Victoria Regina Tarot Companion

By Sarah Ovenall and Georg Patterson

Travel back in time and experience the industry and opulence of Queen Victoria's reign, a time when the sun never set on the British Empire. Featuring the exquisite steel and wood engravings of the... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1567185312
• ISBN13: 9781567185317
• Release Date: March 2002
• Publisher: Llewellyn Publications
• Length: 288 Pages
• Weight: 1.05 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.0" x 2.3" x 6.0"

Customer Reviews

A deck you keep coming back to - beautiful and thoughtful

The thing that everyone always tells you first about this deck is that it's black and white - which may sound less lavish than a full colour deck. Think again. In fact one of the many wonderful things about the Victoria Regina is the way in which the intricacy of the images feels both subdued and lush - if you thought you didn't like black and white decks try this one - it will change your mind. It manages to feel delicate and lavish at the same time. The images are fabulously well composed and have a lot of atmosphere about them.It's also one of those rare decks with a very intelligent sense of humour - it's one of the things I most enjoy about it. The Victoria Regina never talks down to you. Challenging to use at times - but shouldn't all good decks challenge the reader? It's also very warm, enlightening and has real depth. It's a beautifully careful, caring piece of work by someone with a great sense of artistry and the skill to realise it.The book is also GREAT. I use it now as a general tarot book because again, it's intelligent, not too obvious - it doesn't just churn out the formulaic meanings - and it's really well thought through. It can always offer something of value to a reading - and it's a fun way to pick up some history too!Very warmly recommended - all in all The Victoria Regina is one of my favourites and I think always will be.- and maybe I should also just add that as a deck designer myself this is a piece of work that I very much respect - it's done with real care, skill and knowledge.

A true original, and a new classic

This is my favourite modern deck. It's beautiful, striking and highly original, but instantly readable. Some decks need a big commitment to 'get used to' but if you're familiar with the Rider Waite deck, then this one won't be a big stretch for you to read with. Ovenall's exceptional ability as a collagist and her generosity in encouraging others to have-a-go at making their own deck is admirable too. This deck is a rare thing - a Collector's deck to treasure, but also one you can actually use as your primary reading deck (although I admit it's a bit hard to shuffle). Gorgeous!

beautiful, unusual and effective

I'm not usually a great devotee of black and white decks, finding the lack of colour dulls intuition and inspiration, but this deck is an exception. The cards truly are not only stunningly beautiful but very, very easy to read, as well as being one of the most wildly original sets it has ever been my privilege to work with. The cards consist of images collaged together from original Victorian illustrations, very cleverly reworked. Pens have replaced wands, Victorian kilner type jars are cups, guns are swords and watches are coins, giving a further flavour of the Victorian era. I find the cards extremely easy to work with- they seem to speak to the reader despite the unusualness of the images. Particularly powerful is the Eight of Wands, which seems to leap out of the edges of the card, giving an impression of unstoppable movement. Famous people of the time decorate the court cards - I love Oscar Wilde as the Prince of Wands, and Queen Victoria as the Queen in all four suits (how could anyone else compete with the ruler of the then known world?!). The accompanying book cleverly explains the way the cards have been designed to reflect the ethos of the time, when technology and industry were drastically changing the way people viewed the world and lived their lives. I particularly love the irony of using pocket watches to demonstrate the slow, steady quality of earth/pentacles. The deck is opulent and gorgeous, and beautifully presented with its black velvet storage pouch with tasselled blue drawstring cord. I love it!Elen Hawke author of In the Circle, The Sacred Round, Praise to the Moon

Charmed...

This wonderful new deck has it all...Beauty, quality and uniqueness that make it really stand out. This is a collage deck, created from Victorian-era clip art. Even if you are not a fan of collage, this deck will steal your heart. The artist has so seamlessly and skilfully merged these images, that it is difficult to identify as collage. The images are nostaligic and yet modern. It is based on the Rider-Waite system and very easy to read with. It comes with a wonderfully written (and interesting!) book, and a lovely and surprisingly high-quality velvet bag. I love it and can't recommend it enough!

A Modern Classic

I'd seen pictures of this deck on-line before I bought it. It intrigued me, since I love collage and I love tarot. The line engraving-based montages reminded me a bit of Max Ernst. I wasn't sure about the pens for wands, the clocks for disks, etc, though. I'd planned to buy this mostly out of curiosity as an addition to my collection. But when it arrived I was pleasantly surprised. The pens and clocks made perfect sense, and this was the first time I'd ever gotten a deck that looked better in my hands than on the web. (I've been so disappointed by so many decks before!) This is a wonderful, original contemporary deck. The aesthetic standard of so many decks is so low, it was a delight to get one in which the pictures on the cards were truly Art in their own right. But, that is not all! The whole package is beautiful. For once I got something that felt like better value than what I'd paid for. There is the nice velvet bag, and the book is substantial--well researched and informative. As well as providing little historical tidbits about Victorian society, it gives background for some of the sources of the images on some of the cards. It also has a very nice essay about collage and making your own collage deck in the back. It is obvious that the creator(s) has genuine love and passion for the medium as well as for tarot, and wants others to experience the same joy. I can't say enough good things about this one. It is intelligent and raises the level of tarot artwork to a new standard. It should become a modern classic.