EmpyreanKnight Posted December 5, 2017 Posted December 5, 2017 Who else has the Tarot of Shadows by Vera Sklyarova? It is a Tarot deck of Russian provenance that is virtually unknown in the West but has a significant following in some Slavic countries. Just google "Таро Теней" and you'll see pages upon pages of forum threads dedicated to the deck and its cards. Thank God for Google Chrome and instant Google Translate, these pages have become somewhat comprehensible.
EmpyreanKnight Posted December 5, 2017 Author Posted December 5, 2017 I have always identified with the atu of The Devil. In fact, it's one of my favorite cards in the Tarot, second only to the Emperor. I'm very much interested in human weaknesses and frailties, and the themes that the Devil explores - temptations, obsessions, materialism, hedonism, and eventual redemption - these have always resonated with me. Now think of how it would be like if a celebrated creator would forge a deck mirroring the Devil in each of the 78 cards and you'll get the Tarot of Shadows. And what a deck it is. It plumbs concepts both sacred and diabolic, and with cards like Exorcism, Incarnate Evil, Black Mass, Necromancy, Two Black Candles, Mercury's Smile, Holy Water, etc., it does not fail to intrigue. The first time I saw it, as with anything that reeks of the profane and the forbidden, it sent my fervently Catholic heart aflutter. And when I read (and saved) the diverse translated discussions on the various cards of the deck, I can't help but pine for it all the more. All those stories and legends of demons and deadly sins and the blackest magic rituals and I'm hooked. It's a tour-de-force, it's my personal holy grail, and of all the decks I've read about and seen its otherworldly allure and ambition remains unparalleled. There really is nothing quite like it. I was sad because before it was only available in Russian. I took an introductory course on the Russian language back in college, but I have nearly forgotten it now. Earlier this year, I mentioned in my thread on Lucifer's Tarot that it became available fully translated in English in a luxurious silver-foiled edition. It was around $150 tho, and if I were to import it in my country it would have easily exceeded $200. I could have ponied up that amount if I felt that I absolutely had to, but something held me back, whispered to me that if it's really meant to be mine, it would find a way into my arms. The only other time I felt like this about a deck was with the Barbara Walker back when there was no word about a reprint and all the available decks were astronomically priced. I knew that it will find its way to me when the time is right, and I've even written so in AT. And now I'm proven right again. The Shadows is one deck that is truly, inexorably meant to be mine, and I shall exercise all the knowledge and foresight I shall gain from it to my fullest benefit. I have no choice but to reap all the gifts it has to offer. :) Just last week it became available in a classic edition that was only a little bit smaller than the special edition. It doesn't have the serious bling of the latter, yes, but at $42 I jumped at it like a trout at a mayfly. It also seemed like the whole text of the companion tome (which is also in English, of course) has been preserved so I'm very happy. My source has promised me that I shall have it before the year ends. I hope that I get it before Christmas so I can dedicate it along with Lucifer's Tarot. If anybody has this deck, I hope that you can share your experiences with it. I'm so excited! ;D
EmpyreanKnight Posted December 5, 2017 Author Posted December 5, 2017 Btw, here are some pics for those who are interested:
EmpyreanKnight Posted December 15, 2017 Author Posted December 15, 2017 Finally found a video that specifically shows the Classic version of the Shadows. If you're on mobile, hop to the 9-minute mark to skip the preliminaries: With this video, I think I just confirmed that Classic's companion book is just the same as the Special sans illustrations. Compare the 09:50 mark of the previous video to the 07:37 mark of the one here to see that Lilith or Arcanum 2 has the same text in both versions. So yay, I don't have to covet the Special until next year. :) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GMLN_0bR2Eo#t=07m37s
katrinka Posted December 15, 2017 Posted December 15, 2017 Whoa, that's kind of awesome. So instead of regular Minors, it has cards numbered up into the 60's with dark/demonic-type stuff? I may need this deck to read about world affairs. ;)
EmpyreanKnight Posted December 16, 2017 Author Posted December 16, 2017 Yup, the minors are numbered from 23 to 78, but the Astrological Correspondence cards do state that they have equivalent RWS minors, tho the counting is done backwards. So the next 14 cards after the majors (cards 23 to 36) are from the suit of wands, with 23 - False Prophets as the King of Wands, 24 - Daughters of Men as the Queen of Wands, and so on until you reach 36 - Magic Wand as the Ace of Wands. The next 14 cards after that (cards 37 to 50) are from the Cups suit but again counted in reverse so that 37 - Lord Pengerswick is the King of Cups, 38 - Lady Pengerswick is the Queen, and 50 - The Holy Grail is the Ace of Cups. It's all very neat, tho memorizing them can be quite difficult Btw not all of the cards express negative ideas, tho a good majority of them do. There are benign cards like Holy Water (41), the Holy Grail (50), sacred herbs like Angelica (43) and Rosemary (44), Protection Against Evil Spirits (30), etc.
