Interview: Sherryl Smith and Justin Michael
Here’s a Youtube video of Justin Michael and myself in conversation a few months ago. In the first 30 minutes, I talk about my 50+ years involvement with tarot and how our understanding of tarot history has evolved. This is interspersed with personal experiences that led to my somewhat irrational antipathy toward esoteric and kabbalistic tarot.
In the second half, I show off my deck collection, especially decks by artisans who have revived obscure historic decks, like Yves Reynaud, Marco Benedetti, Sullivan Hismans, Pablo Robledo, Giordano Berti, and Il Meneghello (Osvaldo Menegazzi). In some cases, these decks only existed as printed sheets or photos in magazines.
Be sure to check out the rest of Justin’s channel. He has interviews with tarot luminaries like Robert Place and Rachel Pollock as well as reviews of TdM and other historic decks.
Thank you, this is excellent! I always enjoy your talks and articles. I use your blog as dependable inspiring reference.
Thank you for your comments. I’m happy to hear my website is useful to you.
It definitely is! It enables my card buying addiction… jkd…
Btw I’m Dan Hersh from FB TdM group 🙂
Hi Dan, It’s really nice to connect with you here on my blog.
It was nice to see what you look like after reading your articles for so many years.
It interested me to learn that the deck you chose was a RWS derivative while the only books you could find were on TDM. For me it was the opposite. I bought my first deck in the mid 1970s the 1JJ Swiss because it was the only deck available in my area at the time. (Suburban Philly), but the only books I could find were RWS. Talk about disconnect! I am self taught as a result. I’m still constantly learning, reading, and observing. It’s truly a life-long passion.
Anyway, it was nice to see you speak. ~ Marilyn
Marilyn, your comment made me stop and think just how odd my introduction to tarot was. In the mid-70s, when the Waite Smith tsunami was just hitting the US, and decades before the TdM was widely known, the only book I had was by an old French occultist illustrated with the TdM. It’s as if I needed that frustrating experience to set me on my path 25 years later.