Tarot of the Delphi

Tarot Card Review of the Tarot of the Delphi by J.D. Hildegard Hinkel

Deck Name: Tarot of the Delphi

Artist: J.D. Hildegard Hinkel

Deck Structure: 78 -card deck, including 22 trump cards (Major Arcana), and 40 pip cards (Minor Arcana).   78-card deck. It includes 22 trump cards, 40 pip (numbered) cards, and 16 court cards. 

The four suits are Wands, Cups, Swords, and Coins.

I first reviewed this deck when it was a project on Kickstarter. The project has now been realized and the deck is available for purchase here.

 

This deck will make you feel like you are in an art gallery. Purchase 79 little frames, frame each card, toss them up on the wall. Done. Each image was chosen from a collection of fine art paintings and portraits dating from 1830 to about 1910. Categorically, these are Neoclassical from the Victorian era. As such, the themes in the paintings are Greco-Roman and show imagined and fantastical scenes of daily life from the ancient world. Each card is bordered in a soft beige frame and the card name on the bottom of the card. Colors soft and bold to draw attention to movement and stillness and this deck will absolutely

Each image was chosen from a collection of fine art paintings and portraits dating from 1830 to about 1910. Categorically, these are Neoclassical from the Victorian era. As such, the themes in the paintings are Greco-Roman and show imagined and fantastical scenes of daily life from the ancient world. Each card is bordered in a soft beige frame and the card name on the bottom of the card. Colors soft and bold to draw attention to movement and stillness and this deck will absolutely beloved by those drawn to museums and find themselves returning time and time again to revisit the Renaissance period section.

There are 79 cards (featuring a second version of the Empress) and the deck follows the Rider-Waite-Smith system in some ways but takes allowances in others.

 

Notable Changes – Tarot of the Delphi

Some cards have been renamed from the traditional Rider-Waite-Smith deck to correspond with the theme:

 

Additionally, some of the images do not correspond or invoke the same meaning as the Rider-Waite -Smith Deck. Because the project matches and attempts to build a collection and work it into a tarot deck, the images of the pip cards do not have the suit featured in the image.   There are no coins featured in the image featured before for the Eight of Coins. The only way of identifying the card is the bottom title and small corresponding symbol to indicate the suit.

 

 

 

Some of the images are pure magic and beautifully represent and reflect the traditional meanings for the cards. The Two of Cups is soft and sweet and is a beautiful representation of two individuals coming together harmoniously. The Ten of Swords doesn’t have our main figure maimed by ten swords, but the sense of ending and rebirth coming from that point of completion is invoked and held up nicely as the main figure is help and supported by angels.

 

 

Others however, seem disconnected and do not seem to connect with the traditional meaning of the card. There are few examples of this however, so the reader will have to make adjustment to how they understand the card and how it “fits” into the deck:

 

 

The Seven of Coins is connected to reward from investing, profiting from work you have already performed. While one could see a sense of pride in the face of the figure in the Tarot of the Delphi, it’s a little bit of a stretch to derive that from the imagery. The Four of Coins as well seems to suggest a different meaning from the tradition of comfort from stability and control over finances. So while some cards have been connected well with the traditional meanings, you’ll have fun connecting and determining your own interpretations as well.

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