About the Japaridze Deck
Japaridze Tarot is a reimagining of the Tarot universe through the visionary lens of Nino Japaridze, a leading contemporary Franco-Georgian artist. The overall structure of the deck is consistent with the majority of those that precede it. Nino has intended to position the imagery in a timeless setting unconfined by the domination of any single thematic emphasis.
Each one of her paintings casts a new light on the topics and ideas each Tarot card traditionally represents. While Japaridze Tarot does contain a few deviations from conventional Tarot structure, we expect that none should hinder its usage by experienced readers and those adherents familiar with other decks. The titles of the Major Arcana are largely consistent with classical Tarot with only a few exceptions, which emphasize aspects of particular interest to the artist.
The card commonly known as The Emperor is here presented as War, an intriguing commentary on the authoritarian and belligerent characteristics that controlling masculine energy may embody. In a similar vein, the card that has traditionally been designated as The Hanged Man is recast as The Drowned to emphasize its aquatic connotations with the unconscious. In the Minor Arcana, the traditional suits of Swords, Wands, Cups and Pentacles correspond to the four Elements—these being Air, Fire, Water and Earth. Nino has renamed these suits more overtly in accordance with their established elemental associations and thus we have the suits of Winds, Fire, Tides and Gardens.
Japaridze Tarot’s most noticeable departure from customary Tarot lies within the Court Cards of the Minor Arcana. While the time-honored Queen and King have been retained, in this deck they are preceded by the Jester and the Stranger, two universal archetypes who take the place of the more familiar Page and Knight. These cards retain many, though not all, of their conventional associations. We hope Japaridze Tarot is as well received by the Tarot community as its images have been embraced by the art world. Our goal has been to be mindful of Tarot tradition but not slavish or imitative to it while allowing Nino max-imum freedom in her artistic interpretation and vision of Tarot’s incredibly rich history.
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