PoMo Tarot Review
by Yvonne Rathbone
©2000
Deck Reviews
Wheel
Of Change
PoMo
Tarot
Halloween Tarot
Nigel Jackson Tarot
PoMo Tarot
by Brian Williams
Before we describe this deck, it's probably good to start with a definition of "PoMo". It's short for Postmodern and this deck is well aware of the ramifications of this overused term, banner of the even-more-ironic art crowd, shelter for ever-more-disenfranchised, alienated, self-referential lit crit majors. The title is at once a joke and a blind. Even though this deck is absolutely hilarious with tongue-firmly-in-cheek humor and rampant self-deprecating aggrandizement, it is also a real, working tarot deck that is a valid evolution from historical decks. And any real tarot deck is going to take you places.
This is all possible because Brian Williams is amazing (and cute.) Well, I guess the deck might have still been possible if Brian weren't cute, but he is and on the off chance that he reads this, I wouldn't want to pass up the chance to make him blush - it's my mission. Brian knows his art. The guy is an expert on Renaissance Iconography, a highly skilled artist and has a versatile and well-honed wit. (He's also modest beyond words which makes my mission ridiculously easy - I don't raise the bar too high for myself.)
The deck itself follows the traditional
tarot structure. The Majors are all drawn to correspond to historical
imagery, but they are updated. The Fool is now The Idiot, wearing
a business suit, but otherwise still being harassed by his little
dog. The Empress is Mom, and the Emperor is now Dad, but we knew
that already, didn't we? There are other changes, but Brian was
very careful that all of these images descend from the historical.
Rather like Osho-Zen, PoMo illuminates by the changes it makes.
Bigger differences await in the Minors. All the names have been changed to protect nothing at all. Instead of Wands, Cups, Swords and Pentacles we have T.V.'s, Bottles, Guns, and (Dollar) Bills. One thing of note, in the Renaissance it was usual to correspond Air with Wands and Fire with Swords so Brian has this correspondence. (For all the differences in imagery, etc. this was the hardest thing for me to get over. I can see Justice in "Just Desserts" and the Chariot being shown as a Tank, but Swords as Fire was just plain weird! I got over it though, years of therapy, I'm okay now.)
Brian felt no need to maintain a similar imagery in the minors. He points out that the "traditional" pictures on the minors hail only from the beginning of the twentieth century, relatively new in Tarot. What Brian has done is base the minor arcana's imagery on works of famous art. The Three of Bills (Pentacles) shows Van Gogh's Potato Eaters. And the T.V. Woman (Queen of Wands) is Whistler's Mother.
The Courts have different names, but
are otherwise traditional. Instead of King, Queen, Knight, Page
we have Man, Woman, Boy, Girl. Not a big jump in the whole scheme
of things (especially compared to the whole Swords/Fire thing
- did I mention I'm over that?)
Where this deck really breaks away from the pack (yeah, ha ha, "deck" breaks away from the "pack", good one...) is in the quality of the LWB. Although these days, you can often find good books shrink-wrapped with your new deck, it wasn't so long ago that all we got was a flimsy, little booklet with dire predictions and canned fortune-cookie fortunes. (You will make a journey over water... to meet an older, dark haired man with a limp...) This was the case when PoMo came out. Perhaps if it had come out more recently, more people would have paid attention to the book and hailed it for the exquisite work of Art Appreciation that it is. It is jammed packed with all sorts of cool art facts that you, too, can use to amaze your friends at parties.
Unfortunately for most people, the Pomo deck is now out of print. Still, you can occasionally find one for sale on E-bay. Keep your eyes open for it. It's a treat.