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Twenty-Two Impressions: Notes from the Major Arcana
Paperback

Twenty-Two Impressions: Notes from the Major Arcana

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A poetic new essay collection in which the symbols of the tarot brush up against life in a changing world.

The Tarot de Marseille is a 16th-century set of playing cards, the deck on which the occult use of tarot was originally based. When Jessica Friedmann bought her first pack, the unfamiliar images sparked a deep immersion in the art, symbols, myths, and misrepresentations of Renaissance-era tarot.

Over the years that followed, and as tarot became a part of her daily rhythm, Friedmann's life was touched by floods and by drought, by devastating fires and a pandemic, creating an environment in which the only constant was change.

Twenty-Two Impressions: Notes from the Major Arcana uses the Tarot de Marseille as a touchstone, blending historical research, art history, and critical insights with personal reflections. In these essays, Friedmann demonstrates how the cards of the Major Arcana can be used as a lens through which to examine the unexpectedness - and subtle beauty - of 21st-century life.

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MORE INFO
Format
Paperback
Publisher
Scribe Publications
Country
Australia
Date
1 October 2024
Pages
240
ISBN
9781922310972

A poetic new essay collection in which the symbols of the tarot brush up against life in a changing world.

The Tarot de Marseille is a 16th-century set of playing cards, the deck on which the occult use of tarot was originally based. When Jessica Friedmann bought her first pack, the unfamiliar images sparked a deep immersion in the art, symbols, myths, and misrepresentations of Renaissance-era tarot.

Over the years that followed, and as tarot became a part of her daily rhythm, Friedmann's life was touched by floods and by drought, by devastating fires and a pandemic, creating an environment in which the only constant was change.

Twenty-Two Impressions: Notes from the Major Arcana uses the Tarot de Marseille as a touchstone, blending historical research, art history, and critical insights with personal reflections. In these essays, Friedmann demonstrates how the cards of the Major Arcana can be used as a lens through which to examine the unexpectedness - and subtle beauty - of 21st-century life.

Read More
Format
Paperback
Publisher
Scribe Publications
Country
Australia
Date
1 October 2024
Pages
240
ISBN
9781922310972
 
Book Review

Twenty-Two Impressions: Notes from the Major Arcana
by Jessica Friedmann

by Holly Mortlock, Sep 2024

In Twenty-Two Impressions: Notes from the Major Arcana, Jessica Friedmann takes readers on an enlightening exploration of the Tarot, reflecting many of our own serendipitous encounters with these intriguing cards. Like Friedmann, I once believed the Tarot wasn’t for me, only to discover its profound ability to unlock personal insights and offer a deeply calming ritual that has become an essential weekly practice.

Friedmann starts by unravelling the Tarot’s rich and complex history, starting with its origins as a numbered card game in Persia. She vividly recounts how early ‘Proto-Tarot’ decks, used for games of Trionfi, sparked such fascination that they inspired sonnets (and gambling bans). Only a century later, these decks became ammunition for witchcraft accusations. Her narrative highlights the Tarot’s cultural evolution, from its use as an alternative language during the Enlightenment – serving as a tool for critique and satire – to its Victorian reinvention by the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, which gave rise to the iconic Rider-Waite deck and reshaped the Tarot’s meanings.

Something ambiguous in the Tarot’s cultural saturation during the ’90s led me to believe that its interpretation was purely a matter of personal semiotics. However, Friedmann’s Twenty-Two Impressions dispels this notion, showing that while personal understanding is important, the Tarot’s symbols have rich, ancient and enigmatic histories far beyond our individual readings. Friedmann encourages us to appreciate and explore this deep historical context before we reinvent it too eagerly.

I enjoyed reading about this history immensely but found her reflections on the Major Arcana most rewarding. Blending historical insights with her own warm, vulnerable perspectives, Friedmann’s book will influence how each of us – novice or expert – reads and interprets the Tarot. Personally, my readings have never felt more profoundly positive, and Friedmann’s work has deepened my exploration of the enduring power of this complex set of cards.

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