Overview of the Brueghel tarot deck. Overview of the Brueghel tarot deck Who will suit these cards
Guido Zibordi Marchesi inspired the creation of the Bruegel Tarot deck by the Flemish artist Pieter Brueghel the Elder. The deck turned out to be lively and dynamic: the author managed to convey the atmosphere of a medieval Flemish village.
Arcana characters communicate or do something: argue, drink, play, work, relax, take care of children. Each card corresponds to a proverb, the interpretation of which can be found in the instructions. Proverbs are translated verbatim, so it is not always possible to immediately catch their connection with the illustration.
A few examples:
The magician is the personification of willpower, intellect.
Proverb: An artist who paints a flower cannot give it fragrance. (Nothing artificial will ever replace the real).
Ace of Wands - birth, victory.
Proverb: Mushrooms can grow at any moment. (Changes always happen at the right time.)
The illustrations are done in calm, warm, natural tones: the earth is creamy, a little green, the contrast is achieved due to the details of the rich red color.
Each suit is associated with a season:
- Swords - spring,
- Wands - summer,
- Bowls - winter,
- Pentacles - autumn.
On shirts - a symmetrical image of the Sun map in sepia.
"Brueghel's Tarot" is intended rather for tarot readers with experience - we would not recommend purchasing it as a first deck. However, without a doubt, this Tarot can be a wonderful addition to the collection, the second or even the main working deck.
Bruegel Tarot literally created for tarologists who:
Collect decks that have a pronounced artistic style;
Interested in the work of Pieter Brueghel;
Study the history of art of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance.
I wrote this post for one of the forums, but so that the information is not lost, I will transfer it here. Let it be, you never know who will come in handy. Moreover, I welcome any interest in this deck in the comments))Let's discuss the magnificent Breugel Tarot deck (Brueghel Tarot), created by Guido Zibordi Marchesi based on the paintings of the Flemish artist Pieter Brueghel the Elder. And let's agree: I will try to convey to you my thoughts about this deck, which, of course, by no means can be the ultimate truth, and you will support me here with communication, ok?
So, Brueghel's Tarot was released in 2003, that is, 10 years ago, however, for some reason, very few people work on it, and even more so there is no extensive information. However, I believe that for many it is an invaluable specimen to work with. Why for many, and not for all - I'll tell you a little further.
I will not dwell on how beautiful this deck is, I can only say that if you want to relax your soul and occupy your brain, then this perfect option. The manufacturer of the deck is Lo Scarabeo, the deck is 66x120 in size (too heavy for shuffling if the hands are small))) I would call it "creamy", since the shades for it were chosen just the colors of baked milk and pistachio. Very good soothing nervous system when you get to work, the shades do not interfere, do not distract from reflections.
Who should try this deck?
I would highly recommend it to those who have problems with abstract thinking, that is, who have problems with fantasy and who love to analyze the details step by step. Namely: for those whose main style of thinking is the search for cause-and-effect relationships, specifics, reality, facts and deepening into each separately selected element. Usually, Brueghel's Tarot works well with those people whose thinking is similar to that of an investigator)) (well, to make it more clear to you)
If everything is fine with your imagination, if you know how to think out what is not on the cards and go perfectly into your fabrications, then it will be very difficult for you to work with Brueghel, then I would advise you to take another deck of the same author, which is called Tarot Giotto, there is much less detail and there is no oversaturation that interferes with your imagination.
Brueghel's Tarot is a very ambiguous deck, I wrote for a reason that it was for specific thinking, because it only seems at first that I looked at the picture and that's it, here it is the answer lies on the surface. In fact, Brueghel's Tarot is each card - the most extensive crossword puzzle to be solved.
Brueghel does not decompose into large layouts; in this deck, even just ONE card can give a complete answer to the question. In this deck, again, the cards do not turn over, although in the booklet that comes with the deck there are two values, however, I would say that these values are not for the straight and inverted, but only an occasion for thinking about the meaning of the card. Here, each card carries a complete plot, saturation with a large number of people in the Minor Arcana, and if you turn it up and down, I'm afraid that we won't see you on this forum for a long time, because it won't take long to go crazy)))
Brueghel's tarot has a layered structure. What is it, I will explain to you now.
The Major Arcana are the main events, the Minor Arcana are the details of the event, in addition, both the Major and the Minor have their own division, it is no coincidence that there are brightly marked elements on the map, but there are those made in monochrome.
Map of the Hanged Man.
