Getting To Know Baroque Bohemian Cats' Tarot
The Baroque Bohemian Cats’ Tarot sounds like the epitome of twee. Cats in fancy ornate costumes? Cats don’t have thumbs or elbows – how are they holding things? How are they walking upright or sitting on chairs? How can that be a credible Tarot deck?
It can. Karen Mahony and Alex Ukolov from Baba Studio have managed to follow their first creation, the Tarot of Prague, with a work of more fun but equal quality. In these cards, cats of all breeds, colours, shapes and sizes are fully and gloriously attired, set in luxurious surroundings matched to the hue of their eyes and fur. Suspension of belief is necessary to use these cards, but thanks to the skill and attention to detail, both on the part of the costume designer and the artists who blended the images of cats, costumes and attractive landscapes together into a cohesive and opulent whole, this isn’t hard to achieve.
At first glance, the cards have a rather feminine feel of dressed cats, floral borders, rich decadence and florid excess - but this is in keeping with the theme; Baroque being very much a gilded and fantastic style, as it coincided with the 17th and some of the 18th centuries in Europe. As well having their eye colour matched to the costumes, cat expressions have been modelled after the card archetype. In majors, the calmness of the figures translates to a posed and richly-dressed formality, reminding me of earlier historical decks. The minors have more of an energy and wider range of cat facial expressions. Only a handful of cards -including the Aces, Judgement and the Tower - have pictures of ‘real’ cats.
And, lest anyone worry, we are told on the back of the box that these cats were dressed
entirely digitally, and were not harmed or affected in any way. (Which would be why the cats can look so calm and collected: if in actuality they were dressed, the only expression would be resigned boredom or an I’m-going-to-remember-this-on-a-dark-night-at-3am evil stare.)
Symbolically, the cards are based on the Rider-Waite and each element has been chosen for its suitability to the card archetype. A great deal of thought that has gone into the usability of the deck: for example, the majors of the deck are un-numbered and can be arranged in any sequence desired in order to resolve the Strength/Justice arrangement dilemma.
I had a hard time choosing my favourite cards from this deck. There is the Hierophant with his lynx like figure and steady gaze. The calm and even suave Hanged Man. The Wheel of Fortune, with its well dressed Russian Blue looking into a mirror and a sleepy, raggedly-dressed puss looking out. The composition, colouring and expression in the King of Wands.
The match of costume and hue in the Two of Swords and Justice. The Three of Wands, with its opera-singing cat in full voice on stage. I am also fond of the Magician, a commanding fellow in blue and gold, but he’s so similarly patterned to the background that he doesn’t stand out (though perhaps this is another element of the trickster). I did find this to be the case with a few cards, other cards, while lovely, they are so busy and full of detail that it’s hard to pick out the most important elements until the images are very familiar.
The Mustic Cat Tarot Circle | May 2017
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