Two tarots

The Bone Tarot
by Ricardo Olvera

A newly friended artist and writer from Mexico City has created a series of assemblages exploring each archetype of the Major Arcana of the Tarot through found objects. The panel shown (1st image) is his interpretation of The Sun. Of the Bone Tarot, Ricardo Olvera writes:
"By using animal bones to represent the Tarot cards, the pieces reference both life and death. The tension between the two reinforces the duality of existence, and brings the viewer face to face with mortality and meaning. The Bone Tarot can be seen as a symbolic mandala. Each piece has its individual meaning, and together they complete a conceptual puzzle. The viewers are invited to draw their own interpretations from the visual language of the work."
The Bone Tarot will be shown at the University of Nevada in Reno, where Olvera currently resides, so if you live nearby, you have the opportunity to see his work and meet the artist:

Exhibition: June 29 - July 30, 2011, Sheppard Fine Arts Gallery, Main Floor, Church Fine Arts Building
Opening: Wednesday, July 13, Artist lecture 5:30-6:30 pm, followed by Reception 6:30-8:00 pm

After Olvera introduced himself to me, I put him in touch with the artist of another tarot...

The Wormweird Tarot
by George Higham

Longtime friend George Higham designed and published a tarot deck a few years ago. He describes it:
"The Wormweird Tarot is the doorway to a Victorian neverland of dark myths, strange magicks and weird technologies. Herein, you will bear witness to the vengeance of angels, the birth of monsters and the death of man. It is an art gallery, a spook-house, a waxworks, a cabinet of curiosities, yet above all, a Tarot deck. You certainly don't need to know how to read the Tarot to enjoy it, but it was created to conform to the use of divination if you so choose."
Higham's version of The Sun is shown (2nd image). His limited edition deck is out-of-print, but is sometimes available on Noble Knights or eBay.

The tarot dates back to the mid-15th c. If you would like to read more about its history, I found The Mystical Origins of the Tarot and The Tarot: History, Symbolism, and Divination on Google Books.

Kutna Hora Ossuary

I'm not certain who put me in touch with George Higham, but it has been many years since then and I now own 5 of his sculptures, including the box depicted below. The photo above shows George in his studio where he has produced a stop-motion film based on Edgar Allan Poe and a tarot deck (see his website for all the gory details). Speaking of which, during the day George x-rays the dead at the morgue. My first question to him was whether his skeletal sculptures were done from still lifes and he said he had seen enough bones and bodies to conjure them easily out of his head. I told him I was researching Skulls and Skeletons and asked if he was aware of the ossuary in Sedlec, Czech Republic, commonly referred to as Kutna Hora. Not only had he heard of it, he was heading there on vacation the following month! He photographed the church and its profusion of skeletal ornaments and kindly let me reproduce them in my book. After I dressed as Poe for Halloween (see slideshow below), I decided that the actual crow I had prepared by a local taxidermist was going to George for Christmas (it loomed in the museum and was not to be a part of the permanent collection). I hauled the bird and a tiny crystal tree ornament to a well-known pack-and-ship store. The crow (it is illegal to kill an actual raven) was destined for George's studio in New York and the ornament was intended for Aunt Judy in Florida. Guess who got the bird?