There is only one bright element on the map - this is the Hanged Man himself, all other characters are made by the artist in monochromatic, respectively, if you are considering some issue, then you can describe in detail, as in a Russian literature lesson at school, what happened, emphasizing that the leading role was given to this particular character. Everything else is secondary in this situation.
Card King of Wands.
The same layered, everything on the map is made in colors, and only the dog is in monochrome. This suggests that it is she who is of secondary importance in the situation or is hidden from attention, she is not given due attention.
Let's get back to layering. As I said, the Major Arcana is the event itself, and the Minor Arcana are the details of this event, therefore, I would recommend dividing the deck into two parts and working with the Major Arcana to answer the question (first, draw a card from the Major Arcana or several) , then, if you need details, lay out the card (or cards) of the Minor Arcana and link them together.
To work with Brueghel's Tarot, we will need not only our eyesight, but also a magnifying glass, because there are such subtleties that just cannot be considered.
Information through these cards can come in a variety of ways.
The first, and, as a rule, the main one, these are not at all the values \u200b\u200bthat you are used to using in Tarot, the fact is that this is a visual Tarot, so you have to get used to the fact that the Devil, for example, is not at all familiar to many Temptation and others interpretations. In Brueghel, like the Chukchi, I sing what I see.
Here, for example, is a vivid answer to the question: "What will happen tomorrow at work?"
And you are immediately given a picture where the main image is such chaos and a madhouse.
It will take time to get used to the fact that Brueghel often gives information as in a photograph, that is, he "photographs" events, unlike many other tarot decks.
One more example.
What happened? Young man two women were found near his house on the outskirts with a knife wound in the throat, the police really can not say anything for several years. You can see for yourself that it is simply impossible to show the situation more illustratively.
Another example. It is required to choose from 6 people one who is an alcoholic. Brueghel shows the map
I think it's also very illustrative. The man covers his mouth so as not to inadvertently betray himself among the rest of those present.
Second option- small things on the map. You will meet fleeing eyes, hearts, cut off legs, lying kidneys, torn teeth, and so on and so forth. Here, too, you need to be careful. For this little thing, I adore Brueghel, because information is given about health and about the situation. The inscriptions also need to be read, they are usually not in the eyebrow, but in the eye.
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Our today's review will be devoted to a very unusual and, at first glance, rustic deck - Brueghel's Tarot. These cards were created based on the works of the Dutch painter Pieter Brueghel the Elder, or rather, based on just one painting - "Flemish Proverbs". The deck shows us the life of the Flemish peasants, and the plots of their lives are inscribed in the meanings of the traditional Tarot archetypes. Did the author succeed in doing this? Let's take a closer look at the maps.
History of the deck
The author of Brueghel's Tarot - Guido Zibordi - is known to many by. He was inspired by one of the most famous works of the artist Pieter Brueghel the Elder and decided to draw maps in the style of this artwork. It is immediately worth noting that in this deck we see not a cut from fragments of the painter's own works, but paintings stylized as his work. He was inspired by Zebordie's Flemish Proverbs, written in 1559. The painting itself is a canvas illustrating more than one hundred popular proverbs of the Netherlands at that time. Brueghel's Tarot was released quite a long time ago - in 2003. Two publishing houses were engaged in duplication - the Italian Lo Scarabeo and the US Llewellyn. Today, this deck is almost impossible to find on sale, so for anyone interested in this work by Zebordi, I recommend digging around on foreign sites like ebay.
Key features of the deck
The most popular Russian-language Tarot cataloger - Rosamira - refers the deck to the Waite tradition. However, he does this with many other decks as well. In this case, I personally see Brueghel's Tarot as a rather unique system, because many plots, by all means, do not fit into Waite's, with all the desire. And the very idea of the deck is not another cloning of the classics in a new guise, but still an attempt to fit a completely different idea into the canon.
All Arcana, court characters and suits have traditional names, but at the same time, absolutely all cards correspond to one or another old saying, which reveals their main meaning. Strength goes at number 11, Justice - 8. The deck opens with the zero Arcana Fool. Each suit illustrates a certain season, and this correspondence in Brueghel's Tarot is not traditional: Wands are correlated with summer, Pentacles with autumn, Cups with winter, and Swords with spring.
