My quest so far to acquire a Tarot of the Orishas deck, has gone unfulfilled. You will remember I wrote about this quest earlier this year.
I am still quite fascinated by this deck, and hope some day to get one, but the chances of that are slim, as not even Amazon has it in stock, it’s current status is unavailable because it’s out of print. The publishers Llewellyn, don’t even have a link to it on their site.
Other sites that have it in stock, are asking a ridiculous amount of money for it, anywhere between USD$25 to as much as USD$40. That is way beyond what I am currently capable of. I guess this is a rare deck now, which is reflected by it’s availability and it’s prohibitive cost.
I did however, find something even a little more interesting.
Tarot Lukumi, is a deck published by an Italian card games manufacturer, DalNegro and from this review by Djenra, on Tarot Passages it is much closer to the spiritual tradition I am practising. I found the same review by Djenra over at Aecletic, but at the bottom of her review, there’s another review by Oshuniyi Odofemi, which is very, very informative.
From what I gather from the scarce writings about it online, and from my own reading of the book that goes with Tarot of the Orishas, this particular deck (Orishas) has some symbolism one wouldn’t traditionally find in Lukumi/Santeria/Ifa. This is possible because it is based on and inspired by the Candoumble tradition, as opposed to strict Santeria or even Ifa. (Tarot Passages review of Tarot of The Orishas.)
The Tarot Lukumi, is different. It seems to be much closer to the Afro-Cuban tradition, and thus a little closer to what I am used to.
Trick is, it’s not available widely, not in the US or the UK at all. One of the only places you can find it to buy online, are at Tarot Garden, where (like the Tarot of the Orishas) it is available for the prohibitive USD$35.
An Italian site, Il Trigono Libri has it for EURO16.96, but shipping to the UK is about EURO22, bringing the total up to about £28. That’s just plain ridiculous to me.
Another Italian online store, Alida Store, it’s a more reasonable EURO17.50. AND they ship to the UK. With Shipping and what not, it comes up to about £22.
So, while I still want to acquire the Tarot of the Orishas deck, I think the pull towards the Tarot Lukumi is quite strong, and it’s more easily accessible it seems.
For those who are interested, I really recommend reading the review by Djenra… it’s quite insightful, interesting and a fairly in depth look.
So, as soon as I can manage it, this is my next non-essential purchase. Although, with me, it’s likely to become essential soon enough.
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