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The Rohrig Tarot is a sexy, glossy Tarot deck that has been thoroughly modernised - the Chariot shows a Formula One motor racing car - and overall the artwork is beautifully done and finely detailed. There are two versions of the deck: the US edition and an earlier German edition with uncovered nudity.
See card images of the Rohrig Tarot
By
Carl W. Rohrig
Tarot Deck - 78 Cards - Published by US Games 1995
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Review by Kristin Lee-Gray
When I view a Tarot deck for purchase, it's usually
over the internet - but there's nothing like holding it
in your hands for the first time that rings the bell.
Cutting to the noodle, as a collector and user
of Tarot what happens for me is a sort of vibration
letting me know if we have a psychic connection or not.
I quickly read the introduction schmatter on the
back of the deck's shell and then forget it. Next,
letting my hands reach out and do the dive into the water
of the deck by retrieving the cards from their sleepy
little place; saying with gusto and warmth "hello
babies", I toss them out onto my desk. After gathering
the cards, I pay extra close attention to those that
have separated themselves or flipped upright and over
others. The awakening to the deck begins, as it did with
the Rohrig Tarot. Oh, if you are a traditionalist,
you can light a candle, any color will do. They don't
mind.
For four months I've used Carl's deck exclusively for
one telephone client. This client never viewed the
cards until the end of our path work months later. The
readings unfolded to be more like a Jungian journey. At
first I couldn't understand why we were taking a deep
subconscious trip to far away Jupiter, instead of nailing down
some much needed urgent information. I was stumped.
But I remembered how electric the cards had been to me
when we first met each other and I decided not to give
up on them. The artwork was vibrant, sophisticated
and tasteful, only a little bit air brushed-risqué,
but the picture stories really fit my Silicon Valley
entrepreneur-dot com'er!
Midway through the four months - I got
it! Finally. These cards never let me down, spoke to
me in many dream sequences, and always told the truth
with no BS. That's the essence of this deck, which
was published in 1995 by Bluestar Communications,
Belgium. The artist-Taroist Carl W. Rohrig, loves
women, loves the world, hates cheapness of any kind, sees
the many levels of humanity as well as the many paths
to God-Love. My client was thrilled with the work we
accomplished and at the end of the journey I had planned to
mail this deck to him so he could also hold and
experience the pictures, stories, and vibrations for himself.
But before I could find another deck, I pointed
him to a couple of internet sites with pictures. Gee
whiz, I don't know why I was surprised to learn how
stunned and shocked he was when he saw the pictures for
the first time. He expected a medieval dressed bunch
of Knights and Queens, however his first visual
introduction was the Chariot. A race car driver in some sort
of Indy 500 hotty car. I'm still laughing about
this…..once he got over the shock and I explained the cards to
him, he settled down and got back into it. Here's my
point it's the holding of the cards and these "hold"
wonderfully. Though they seem a little strange at first from
viewing on the internet they will fall in love with you
and you them, if it's right.
This artist - Tarotist
Carl W. Rohrig - is a magnificent gift to the Tarot
community and his inspiration comes from some extraordinary
place outside of the mundane parts of our world today.
This deck integrates and delightfully honors us with
its artful telling of today's human story. He loves
women, there's no doubt, so much so that he elected to
let the Kings take a vacation and replaced them with
non-competing court cards. His Queens are absolutely beautiful,
charming when they need to be, hard hitting when they
should be and very loving when necessary to be. Some of
the minor arcana come right out of the Silicon Valley
Dot Com bust and transcend to the new stock market
reality of today.
His costuming of these individuals
L'Archetype is creative genius. I could divide this deck into
three stacks; Spectacular Medieval influenced costuming
with modern-day make up or hairdo's, Dali-inspired
implications of doom and gloom, Business-suited lackey's
trapped in the corporate ick. No woman or man, straight
or gay would be offended by the limited amount of
nudity, which by the way demeans no one. This deck tells
the whole story, sticks to the fundamentals of the
Tarot greats and honors us all.
Tarot collector and reader with a confidential but
robust practice in Silicon Valley and the Mid-West. Over
twenty years in the high-tech field and lived 45 minutes
drive from Roswell, New Mexico in 1946-47-48.
Experience with many first hand phenoms and was "pushed" into
first Tarot experience in San Francisco, in the late
70s. Now a loyal devotee of the Tarot.
© Kristin Lee-Gray, 26 October 2003
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Review by Laura
The Rohrig Tarot was the fourth deck I ever got. I
started with the traditional Rider Waite, moved to the
disappointing Tarot of the Witches, and then to the very good
Tarot of the Old Path. I was happy with that one for a
while, because I liked the very Pagan imagery. When I saw
the Rohrig deck, though, I knew I had to have it. I
had been reading for four years that that point, and
was ready to try something new.
The surrealistic,
archetypical images on the collage style cards were striking
and impressive. The dreamlike quality of Rohrig's
artwork is beautiful, fanciful, and frightening by turns.
It works very well to stimulate the subconscious
mind, and thus bring to light hidden knowledge. For me,
it's the best deck I've ever used. The deck has been
wonderful in readings, lending itself perfectly to those
readers who intuit the cards' meanings in a reading rather
than consulting a knowledge base of the common written
explanations. (The booklet that comes with the deck is so spare
in its descriptions as to be practically useless.)
Instead, I use the cards almost like Rorschach inkblots,
allowing my subconscious mind to see what it will in each
card.
I recommend this deck for someone who already
knows the Tarot well and is ready to move beyond the
books and start exploring the cards on their own. The
deck lends itself well to several different spreads,
including one that I created myself, based loosely on the
Celtic Cross and the structure of the human body. There's
very little of the Judeo-Christian symbolism of
traditional decks, or the Pagan symbolism of many popular
modern decks. Instead, it is archetypical and modern. (It
may be difficult to use if you're accustomed to
traditional Tarot symbolism.) Although there is some of this
(often in the form of Rohrig's sketches of Rider-Waite
cards in the background), his interpretations of the
cards can be very unusual. An example: instead of a
somewhat pregnant-looking Empress looking all nurturing and
natural, Rohrig depicts a voluptuous woman with punk hair
in soft and feathery clothes. Still, I find that even
if the symbolism is very different from traditional,
the *feeling* is usually the same.
A word of warning:
my friends call this deck the "titty deck" because of
the large amount of nudity on the cards. It's
tastefully done, though, and very artistic. Not really a deck
for young people, though. Highly recommended by a
long-time card reader and witch.
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Review by Alyssa Sturgill
If you're looking for a deck which contains
striking imagery, you might consider the Rohrig Tarot. The
artwork, painted by Carl Rohrig, are not the sweet gentle
images that you'll find in the Robin Wood deck.
The photo-realistic art will evoke feelings in the intuitive reader,
and are gallery quality. The deck s larger than
average, at about 3.5 by 6.5 inches. The swoosh method of
shuffling is best with this deck. The Rohrig is a bit
pricey, at $25 for the deck alone.
Aiding the reader are
notebook type pages on the cards, giving guidance on the
card meanings. While present on mast cards, they
are
not as diatracting as keywords on other decks. The
majors contain hebrew letters, runes, and zodaical
symbols.
The book, at $15.95 contains full color, full
size illustrations, so you won't need to switch back to
the deck to examine the card. Author Francesca
Marzano-Fritz adequately describes the major arcana - but
barely. The minors have only one or two sentance
descriptions. This is a shame, given the quality of the
illustrations in this book and deck. A few simple spreads are
present, but are not well described. A more detailed book
is definitely needed for this deck.
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