Carojulie Posted January 10, 2018 Posted January 10, 2018 This deck has been in my radar for years ! But I never got to get it because there is always something higher on my wishlist (so many decks, so little money :-\)
gregory Posted January 10, 2018 Posted January 10, 2018 I have it; I love it - and all of a sudden I do NOT recall that book. Must go look.... Maybe I separated them....
EmpyreanKnight Posted January 11, 2018 Author Posted January 11, 2018 I guess we may have different editions, gregory. The Classic version of this deck is the only Tarot deck I know of that includes a hardcover companion book inside the deck's box, which is around the same size as any average Tarot box. Comparing it to the Original Rider-Waite Tarot which I think is just about standard size, the box has the same width, it's half an inch shorter but around 50% thicker. The book is the same size as the cards and yup, it's not an LWB since it has 300+ pages which are rather thin. But maybe you have a different book! That would be so interesting because English resources on the cards are rather limited, and I'd like to know if there are others.
EmpyreanKnight Posted January 11, 2018 Author Posted January 11, 2018 This deck has been in my radar for years ! But I never got to get it because there is always something higher on my wishlist (so many decks, so little money :-\) I remember that the Classic edition was sold out at one time, and I was very sad since I thought that it would be some time until they offer an affordable English edition again. I was so ecstatic when I learned that it's for sale once more, and I grabbed it like nobody's business. I hope the seller won't run out of copies anytime soon. :) AFAIK there's only one seller (and from Cyprus at that) who offers these English editions published by Deluxe. I've bought both the Shadows and the Lucifer from him through my source in the US, so I can say that he's legit. I think the Classic editions are fairly-priced, altho the Special ones made me raise an eyebrow.
gregory Posted January 11, 2018 Posted January 11, 2018 I guess we may have different editions, gregory. The Classic version of this deck is the only Tarot deck I know of that includes a hardcover companion book inside the deck's box, which is around the same size as any average Tarot box. Comparing it to the Original Rider-Waite Tarot which I think is just about standard size, the box has the same width, it's half an inch shorter but around 50% thicker. The book is the same size as the cards and yup, it's not an LWB since it has 300+ pages which are rather thin. But maybe you have a different book! That would be so interesting because English resources on the cards are rather limited, and I'd like to know if there are others. You are so right. I have a book. In Russian. And a lot smaller than yours. And my cards are all in Russian too. I now vaguely recall my SO - who can read Cyrillic and can therefore use our Russian dictionary ! - translating a few for me before he got bored. I must look into this....
EmpyreanKnight Posted August 10, 2018 Author Posted August 10, 2018 Hi pox[/member] ! From now on you only have to check out two places whenever you enter the site. The first is our tutorial thread. I've given this before, but just as a reference: https://www.thetarotforum.com/student-lounge/empyreanknight-and-pox/ The second is the Study Group folder that Saturn created for us. If you noticed, I've transferred most of our posts here to two separate threads there. It's also where I'll put up our individual card threads. You can check it out here: https://www.thetarotforum.com/tarot-of-shadows/ From now on, our interactions regarding the deck will occur in the tutorial thread and in the deck study group. Don't post in this thread anymore. Anyway, I hope you like our new home. :)
a_gnostic Posted August 30, 2018 Posted August 30, 2018 This link is either broken, or nobodies like me don't have access to it: https://www.thetarotforum.com/student-lounge/empyreanknight-and-pox/
Saturn Celeste Posted August 31, 2018 Posted August 31, 2018 This link is either broken, or nobodies like me don't have access to it: https://www.thetarotforum.com/student-lounge/empyreanknight-and-pox/ Hi a_gnostic! That link is to the Student Classroom. We have a mentor program here for members new to tarot. ;) It's closed to the main forum.
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