March 10 - 15, 2012 ~ Pythagorean Tarot

Pythagorean Tarot
John Opsopaus, Rho
Llewellyn, 2001

I bought this particular deck on a whim.  Yes, a math induced whim.  See, I was a student for 4 of the last 6  years and most of my classes were variations on a common theme: calculus.  A deck relating to to Pythagorean philosophy and numerology was too hard to resist!  It was a good decision, even though I rarely use the deck for readings.

First, the physical aspects of the deck - typical Llewellyn (printed by Lo Scarabeo) deck.  HUGE packaging, no box or bag for the deck, lightly laminated, and a decent size.  But warped.  Severely warped.  Doesn't bother me a whole lot as I don't use it often.  The accompanying text is a massive volume that is also available on the web.  In fact, the author's website is spectacular.  The written material is very good and well cited.  I review the website frequently as I am just too lazy to take notes or memorize.   The drawings by Rho appeal to me and the use of color is good.  

On to what I like about the deck.  First, I don't read with it.  I could, but I choose not to.  To me, this is like a deck of flash cards of Pythagorean numerology and Ancient Greek.   The pips are among the most expressive non-illustrated pips I have seen.  The consistent use of color and specific symbolism makes it easy to see the progression of the suit through the numbers.  At one point, I did a comparison of the suit of cups using both the Mythic Tarot and the Pythagorean Tarot.  Very interesting, and an "A-ha!" moment for me. The Majors are interesting and involve more Ancient Greek "stuff" than I am willing to study.  This is the deck that taught me the numerology that I use when I read tarot.

I doubt I will ever regularly read with this deck, but I also doubt it will ever leave my collection.


Rating: Keeper+