The Tarot Garden Library
Featured Deck
Designer(s), Artist(s): Charles Pasino
Country of Publication: France
Number of Cards: 78
Publication Year: 1996
Publication Status:
Limited edition of 300 copies
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Tarot de Merlusine
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The Merlusine tarot is an odd but
interesting deck which draws its
inspiration from the Breton legend of
Merlusine. There are several versions of
the legend -- for example, in one variant,
Merlusine's mother cursed her such that
she changed into a (winged) serpent every
Saturday. But all tellings of the legend
involve the transformation of human into
some sort of scaled creature, such as a
snake or a fish.
As such, the major arcana cards and the
aces of this 78-card deck feature a
combination of human and beast elements --
mermaids, scaly-tailed beings, etc. The
court cards do not carry the "Merlusine"
theme, but instead feature highly stylized
versions of the standard figures (King,
Queen, Knight, Page). The "pip" card use
the standard playing card sybols (spade,
heart, club, diamond) instead of the usual
tarot suits of sword, cup, wand, and
coins.
Created by Charles Pasino (who also
painted the "Tarot Moretti" shown in
Kaplan's Encyclopedia of Tarot,
vol. III, p. 363) and published in 1996,
this very limited edition deck has already
become extremely difficult to find. Those
wishing more information are invited to
write to us at info@tarotgarden.com.
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