Symbolism of the deck
As I said above, the whole symbolism of Brueghel's Tarot lies in vivid images illustrating old Flemish sayings. You will not find any additional symbolism on the cards, and the plots themselves are simple and uncomplicated at first glance. To some, the deck will even seem too simple. And for those who are used to working with complex systems, for example, these maps may seem flat and uninteresting in general. However, someone will like the peculiar sweetness and spontaneity of the drawings in the style of traditional works of the Dutch artist, on the contrary. As you know, the taste and color of all felt-tip pens are different.
Major Arcana
Well, it's time to take a walk through the Brueghel Tarot Gallery and take a closer look at several of the Major Arcana. So Shut. Here it is a traditional joker-traveler, dressed in a bright outfit and hung from head to toe with bells. At his feet sits a bulldog. If you look closely, you can even see a bite on the leg of our hero. We can say that the dog in this case, most likely, symbolizes the instinct of self-preservation, which periodically “wakes up” in our hero. The Fool has nothing with him but a wand that can be associated with a yet unrealized potential, which means that our traveler is completely free from any obligations, conventions, and is not attached to anything.
If you look closely at the Jester's face, it becomes noticeable that he is no longer young. So, Arkan says that you can start something from scratch at absolutely any age. The same interpretation can be attributed to two moons in the sky - waning and growing. From above, some kind of radiance pours on the hero from heaven. The meaning of this detail becomes clear when we read the proverb corresponding to the card. It sounds like this:
"Genius is a form of madness that is given by God."
Here is such an interesting Jester in Brueghel's Tarot!
Now let's look at the Empress. At first glance, it seems that there is nothing unusual in this card: just an ordinary woman sitting and spinning on the open veranda of her own house. But as soon as you switch your attention to the background, the plot obviously becomes more interesting: on the right we see two women chatting about something. Both of them are obviously pregnant, but the shape of the abdomen is different. Women also hold trays in their hands: one is round, the other is triangular. And near these ladies, the signs of Venus and Mars are inscribed on the earth - the male and female principles. Also, from the trays and bellies, you can guess that one woman is clearly expecting a son, and the second - a daughter.
The plot on the left shows us another woman who is working with inspiration to create a sculpture. Important details of the map: a barrel of vinegar standing near the Empress and a drop of honey on the railing, which attracted a large number of flies. The proverb for this card reads:
"A drop of honey can attract more men than a barrel of vinegar."
Look, it's not so simple it's Brueghel's Tarot! Even to me, at first it seemed very straightforward, and now, analyzing the Major Arcana in detail, I see much more new interesting details than at first glance.
Now let's move on to the Hermit. The main plot shows us an ordinary bearded old man in a dark blue hoodie, which symbolizes loneliness, the desire to escape from the world, immersion in one's own thoughts.
Additional semantic accents are shown by the following plots:
- A man who kills another. The latter stretches his hand towards the nearby hourglass, wanting to prolong its existence.
- A character who retired to relieve himself. It is noteworthy that in such a position, with his pants down, he also eats a pie
- In the distance, four people found a donkey without a master, and now they are wondering who will get it.
- And somewhere very far away, some type in a jester's cap is running away from an angry man with a staff
A proverb that describes a map:
"Time heals all wounds."
Well, to complete the picture, let's look at some problematic Major Arcana Tarot Brueghel, and move on to the Minor. Let it be the Tower. Surprisingly, this plot is much simpler, although it also has several semantic layers. So, in the center of the map there is destruction Tower of Babel(I hope no one needs to explain the meaning of this illustration?), and more everyday tragedies are played out in the foreground: a man without legs, a fallen man who dropped his hat with coins during the fall, and a woman who sorts things out with her own children in raised tones.
Motto proverb:
"A wise man learns from his mistakes."
In general, we can say that I am amazed at the depth of the Major Arcana. Of course, these illustrations are far from the multi-layered Tarot of Thoth, but they are much more multifaceted than everyone's favorite Waite.
Minor Arcana
Now let's look at a few Minor Arcana from the Brueghel Tarot. So, the Ace of Wands is very positive. We see how at the very beginning of the solar summer day The man was about to thresh the ears. Behind him stands a cozy house and lies a ripe pomegranate. For no apparent reason, two mushrooms grew next to the man. Motto-proverb of Arcana:
"Mushrooms can appear at any time."
From the card and breathes positive, self-confidence, victory.
The Two of Swords shows us two simple peasants who drank and drank together, and then obviously did not share something. Apparently, the scandal erupted because of the geese: someone got a big one, someone got a small one. But is it really a scandal, because only one character gets angry and shows his emotions, and the second one quite indifferently watches his rage and somehow wearily holds a knife in his hands.
