torture. Personally, I have my own framework for numerology by now.
The Mass Market edition which is the one I actually use also has a rather strange cardstock. It feels like a thick cartoon, but it is flexible, and it's almost impossible to riffle shuffle. I don't but back in the day, using this deck was a nightmare sometimes. The cards clumped together and it was the only deck I bought magician's cards powder for. When I pick it up now it works fairly well, but I do think this card quality is why it's so relatively cheap compared to other Mass Market tarots.
I actually don't mind lack of edged borders OR golden foil as that kinda stuff always just makes me anxious and makes me work with a deck less.
My favourite section! Anylysing and noting some interesting things about individual cards!
The Fool and The Hermit are one of the strongest thematic echoes in the deck, which is based on what Case wrote in his book.
9 therefore represents the Absolute as the Goal of exis- tence, while 0 typifies the same Absolute as the Source of all. Consequently, in Tarot 0 is a youth, looking upward, in the morning light; but 9 is a bearded ancient, looking down, at night. -> THE TAROT A Key to the Wisdom of the Ages
I don't fully enjoy full story telling across the deck, making everything be One Story we see snippets off. However, I do think callbacks and drawing direct comparisons is not fully out of place. Here, I think the only shame is that the person in Fool uses they/them in the guidebook, while the Hermit is explicitly masculine. I don't think they have to be the same person, but it is a bit of oversight if they are. Regret and what we leave behind is a big part of this connection, as seen in the figure looking down mournfully in almost the same way in both pictures. Our experience, and perhaps some of our radiant hope keeps us going and brings us Wisdom.
Temperance is rather subdued, nothing of the angel that haunts the Waite and Case Tarot, bringing us closer to the the historical tarots where a woman simply pours water. Here I will give a criticism - I am capable of that - that the image looks too much like a Star. Every, every tarot artist should make sure their images aren't too alike to be mistaken for one another. Still, it isn't the worst sin - the reason might have been reducing the Christian influences throughout. The guidebook brings out the idea of Taoist influence instead and the quote of "Fill your cup to the brim and it will spill; keep sharpening your knife and it will blunt". We can definitely also get across the ideas of ritual cleansing of excess from the self.
The Magician straddles the line between the trickster, the juggler, and the master of the occult. Which one are we dealing here? Perhaps that's part of his magic that we cannot deal. I always appreciate this melding of archetypes we got for this guy in variety of decks
I included Three of Wands here to talk a bit more my my process of pips study years ago. I note the specific way the flower finally emerges for the first time, glorious and radiant. We have some fallen leaves to make space/energy for this new growth. Also, many colours of the flowers are still the same and shining - this is a new being with no wear. Some parts of the flower does change colours throughout suit. This made Wands some of my favourites to study in this deck.
Instantly we see how the flower changed in Five of Wands. The whole plant seems to be awash in energy, the fruits aren't growing as well and our flower takes on two orange leaves - petals that seem keen to fall? It makes me think of overheat, of overwork, poor logistics etc. I can blame Jodorowsky for many things but he did make me deeply appreciate just seeing and interpreting shapes as they evolve throughout the deck.
Page of Cups and King of Swords are some of my favourite courts, and this deck did them justice. The Page, inexperienced looks into the Cup and is awash with possibilities, drowned enough, carried by the way. The King of Sword ponders, on his throne. Covered by butterflies. Is he dead, them carrying his soul into afterlife? Or does he not move, for to move and use a weapon is a heavy task, one to be pondered on? Is he using his brain to ground himself? His throne is filled with images of swords, of previous knowledge, of previous choices.
Two of coins is a reference to the typical design pattern of Marseille. In fact, this could be the deck's only reference to Thoth's Tarot, which is also snake wrapped around the two Discs.
The Gate is rather interesting in what it borrows from the original image. Again, secularization of one of the most Christian scenes in the original seem to be the goal. You know, many people read the original Judgement as a sort of wake-up call, understanding of new movement on the account of a noisy. Some, compare it to the idea of counting up all that you have done up to this point, and being about to see the result (here it steps on toes of Justice). Gate does not step on toes, but the spiritualized person in the middle stares up, between two immortalized figures watching their moves, just like in the original. In a way, I've always struggled with Judgement, it's so abstract and steps on so many toes meanings wise. I suppose, simply said, there is simply no way back. Something happened, now we must step like a Fool. (Which reminds me of how Continental esotericists placed him between The Judgement and The World and this almost playfully feels like proper place for this deck's fool). Considering this deck does showcase the elemental assigned of both Fire and Spirit, purification through pain or trial comes to mind at times.
I've no commentary on the Sun other than it makes me happy. Just a really solid illustrations I wanted to show off, especially cause I don't like children or children-focused images, and a kid is always in most Sun cards
In short, I adore this deck. It's a massive surprise that its main aim wasn't to be a fortune telling tool, because I find it to be excellently designed - then again, the original Tarots were also games, albeit of gambling nature. What a strange cycle of history you've found ourselves in, old friend.
In a way, this is truly ironic. The majors in Sefirot and their insistence on Hebrew letters are directly ascendant from the thinking of the esoteric Golden Dawn, which Case built on in his own understanding of the cards. He was after all, part of this organization, and later when he left, established The Builders of the Adytum, another esoteric organization, which had its own tarot curriculum. In this way, even if the Majors don't hold all of his teaching - uhm, good because some stuff he says gives me headache - they are still directly inspired by legacy of esoteric overlay of the tarot cards. On the other way Jodorowsky's approach to Marseille tarot is psychological, and deeply inspired by noticing reoccuring or strange "erorrs" on the cards to derive meaning. He rejected the earlier frameworks (and Marseille tarot HAD esoteric frameworks, which inspired the Golden Dawn in the first place) to create his own system based on observation, but in the end he created something that feel as esoteric as those things he rejected. As such this deck is almost funny to me, on the account of making all these things come together and kiss. (I will state I dislike the Jodorowsky's book simply because he is enamoured with Freudian ideas and making Majors into heterosexual couples, even if it has good ideas.)↩
Making exact categorization is a Fool's Errand anyway usually with mixed decks, but it helps with tags on the blog, or my archive. Fool is usually associated with letter Shin in Continental traditions, so decks following Wirth, Papus or Lévi or some other continental thinker. We also have the "fix" that Golden Dawn decks did to "restore" the proper order that would fit their astrological correspondences (because otherwise Leo would, following the classic order, go to Justice and Libra to Strenght which obviously doesn't check out). A bit of too much of a sizeable tangent, but basically if you see Justice as 11 and Strength as 8, you are usually dealing with Waite derived decks. (Here it's more of Foster Case but he literally just... had his own clone of RWS in his organization so...) Thoth's out of picture completely here as an influence lmao, in that Hermit connects to Magus, and the Judgement becomes Aeon. Al also did some mix-up with the Hebrew letter assignments which are not seen here.↩