The Fool's New Journey Tarot - Review

In an age when psychology has become more of a guiding and motivating factor in our lives than religion…

The Tarot system or format as we currently know it has been evolving over the last 500 years or so to reach the two Arcana, 22 Majors and 56 Minors that we generally expect to see when we crack open a new deck. However, a little glimpse back in time shows us that, in its earliest known conceptions, there were often much less than the 78 cards we use today (e.g. Mantegna), and, in a number of cases, many more (e.g. Visconti di Modrone, Minchiate.) It is, therefore, not surprising that there are modern interpretations of Tarot where the decks contain differing numbers of cards, and differing groupings and suits. One of these is The Fool’s New Journey Tarot, developed by John Matthews and illustrated by Charles Newington.

In his Introduction in the excellent LWB, Matthews describes how his intention to create a set of archetypal images, based on the standard Major Arcana, that spoke to modern experiences and norms eventually led to him creating 38 new cards, with the usual 22 Majors spread throughout the full deck of 60. These included additions such as The Maze, The Shadow, Hope, Truth, Chaos, Eternity, and so on.

 

Running through the cards, the initial perception is that the imagery is relatively simple – scenes depicted in water-coloured line drawings in a minimalist style. The artist’s intention was to reduce unnecessary clutter in the scenes, allowing the deeper meanings to come through despite an apparent lack of esoteric symbology. And maybe that was the focus of the deck – more a tool for self-discovery and meditation that for divinatory use. And, in that sense, this deck really works!

 

As a tool for clarifying current personal events and relationships, or for deep self-analysis, the visualisations work in drawing you in to deeper reflection or drawing you out to higher, clearer perceptions and personal understanding. I actually believe that, despite, or maybe in-spite, of their simplicity, these images are closer to true Jungian archetypes than those of the many decks that claim to be built upon Jung’s direct philosophies. Many of the new images speak directly to what I would consider to be depictions of truly modern archetypes that still relate back to emotions, perceptions and understandings that Jung would recognize were he living in today’s science-age entrapments.

As for production quality, it is excellent! The heavy-duty magnetically closed keepsake box comes with a wrapper with the deck title and logo on it. Inside is the larger-than-usual little white book of around 250 detailed pages, covering the premise of the deck and with a detailed description of all 60 cards, as well as a section for The Fool’s Story, a couple of narrative fables describing how The Fool progresses through the events and personalities encountered on his/her journey, and which serves the purpose of introducing the reader to the Journey concept for both the classic Tarot Major Arcana and then The Fool’s New Journey arcanum, which are both well worth the read. The book also has a section on working with the cards, covering spreads and interpretations and the like. The cards themselves are slightly wider and slightly shorter than the standard Tarot card size, and are printed on 350 GSM card. Their matte finish makes them easy to shuffle and, to keep them safe inside the box, they come in their own tuck box too!

All in all, this is a superb re-imagining of Tarot, uncovering a much wider scope for the Major Arcana and definitely adding a what should be a highly popular modern context to the traditional Tarot scope. I thoroughly recommend this deck to the young and young-at-heart looking for an introduction to self-introspection and growth.

Get your copy of The Fool's New Journey Tarot at Amazon.com