The History Channel TV program Decoding the Past produced a 45 minute episode on the “Secrets of the Playing Card” (2006) featuring several well-known tarot historians like David Parlett, Thierry DePaulis (A Wicked Pack of Cards) and Jean Huets (who was co-author with Stuart Kaplan on The Encyclopedia of Tarot). The mystical, magical and divinatory aspects of cards begins around 18:00, the tarot around 24:45, and fortune telling at 32:15. There are lots of images of rare cards. Unfortunately, they keep showing modern replacements for missing Visconti cards to illustrate 15th century concepts. The Egyptian, Masonic and Templar role is played up, though they eventually admit that “these theories are generally dismissed by historians.” The images for the fortune-telling section feature the New Orleans Voodoo Tarot (shown over and over again) reinforcing the idea of tarot as a dark, scary medium that belies the far more sensible verbal commentary. They subtly misrepresented modern tarot readers in this part. All-in-all, this video is well worth viewing.
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Mary K. Greer has made tarot her life work. Check here for reports of goings-on in the world of tarot and cartomancy, articles on the history and practice of tarot, and materials on other cartomancy decks. Sorry, I no longer write reviews. Contact me HERE.
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Mary K. Greer has made tarot her life work. Check here for reports of goings-on in the world of tarot and cartomancy, articles on the history and practice of tarot, and materials on other cartomancy decks. Sorry, I no longer write reviews. Contact me HERE.
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June 30, 2009 at 5:49 am
Andalusia
Thank you so much for sharing! 😀
Funny how I’ve been pondering on the Ace of Swords lately.
June 30, 2009 at 11:18 am
Gayla (aka Ambriel)
Overall, very informative, but I am disappointed they did not mentioned or give credit to Pamela Coleman Smith…I was on the edge of my seat waiting for them to mention Pixie and it was a major let down when they didn’t. Nor did they touch focus on major modern day scholars such as yourself Mary….heck, they didn’t even mention Stuart Kaplan. However, the video is in line with the History channels usual dramatic presentation of a subject, but I am glad to see they did it…anything which gives the general public a broader understanding of the Tarot is a good thing.
Thanks for posting it Mary, you’re blog is such a blessing.
July 1, 2009 at 5:12 am
Tero
Many thanks for sharing, Mary.
Have you seen this:
July 12, 2009 at 9:10 am
Jean Huets
Hi, Mary, I didn’t even know this was out there! Thanks for posting it.
Gayla, I’m a big fan of PCS and mentioned her in the interview. I also spoke more of the story-telling and symbolic side of the cards, which is my main interest in tarot. But of course, so much ended up cut!
Overall, though, I think the film did a good job on giving a look at playing cards and the tarot from various points of view.
July 14, 2009 at 11:49 am
mkg
Tero – Thanks for the fabulous film by Méliès. I looked him up on YouTube and he was a true film genius.
Jean – It was a thrill to see you in this documentary. Of course you have no control over what they are going to cut. Other than their ridiculous emphasis on the Voodoo Tarot I think they did a good job, too. Thanks for stopping by.
July 22, 2012 at 5:54 am
Caitlin Matthews
The Playing card history is the best part of this film. As for the ‘mysterious’ cards – WOO! History Channel’s films are frequently informed by a very conservative or fundamentalist mind-set, which is played up for effect to make the topic seem more controversial. The authors of Wicked Pack of Cards are themselves very anti-divination; you feel that they can barely bring themselves to mention it, it is so beneath their notice. They rely on the historical and cultural sides of things.