The Tarot of the Saints is a full color 78 card Tarot deck with a different saint depicted on every trump and court card and scenes form the Bible and the lives of the saints illustrated on each pip. The deck and accompanying book is published by Llewellyn.

The Tarot of the Saints demonstrates that there is a saint to match each of the archetypal figures in the Tarot trumps. In fact on several occasions, the story of a saint seems so similar to the image on one of the trumps that it may have been the original inspiration for the card, such as the story of St. Barbara and the tower. Saints and their legends were certainly familiar to the Renaissance card makers, especially, because they were also the producers of the first holy cards which pictured saints and were popular mementos for pilgrims and for participants in religious events. Like the Tarot, the production of holy cards continues to thrive, and these cards inspired the creation of The Tarot of the Saints.

Although the trumps are meant to form a progression with each one triumphing over its predecessor, we find in The Tarot of the Saints that each saint represents a triumph in themselves. Each is an example of a saint's heroic victory, sometimes in a struggle with evil, but best, when the struggle was with the saint's own inner nature and the victory is the spiritual transformation of the self.

Sometimes the stories of saints seem naive or even perverse to our modern sensibility. Almost all of the early female saints seem to prefer torture or death to the joys of sexual relations, and some saints seem to go overboard in their asceticism. Some of the early theologians and philosophers of the Church were unduly suspect of sensual pleasure and embalanced toward a pessimistic view of the world. Many of the earliest saints are not historically real people and their stories seem to have been crafted by these Church fathers to express this moralistic message. However, these figures are often borrowed from pre-Christian myths - even Buddha was transformed into a Christian saint - and if we read between the lines, we can find true mystical insights, which explains why these legends were valued by common people for centuries.

Many saints are also powerful role models, real heroes who demonstrate love, generosity, and mystical insight. These are the saints who speak to us the strongest, who challenge us to live up to their standards, to be more loving, more giving, and more selfless.

A review from the October 2001 issue of the Library Journal

This odd, charming hybrid of a book synchronizes Christian hagiography, Gnostic mysticism, Jungian archetypes, and the Tarot deck. Place, author of Angels' Tarot and other works, draws correlations between the figures of the Major Arcana and the Christian saints that are not hard to see and appealing in their transparency: St. Nicholas as the Magician, St. Barbara as the Tower, St. Valentine for the Lovers, and so forth. While the application of saints to the predictive or prescriptive uses of Tarot may well shock conservative Christians, Place has an endearing way of weaving the saints' legends into the fabric of esoteric archetype.

Ordering The Tarot of the Saints

The Tarot of the Saints pack, containing the deck and a copy of the book signed by the author, can be purchased directly from Robert M. Place. The price is $35.00 plus $5.00 shipping for the first copy and $2.00 for each additional copy.

To order send a check, money order, or your Master Card or Visa number with expiration date to:

Robert M. Place
34 Moon Rd.
Saugerties, NY 12477

or call (845) 246-0180

or e mail robroseplac@aol.com



or to use Pay Pal, go to the bottom of the Order Page.