Fun with Tarot
When I was 12 or so, waaaay back in 1972, I went into a strange store with my cousin on one of our downtown excursions. In that store, I found a strangely compelling large cardboard shrink wrapped fanfold book with an attached deck of cards. It was called "French Fortune Telling Cards" and had a really silly looking picture of Napoleon on the front cover. At the time, I really didn't have much money, but decided that this strange thing had to come home with me. So I shelled out the, I think $2.95 or so to buy the contraption and immediately began playing with it, reading fortunes for anyone who would stand still long enough.
Over the years, I stopped playing with this deck and replaced it with other tarot decks that I thought were pretty or something I wanted to learn more about. I couldn't figure out where the original deck might have gone. It is either in piles at my grandmother's house, or somewhere in my mother's house. Not certain which. And in any case, it would not be in the greatest possible shape. I started wishing I had this deck, and decided to try looking for it.
As part of the therapy for my tarot addiction, I email Jeanette Roth periodically and ask her for deck after deck, figuring that someday she won't have what I want and I will be cured of my addiction :-). With my last order, I asked her if she had ever heard of this strange non tarot deck, thinking that it was such a strange thing that she couldn't possibly have. But guess what? SHE HAD IT! I BOUGHT IT! IT ARRIVED TODAY!
I will try to scan or at least photograph these at some point when I have two second when I'm not doing 2000 other things. I am just so thrilled to have it. Of course, I love the other decks I ordered too, but this one is going to be very special.
Comments
Hello! What a great Tarot story-- and Jeannette is so helpful with every request. I was wondering (panting, scratching) what was the name of the deck? the old fortune telling kit? was it the 1JJ deck/book set? My first experience was with a Giant Pamela Colman Smith back in '69, when, O'Lah ~ I was 17. Thanks! Peter
Posted by: Peter | November 20, 2003 12:44 PM
The name of it is "French Fortune Telling Cards" by Brooke Alderson. It is a 24 card deck. I promise I'll get to scanning some of them and photographing the package. It's SO cool to have found it.
It's also nice to find a fellow tarot person of "my generation" :-)
Posted by: Mikki Barry | November 20, 2003 12:48 PM
sweet cheese in the morning! If in fact it is the same deck I have used and then put away - I would love to find that same said accordian folded booklet...
I was a wee bit older in 1972 (er only 16 to your 12...) and I too would read to any and all who stood still long enough....trouble was that I got so 'good' at it all that in 1988 I read something in them that scared the hell out of me and lied to the guy who wanted the reading - see I couldn't believe what the cards were realy telling me (how could those comic looking beings relate death and the destruction I was seeing??) so I made up the rest of the reading only to find out that he went home and his father had suffered a massive heart attack and with that the crumbling of the business he had founded..,long story short is that I recently unearthed them again - and once I clean and bless them (I have come a long way in my training and such) I really would like to re-learn reading them again...but for the life of me I have no idea who made them or where to get the booklet...any ideas? Would greatly appreciate it (recent 'gifted' friend has told me to once again go back to them - there in lies a gift I have seriously overlooked these last 15 years...)
Thanks for any help...Corrine
Posted by: Corrine | December 1, 2003 11:12 PM
Wow! What an amazing story! I got mine from The Tarot Garden (www.tarotgarden.com) after sending a query. I might be able to scan in some of the pages at some point if that helps.
Posted by: Mikki | December 2, 2003 11:32 AM