I really liked the motto of this card:
"The real nature of a person can be known when he is angry, when he spends money and when he is drunk."
Interestingly shown in Brueghel's Tarot is the Ten of Cups. Look at this motley company gathered in the house! Who is not here: a nursing mother, and drinking companions, and some strange type in red with a blade in his hands, and a few more characters. But the head of all this disgrace is clearly the man in the crown. And the proverb describing the map reads:
"Father must make the table round"
those. reconcile all the contradictions of the household and love your children equally, despite the fact that someone may seem strange.
Of Pentacles, I propose to dwell on the Four - it seems to show the classical meaning, but at the same time with interesting nuances. In the foreground, we see a rather greedy peasant: he has a coin in his hands, they carry two more to him, and everything is not enough for him - he is trying to reach out even to the little gold hanging in the air. The broken hammer and anvil lying at the feet of this greedy man indicate that he strives to have values just like that, and does not let his capital into work - so he has it as a dead weight.
The interpretation of the Arcana is complemented by a background plot, where a drowning man is struggling to kiss a mug - a clear example for our native proverb “greed destroys a person”! There is another character - a strange-looking creature in some kind of ridiculous clothes. Personally, I never figured out its meaning, but oh well! A proverb attributed to the card:
“The sage is as constant as the sun. A fool is as changeable as the moon."
By the way, the moon and the sun are also depicted on the Arcana, if anyone has not noticed.
court cards
The figures of the Court in Brueghel's Tarot are also interesting. Each illustration, upon closer examination, contains a great deal of detail, and all of them reflect one or another aspect of the meaning of the card. But let's try to solve their riddles on your own, otherwise I risk not fitting into the agreed scope of the review. I will say briefly: in each card, two sides of one personality are revealed at once: both light and shadow, which personally pleased me very much.
I will show you an example on one Arcana. Let it be the Queen of Cups. Against the backdrop of a snowy landscape, we see a woman who is not standing on the snow, but on a dragon. The dragon obviously became ill - just look how he, the poor fellow, was flattened! But, nevertheless, he is still alive. On the head of the lady is a cape, over it is a golden crown. In one hand she holds a golden cauldron pierced by an arrow, a purse with coins falls out of her other hand, and the coins themselves are about to be in the snow - and you won’t collect them later! On the side of the heroine is another detail - a plate with melting butter.
So, if we go through the symbolism, we will see the following:
- A cauldron with an arrow is a feminine principle (the shape of the cauldron resembles a lunar hemisphere) plus energy (an arrow), and our moon is always two-faced
- Falling wallet - on the one hand, generosity, on the other - extravagance
- The dragon is demonic forces that are dormant for the time being (the woman stepped on the throat of her vices), but at any moment they can manifest themselves. Who knows, maybe the dragon will lie down, lie down, gain strength, and break out of control
- A plate of butter - a reference to the card's proverb "She's soft as butter" . But oil, you know, in the cold can freeze into stone
These are the difficult images in Brueghel's Tarot! But to be honest, I really liked digging into them.
Features of the interpretation of cards
The meanings of the Brueghel Tarot cards, as you can see, always include two sides at once - the usual and the shadow - so I simply don’t see the point of turning the Arcana over. Here and so everything is clear. Another issue is that in order to fully analyze each card, you will have to literally look at it under a magnifying glass, but it's worth it. All these small details of the background provide excellent clues and significantly expand the semantic field of the Arcana.
What issues is the deck suitable for?
The deck is universal, so you can view any situation on it. It even seems to me that the cards will not only accurately answer the questions from the series “Does Vasya love Masha?”, But they will also tell you why and for what. In a word, Brueghel's Tarot seems to me to be quite a working tool.
Who is the card for?
Personally, I recommend buying the Brueghel Tarot first of all to those who know the classics well, but are tired of the monotonous clones on the Waite theme, and want to work with something new, unusual, with a twist. Definitely, Zebordi's creation will be of interest to devoted fans of the work of Pieter Brueghel the Elder. Also, the deck is just a “must-have” for collectors.
Alas, I did not find any mention of books on these cards on the Russian-language Internet, but I can say for sure that the study of the Brueghel Tarot deck was carried out on several popular tarological forums, and there you can really get a lot of necessary, interesting, important information. Who seeks will always find. On that note, I say goodbye to you. Have a nice day and good deals!