The New Tarot Deck
By Jack Hurley, Rae Hurley and John Horler
The New Tarot Deck by Jack Hurley, Rae Hurley and John Horler, with illustrations by Horler. It was published in 1974 by Taroco in Sausalito, California.
TAROT. One of a set of figured playing cards used in Italy as early as the 14th century, also, a game played with 78 cards of the set in which 22 are trumps, used for divination, fortune telling, and as a projective technique.
The cards show archetypal images, basic to Western thought and behavior. Each card presents an aspect of reality. You can arrange the cards to show interchangeable patterns of action. Altogether they make a book of life. Each card is neutral, presenting actuality without judgment. Rearranged with every shuffle, each layout/readout mirrors a life or game sequence ranging from silly to saga.
The cards may be read on many levels. Used as a gestalt or Rorschach, they are tools toward a greater understanding of self and society.
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0. The Fool
A hollow person, a scarecrow, the world has gone to the dogs. Male or female this is the self that begins the Hero's Journey.
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I. The Magician
Within the magic circle, the Magician (Merlin, Arthur) uses cosmic enlightenment and energy to seek the Grail and work his will with the elements of this world. The first step: center oneself.
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2. The Priestess
The Priestess is the young moon (Isis, Ishtar). Hers are all the arts of love. The way is along the path of study and learning in all the arts and sciences.
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3. The Empress
The Empress is Earth Mother, Faery Queen, full moon, the first myth. Hers is the way of women, of nature. To know the Empress is to know the flow, harmony and cycles of nature.
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4. The Emperor
The Emperor is the teacher, passing to the future the practical knowledge of the past, avoiding corruptions of power. Knowledge is power. May Nazruddin's Tales enlighten your way.
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5. The Hierophant
The Hierophant is religion and law. As law, he is the hooded faceless symbol of The System. In religion, this is the clear lens to focus the light of the cosmos.
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6. The Lovers
The Lovers show the highest union of the physical plane, entering the void through cosmic joy, the center of the lotus, the circle of fire. This is the way of ecstasy.
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7. The Chariot
The Chariot, Victory, the ego's highest reward and ultimate trap. For modern myths, read Marvel comics. To proceed return to love, integrate with ego, and balance.
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8. Justice
Justice is balance, the first law of the Universe. The figure is Ma'at, Egyptian personification of truth. The other scale is yours. Do as thou wilt.
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9. The Hermit
The Hermit or Sage lights the path to wisdom, to knowledge beyond the worldly or immediately practical. Follow the Star of Solomon.
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10. Wheel of Fortune
Wheel of Fortune, wheels within wheels turning in the middle of the air. Verily 'tis the prophet's vortex to the void! No joke. The winged figures are Lady Luck/Misfortune.
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11. Strength
Strength, an essential fusion of physical power, perception from the center and radiant mental energy. Serene in the midst of chaos, infinity is her womb.
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12. The Hanged Man
The Hanged Man is the process card for passage to the spiritual plane. Ego death for rebirth, release of all controls for a new integration of the mental an physical.
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13. Death
The Death card show physical or mental death or spiritual rebirth. The dark path leas to the river Styx, the way is through the center of the void, death's shield.
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14. Temperance
Temperance, the light angle, Apollo on a pedestal, a warning against wigging-out on esoteric trips, whether religious or psychedelic. Progress is through continuing to expand awareness.
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15. The Devil
The Devil, dark angle, indulgence on a pedestal, a reminder to own your body. To proceed, balance your relations to the cosmos by balancing both XIV and XV.
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16. The Tower
The Tower is destroyed in a flash by the opening of the eye of Horus, only truth endures. This is the spiritual transition point, destruction of rigid structures, flash point of new awareness.
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17. The Star
The Star, Lady Bountiful, pours from the bottomless cornucopias. With the tower destroyed, hopes and wishes fulfilled, the bird of the spirit flies.
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18. The Moon
The Waning Moon, elder priestess, not grasping or rejecting, sexual...and beyond; open path into the borderland, into the unconsciousness beyond fears. The Spirit joins head, heart and body
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19. The Sun
The Sun God on Earth, radiant energy, the Hero's triumphant return, purified of mind and spirit, full of body. The joyous open circle you too may join. Thou art God.
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20. Judgment, Rebirth
Judgment, rebirth of life and love. The Lady returned, nature's rhythm restored. Karma cleared. The Phoenix reborn in balance. All the tribes dance the Rites of Spring. Joy to the World!
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21. The World
The World of the New Age in the circle of Brotherhood beyond the beasts of Ezekial, beyond the battle of the sexes. Yin and Yang united in the ultimate perfection of the androgyne.
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0. The Fool
The Fool. We arrive at the nothing we set out from. All chackras clear and open. We are one with the Universe.
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Back Design
The black design is a mandala of the authors' initials: WJH, RH, JAH. It reads forward, backward, up or down; our basic formula for reading and studying the cards.