I recently got my copy of J.D. Hildegard Hinkel’s new deck, the Majestic Earth Tarot: Storm and Wonder. I’d been eagerly awaiting this deck since I backed the Kickstarter, and I’m already loving it. As in Hinkel’s out-of-print Tarot of Delphi (which, side note, I want so bad), the Majestic Earth Tarot uses pre-existing art pieces to illustrate the deck. Hinkel uses late 18th century to early 20th century landscape paintings here, to wonderful effect. Human figures, when they appear at all, are small parts of the larger world they inhabit. The deck showcases both a deep understanding of the tarot and a thorough knowledge of this art period. Hinkel has chosen art that is stunning both in itself and in its ability to evoke the meaning of the cards.
The deck comes in a sturdy and lovely box, just the right size for the cards. The cards are standard tarot size. For ease of use, I wouldn’t really want them any bigger, but the images are so gorgeous and detailed that part of me does want to see them on a larger scale. The cards are gilded, which adds a touch of elegance to the deck. The card stock is good quality and thick, to the point that I have to stick to an overhand shuffle. I could try to break the cards in more, but I’m afraid of damaging them.
The cards are borderless on the sides and top, and have a small border on the bottom that gives the card name, four keywords, and symbols for astrological and elemental associations. The keywords give insight into how the chosen image both works with and expands traditional RWS interpretations. I’m not personally big on astrology, so the astrological symbols don’t do anything for me, but I can see how they would be useful if that’s a part of how you work with the cards. I do like the elemental associations on the majors, though.
The deck comes with a small, concise guidebook. Each entry gives a short paragraph about the card, six keywords (the ones on the cards themselves plus two more), astrological and elemental associations, and information on the painting itself (title, artist, date, current location). The guidebook gives just enough information to reflect on the chosen image and the deck creator’s interpretation, while leaving plenty of space for personal reading. I wouldn’t recommend this as a first deck or guidebook, as I think the deck requires at least some familiarity with the RWS system. However, for an intermediate or advanced reader, the deck is a gem. The images are so rich and complex that they open up space for individual interpretation as expansive as the landscapes they depict.
As in many decks, there is some renaming of suits, courts, and individual cards. The suits here are Stone (Pentacles), Clouds (Swords), Trees (Wands), and Water (Cups). Renaming Wands as Trees in particular is an interesting choice, invoking the energy of growth. The court cards here are Steward (Page), Rider (Knight), Creature (Queen), and Spirit (King), and Hinkel’s reading of these archetypes works well for me. I particularly like the casting of Pages as Stewards, as I’ve long thought of the pages as the “Stewards” of the Aces, protecting and encouraging new growth in the suit. A few majors have been renamed as well. For example, The Devil becomes The Tempest, and The Empress becomes The Empress’s Domain. None of these renamings make or break the deck for me.
The deck also comes with five Elemental cards for Earth, Air, Fire, Water, and Unity. These cards have no borders at all, and are in landscape rather than portrait orientation, which may look a little odd when they come up in readings. Rather than embody the element of the suits in a particular moment or manifestation, these cards show the energy of the suit in its purest form. For instance, the Water Elemental card portrays a towering ocean wave. It’s not the suit at the Ace, the beginning swell of emotion, or the Ten, at its peak. It’s the raw energy of Water, concentrated FEELING with all the power of the ocean.
My deck comes with three extra special edition cards, alternatives to several of the majors that backers voted on. I haven’t decided quite what to do with them yet. I could just add them to the deck, but then that increases the chances that they will come up more frequently. And what if I pulled both versions in the same spread? Could lead to interesting results. Complicating that, I like two of the alternative cards more than the ones that made it into the main deck! The Hanged Man card, Upturned, shows a capsizing ship. Sudden, chaotic, and violent, this feels more like a Tower moment to me! Whereas the alternative Hanged Man, with traditional title, shows Prometheus chained to the cliff. This is so much more evocative of my understanding of the card. The image gives the impression of suspension through time, of surrender and patience. Similarly, Aurora, the deck version of The Star, is beautiful, but I love the alternative card. The star in the image is so far away, so small, and yet the figure points to it. The Aurora inspires awe, but the Star inspires that tiny spark of hope. I could simply swap them out, and I might do that at some point, but it also might be a good challenge to see what I can learn from the images that don’t seem as intuitive to me.
The Majestic Earth Tarot reads beautifully. So far, the deck has not pulled any punches. It’s giving me cards that go straight to the heart of what’s going on in my life. The deck’s subtitle “Storm and Wonder,” a nod to the German concept of Sturm und Drang, “Storm and Stress,” really comes out for me here. Recently I pulled The Tower, with images of falling buildings, lightning, ships swallowed up by the implacable sea, and one tiny lone figure in a small boat raising their arms to the heavens. The impression is one of inevitable disaster, of being that lone figure swept up by inescapable forces. And sometimes life feels like that, like we are at the mercy of forces we could never control or understand. But at the same time, the image inspires a feeling of awe. We are so small, and the world is so vast and mysterious, wonderful and terrible in all its glory.
After a couple of weeks of daily use, I’m already in love with this deck. The images are sublime, and give me so much to work with as I interpret them. I can tell the Majestic Earth Tarot is going to become a favorite.