March 16 - 23, 2012 ~ Parrott Tarot

Parrott Tarot
Margaret Parrot
ss adams, 1998

I won this deck on eBay - it had been on my 'watch list' for quite awhile.  I got it for quite cheap and it was nicely broken in.

The cards are short and squat and laminated lightly.  They have a nice feel to them and the colors are bright.  The artwork is nice and simple.  The expressions on the faces of the various characters are quite cute, even the grouchy decks have a bit of cute about them.  Of course, it could be that little parrot in the lower corner that is just overwhelming the rest of each card with its cuteness.  The deck box says it is inspired by the Rider-Waite Tarot, though it looks and feels very Thothy.  I would say it is a Thoth inspired deck, but let's split the difference and call it a "Mixed Tradition" deck.

The deck has an extra court card called Mentor.  These mentor cards are essentially Chiron (the Centaur, remember him?) giving voice to the elements.  On each card, Chiron is there handing a symbol of the element to the representative of that element.  For air, it is a harpy.  For water, a mermaid.  For earth, a bear with a human torso (like a bear centaur).  And for fire, there is a salamander (with a human head).  At first, those seemed a bit odd, but after reading more information on them and experiencing one or two in readings, they just seemed to fit.

As for the deck in general, it adheres to Thoth naming conventions and the cards are very Thoth in nature.  I love the deck and I look forward to using it more.  One of the best features is the parrot in the lower corner of each card.  For the majors, the parrot is perching on a bar of music.  For the other cards, he is acting out the essential meaning of the card.  It is a clever deck and I find a great deal of humour in its images.  It is almost like a serious deck that doesn't take itself too seriously.

Rating: Keeper