The Film Noir Tarot

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Based on the films of the classic Film Noir era, The Film Noir Tarot combines history, psychology, cinema, and esoteric wisdom in the way only Welkin Tarot can. As with all of Welkin's decks, each card works off of the traditional Rider-Waite-Smith Tarot card meaning and expands on it in a variety of creative and original ways. The minor suits align with the RWS and their core elements in the vernacular of Noir: Smoke (Wands/fire), Rain (Cups/water), Alibis (Swords/air), and Cache (Pentacles/earth). Each suit is framed by a representative colour: red for Smoke, blue for Rain, gunmetal grey for Alibis, gold for Cache.

The traditional Court cards are represented in the FNT by actors integral to Film Noir. These new designations have been included on the cards themselves and noted in the companion key, while the cards also display the continuing sequence of numbers that correspond to their implicit numerical positions. In place of the antiquated Page/Knight/Queen/King titles, the FNT courts have been assigned names more appropriate to Film Noir: Patsy/Wheelman/Dame/Kingpin, respectively. Tipping its hat to the importance of the Femme Fatale in Film Noir, the FNT places the Dames above the Kingpins in the female suits [Rain & Cache]. Each Wheelman card, echoing the way the erstwhile Knight cards are messengers in the Tarot, also represents key Film Noir Writers: Vera Caspary for Smoke, Cornell Woolrich for Rain, Raymond Chandler for Alibis, and James M. Cain for Cache.

The Major Arcana, while still concerned with individual myths and characters, also delves into more significant themes concerning the intersection of psychology, social history, and the art of Film Noir. As with the Courts, the cards of the Majors are shorn of text, displaying only their respective number, while the companion key retains the card's traditional title, specifies the card's theme, and indicates the film and characters featured. The cards of the Major Arcana extend beyond their border to the card's edge.

Along with the 78 cards of a standard Tarot deck, The Film Noir Tarot includes a number of bonus cards as well. The majors and each suit of the Minors feature one alternative card, allowing the reader to choose which they personally prefer. Additionally, there is one alternative Court card for the male suit of Smoke and one alternative Court card for the female suit of Cache. Along with these, the FNT includes three bonus cards to be used at a reader's discretion: Proto-Noir, Foreign Noir, and Neo-Noir.

The in-depth companion key is a 384-page full-colour trade-paper book. Each card entry includes a relevant quote from the film featured, a brief cast list, a detailed exegesis of the film in question, and a set of Upright and Reversed keywords for a quick reading. Each court card also includes specific biographical information about the actor featured, while each Wheelman card contains background on the corresponding writer featured. At the back of the book, a short summary of each film is provided for those who may not have seen the film and to refresh the memory of those who have.The cards themselves are large-format, 3.5" x 5.75", printed on 320 GSM card stock. The deck comes in a specially designed, individually sealed 2-piece rigid box.