Hezicos Tarot
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[edit] Description
Hezicos Tarot was designed, created and self-published by the British artist Mary Griffin. It took 3 years from inception to publication and became available in late January of 2010. The deck was inspired by the popular Waite Smith deck of 1910 yet the vibrantly colored illustrations of animals, pixies, fairies, sprites and other woodland creatures create their own atmosphere and are a feast of fantasy. This whole production was obviously a labor of love for the artist and made with great care. It is a beautiful production from the cute box which can be used to store the deck, the charming little book, as well as the lovely cards which are a good size and thickness for shuffling and should last a long life of daily readings and meditational spreads.
The deck and card details: The card size is approximately 4.5" High by 3" Wide (11.68 x 7.62 cm). There are no borders on the imagery, which flows to the edges of the cards. The backs of the cards are an earth-tone design incorporating all 4 suit symbols and are reversible. The corners of the cards are rounded. The cards are printed on semi-gloss cardstock and should hold up well to years of use. The deck has a title card and did not come signed. This is not a limited edition deck.
The deck is consistently alluring throughout and as much attention was given to designing the Minor Arcana and Court cards as was to the Majors. The numbers on the Major Arcana cards are not Roman numerals but the titles on the cards are the traditional Waite Smith associations. Strength is 8 and Justice is card 11. The Major Arcana are gorgeous water color paintings. The Pip cards have the number and title written as well as the number of corresponding symbols depicted for each suit. The Wands are called Rods and the elfin folk that populate this suit have the appropriate number of Rods put to work within the scenes of the cards. The Cup cards are mostly surrounded by beach and aquatic scenery and the artist found clever ways to incorporate Cups into the imagery. Many of the Sword cards have a slightly darker air to them; in keeping with the traditional meanings of the cards, and as is often the case with this deck, a familiar feel to anyone used to working with the Waite Smith deck. The Pentacle/Coin suit has fairy folk with little Coins which have an h embossed on them (for Hezicos Tarot). The four Aces stand out from the rest of the Pip cards as they are more simple yet lovely paintings of the suit symbol without the background scenery found in the rest of the deck. The Court cards are especially striking as they are headshot portraits of the King, Queen, Knight and Page; each one carrying the energy of the suit. They all wear symbols of their suit in the form of earrings, headdresses, and/or necklaces.
The little book that comes enclosed with the deck is written in a straight forward manner that should be easy for readers to follow at any level. The book has the card images in color and 2 or 3 cards are shared per page. The Majors and Court cards offer descriptions of the cards along with the upright and reversed meanings, while the Pip cards share only the interpretations in both positions. The Court cards each give a description of the type of personality associated with that card, while the card meaning portion explains how this energy may be apparent in the querrent's situation within the reading.
The Box: The 2-piece box is made of sturdy, thick cardstock and makes for a comfortable, snug home for the deck. It appears that a couple of those mischievous little creatures are trying to escape the packaging, out from the top of the box (clever box design).
[edit] Creator
Mary Griffin is an illustrator who specializes in painting animals and the wee fairy folk. She is also a psychic clairvoyant specializing in Tarot.
[edit] Date of Publication
January 2010
[edit] Deck Theme
78 - Card painted deck and book set with Waite Smith inspired imagery and a fairy, sprite, woodland creature theme
[edit] Deck creation and/or publication process
- Mary Griffin wrote the following about her deck on Tarot Collector's Forum:
Each image starts its life as an A4 sketch, which I change quite a bit until I am happy with it. The image then gets transferred onto tracing paper which again I check to see if all is ok, if so, it then gets transferred using wax copy paper onto the watercolour paper. By the time the image is actually on the final watercolour paper, I have drawn it three times!
Then comes the good bit...the painting which I absolutely love. All my work is done using Artists quality watercolours. After that I highlight areas of the illustration with a very fine pen using black ink. I have given details of the products I use and a more full explanation of the procedure in the little book which goes with my deck.''
[edit] Publisher
- Self-published by the artist, Mary Griffin in 2010
[edit] Publisher's websites
- The Hezicos Tarot deck is available for viewing and ordering on the artist's site [1]
[edit] Reviews
- A review of Hezicos Tarot by Arnell Ando: [2]
- A review by K. Frank Jensen: [3]
- A review by Bonnie Cehovet on the Aeclectic Forum: [4]
- A review by Janet Boyer: [5]
[edit] Online Deck Images - links
- The entire deck can be viewed on the artist's website: [6]]
