Morgan Greer Tarot

You may wonder why it took me so long to get around to reviewing a deck originally published in 1979 but here’s the thing, I didn’t own it until recently. The Morgan Greer Tarot is one of the latest additions to my collection. I figured any deck that has been popular enough to be constantly in print for more than 40 years was worthy of attention and I believe I’m right. I looked at the first three cards, The Fool, The Magician and The High Priestess and I was sold. Besides, since not everyone is drawn to the Rider Waite, an alternative deck suitable for people new to tarot is always worth showcasing.

The Morgan Greer Tarot Deck

As you can see from the images above, the Morgan Greer Tarot gives close up views of the people on the cards. The only other deck I have like this is the Tarot of the Hidden Realm. However, this deck is more obviously Rider Waite inspired. As the artist Bill Greer states, his colouring and symbolic choices were heavily influenced by the work of Paul Foster Case and Arthur Edward Waite and I believe this makes them both attractive and user friendly. This is obviously a great combination in any deck.

If you look at The Fool, you can’t clearly see that he might be about to step off a cliff. But you can sense he’s on an adventure, that his intentions are pure (the white), and that he’s stepping out after what he loves (the green). The blue on the mountains suggests that the world is calling to him. At least that’s how I see it at this very moment when viewed in isolation.

I also like the addition of the castle walls on The Magician. It makes me think of a solid base and thus the need to give structure to intentions. Intentions without actions are just dreams. And WOW I love the colouring of The High Priestess (pictured below). Furthermore, I find it interesting that the scales on Justice aren’t even too. This offers a new dimension to the possible interpretations. Add in that the Morgan Greer Tarot cards are borderless and I’m hooked.

There is some nudity in the cards but it isn’t as in your face as say The Lovers card in the Robin Wood Tarot – another beginner friendly Rider Waite alternative. Personally, I’d prefer the 3 of Swords without the blood. But, overall I like the depiction of the thoughts blocking the sun rather than actual clouds which would suggest managing the situation is entirely out the querent’s hands. And, to be honest I’m not a fan of the 10 of Swords. There’s no suggestion of better times ahead but I have to admit it’s a clear representation of the darkest elements of the card. When this card appears in a reading you’d really need to look to other cards to suggest a way forward.

Yet, the Queen of Swords seems more gentle to me in comparison to how she is represented in most other decks. I think it’s great that, even though she is strong and independent, she is depicted without the usual harshness. I don’t believe the two have to go together. Funny that the artist saw that in the 70s yet that side of the Queen of Swords is not presented in many decks created more recently. Hmmm, moving on, I like the stand out colouring on the 9 of Pentacles. All that purple suggests to me wealth, possible extravagance, creativity, wisdom, dignity, maybe mystery, and ultimately power and independence. This card demands attention when it appears in a reading.

At first I wasn’t sure on the Court cards in general, but they’ve grown on me as this entire deck continues to do the more I look at it. The cards are more matt than gloss and yet they’re quite slippery. Overall I like the card stock because they’re nice to shuffle straight out of the box. But it’s very thin and I can see it is already starting to warp. Measuring approximately 7 x 12cm makes them a good size to work with. The cards generally adhere to the standard nominations except Wands are Rods. Swords, Pentacles and Cups make up the other suits with King, Queen, Knight and Page making up the Court. Justice is XI and Strength is VIII.

My only slight gripe is with the labelling of the cards. I don’t mind that the positioning of the title moves around to aid readability, or that some have white lettering rather than black. However, since they chose to do that, I think some better choices could have been made. I feel they could have opted for the white lettering on many more cards. Also, if I had my way the Minor Arcana pips (2 through 10) wouldn’t just have Roman numerals at the top of the card. It’s not that the suits are hard to determine, it’s just a weird little thing I have. I only like the Majors to be represented by Roman Numerals. That could well just be me and it would never influence my choice of deck.

For some reason though it throws me off when I’m recording my personal readings in my Tarot journal. I have a system whereby I show the Minors by number and symbol and the Majors with Roman numerals and whilst I can easily decipher the Roman numerals I find I start writing what I see rather than how I would normally represent them. As I said, this is probably a very personal issue but hey it’s an issue all the same.

The Morgan Greer Tarot Book

Firstly my version of the deck comes with a pamphlet rather than a book and I have to say I’ve seen footnotes with a bigger font size. It offers a basic overview and is supplemented with two cards – one shows the creators and publishing details, the other provides additional information on the artist Bill Greer. This second card offers further clarification on his artistic choices as well as information about his background.

The Major Arcana section offers a few lines for each card for both upright and reversed meanings which I find a tad unusual since the card backs aren’t reversible but fair enough. The Minors are grouped by suit and are presented in the same way as the Majors. The pamphlet wraps up with “the Ancient Celtic Method of Divination” which is actually just an explanation of the Celtic Cross. The book doesn’t offer a lot, but it’s enough to get people new to Tarot started although I don’t know if I would start with the Celtic Cross as your first ever spread. But then again why not? I used the Celtic Cross for many years.

Spreads

As I just mentioned, there is only one spread in the booklet:

• The Ancient Celtic Method of Divination

I think the spread title is a bit pretentious but I don’t find the deck to be that way at all. For the most part I find it to be a hopeful deck that strips away the busyness so the messages can come through clearly. All in all this is a great deck that is suitable for anyone and I have to say it looks great when laid out in a spread.

Publishing Details

Deck Creators:

Lloyd Morgan and Bill Greer (artist)

Pictured Version:

Published by U.S. Games 2004