Leonora’s Tarot: A Fulgur Press Feature
Hello friends and readers, and welcome back to our weekly blog. For those of you who engage the diverse forms of the Tarot, this week’s feature will be of particular interest and enjoyment. It explores and details a unique offering from Fulgur Press, and we are looking forward to detailing it.
We are speaking of Fulgur’s 2021 work entitled The Tarot of Leonora Carrington. The work details Leonora Carrington’s explorations into cartomancy, and explores the artistic and esoteric dimensions of the renowned surrealist’s work.
The Tarot of Leonora Carrington Second edition deck box
Carrington (1917-2011), a British-born artist & writer, maintains a fascination and renown among the esoteric milieu for her explorations into topics such as alchemy & tarot. As Fulgur notes, “she was championed early by André Breton and joined the exiled Surrealists in New York, before settling in Mexico in 1943.”
It is no surprise, then, that Carrington — inspired by preceding artists like Pamela Colman Smith — designed her own iteration of the tarot’s major arcana cards. According to Fulgur, Carrington also drew inspiration from decks like the Tarot de Marseilles.
The cards themselves serve as a form of “Surrealist object,” as Carrington’s son Gabriel Weisz Carrington has described them. Fulgur also describes how curator Tere Arcq and scholar Susan Aberth made the discovery of these cards, bringing them to light and — of late — great prominence. Included in the work is an essay by the duo excavating the significance and importance of this work.
Fulgur’s work is the only of its kind dealing with Carrington’s work with the tarot. As such, an incredible amount of detail and care has been put into Fulgur’s publication.
The material comes arrived in three unique editions:
Standard Edition
Ibis Edition
Star Edition
Of the three editions, the latter two include a full deck of Carrington’s tarot cards. A later second edition deck of cards has also been subsequently published
The Standard Edition published by Fulgur comes at 120 pages, and measures 30cm by 24cm. This edition contains 59 images in full color, as well as 1 image in black and white.
The Tarot of Leonora Carrington Standard Edition cover
Fulgur’s Ibis Edition is limited to 276 copies, and is donned in a copy signed by Susan Aberth and Tere Arcq. It is bound in white silk cloth, and cased in a custom box adorned with an inset silver-edged deck of Major Arcana Cards. Scholar and writer on the Tarot, Rachel Pollack has also offered an introductory booklet to this edition.
The Tarot of Leonora Carrington Ibis Edition cover
Finally, the Star Edition of Fulgur’s work, limited to 87 copies, is bound in crushed white full morocco with Top edge gilt. This edition comes signed by Leonora Carrington’s son Gabriel Weisz Carrington. It likewise features an Inset silver-edged deck of Major Arcana Cards, an introductory booklet by Rachel Pollack, and a custom silk-covered box
The Tarot of Leonora Carrington Star Edition cover
A Second Edition deck of Carrington’s Major Arcana has also been published by Fulgur. It contains 22 major arcana cards, a 48 page booklet with introductory essay by Susan Aberth And Tere Arcq, and a custom box.
The Tarot of Leonora Carrington Second edition deck
These editions are extremely special, each offering their own aesthetic and literary presentation of Carrington’s work. In particular, folks who are keen on 20th century tarot expressions will find this work eminently fascinating.
Carrington, a standalone figure in her own right, has beautifully situated herself in the tradition of the tarot, both aesthetically and magically — all with the great later assistance of Fulgur and their cooperating scholars and artists.
Further, this work highlights the way in which tarot continues to remain as a living tradition. It will surely lend motivation to budding artists to explore their own work with the decks. With this token, Fulgur has offered more than a literary and cartomantic material. Rather, they have offered profound grist for the artistic, scholarly, and magical mill.