The Charles Dickens Tarot by Chris Leech

Using art and symbolism from the Dickensian Victorian era, this rich and inspiring 78-card deck and guidebook draws on literary themes but remains rooted in traditional Tarot. The Major Arcana focuses on Dickens's own life and history, including real-life people who were worked into his fiction. These include his father, John, as Wilkins Micawber in the Emperor card and his mother, Elizabeth, as Mrs. Nicklesby in the Empress card. The four suits—Fire, Water, Air, and Earth—are populated by a plethora of his best-loved characters and novels. The horizontal orientation of the cards invokes an open book, a vista, or even a panorama of Dickens's scenes. The guidebook, written in Dickensian "shorthand," provides keyword analysis of each card, making the meaning clear in both your own life and in relationship with Dickens's characters.

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A quick history lesson before we get into the review. Tarot began as a card game, no different from poker or Go Fish, in Europe in the 15th century (ish, dates are hazy.) It didn't start being used for predicting the future until around the 18th century. The most popular version is the Rider Waite Smith; most decks use those ideas, interpreted to suit the theme of the deck. There are plenty of non RWS decks out there, but beginners are usually advised to start with RWS as they can then apply their skills across literally thousands of decks.

A tarot deck is divided in 22 Major Arcana cards and 56 Minor Arcana cards divided across four suits. Cards in the Minor Arcana can be pips...so the seven of wands would literally show seven wands...or pictorial...so the seven of wands would show, probably, someone defending themselves against seven wands. Beginners are advised to chose a pictorial deck, as they're easier to learn, but of course they don't have to.

I'm leaving out a lot of nuance, but this is enough for our purposes today.

I received this as an ebook, so there were no cards for me to examine. In addition, although the images for the Minor Arcana cards were in the book, the Majors didn't come through, so I can really only judge this on the information given, not on the quality of the cards.

The Minor Arcana are given their elemental names rather than the more familiar Wands, Cups, Pentacles and Swords. This gave me pause for a few seconds each time as I had to remember which suit was which element, but with enough use that disconnect would go away. Remembering the Father/King Mother/Queen Son/Knight Daughter/Page was much easier. The cards are edged in a different colour for each Minor suit, but nothing else differentiates them; I think that would take some time to get used to as well, but I imagine it could be done.

I tried to read the shorthand notes for the cards, but some error in the uploading or transforming process has run every two cards together, so it's difficult to know which words relate to which cards. I'd love to see this deck in person, as the unusual orientation is really interesting - this deck is printed horizontally, rather than vertically, which I've never seen before. I think it'd be really interesting to handle them and try them out in person. 

I discovered as I read through it that I don't know Dickens as well as I thought I did! This would be a great way for someone like me to brush up, and for someone who knows Dickens well I imagine there'd be an extra level in the readings. 

I'd like to say I recommend this unreservedly. Without seeing and handling the cards, reading the book the way it's meant to be read, I can't do that. But I do think it's worth taking a look at.