- Eight Coins Tattoo Tarot – Borderless Miniature Edition
- Creator: Eight Elian-James Showell
- Published by US Games Systems
- Internet price for Deck and Guidebook Box Set: UK £14.81/ US $ 13.95
- UK Released 9 Jan, 2025
- US Released November 29, 2024
- ISBN-10 1646712153 ISBN-13 978-1646712151
- Reviewed by Jason C Dean
Eight Coins Tattoo Tarot Borderless Miniature Edition by Eight Elian-James Showell, is a stunning mini-deck, that comes in a beautifully presented flip box. The narrative on the side of the box explains that ‘the cards are mini borderless cards featuring vivid, hand-drawn, and painted art. They are created in the watercolour spitshade style, and the art form pays homage to tattoos and tarot traditions’.
They are certainly bright and vivid colours, and super attractive to look at. I have two ‘howevers’ though. When I showed the deck to a female Tarot friend whose ‘derma’ is very well illustrated, she commented that as Tattoo art it is ‘atypical’ to what she has and has seen of others who share her lifestyle. Nonetheless, to my eyes, not being a Tattoo ‘aficionado’, I find the art fascinating! The other thing I noticed is that the homage to Tarot traditions is distant. A good instance is The Fool, who wears a blindfold and smells a flower she is holding, but the animal familia companion is a snake slithering up the stem of the flower and appears to be ready to bite her on the face. At once, it is a beautiful, sweet, ignorantly trusting depiction of a young woman, who is oblivious to the frightening threat of imminent violent danger. Perhaps the same theme as the traditional Fool, but with a much more amplified risk, in my opinion.
The Major Arcana cards all have traditional naming conventions and number sequence. But like the Fool they are a variation of a theme that no doubt is influenced by Elian-James Showell’s artistic environment and life experiences. These observations make this deck all the more fascinating and attractive. There is nothing contrived in the art in this deck! The High Priestess is reminiscent of Bast from the Egyptian pantheon. The Tower is familiar and on fire, with clouds of smoke billowing out, but missing are the falling people. Presumably, they only witness the calamity and are able to rebuild upon the firm base. The Hanged Man is an interesting take with a female trapeze/high wire artist of a sort seemingly tied and bound suspended above the ground, but not uncomfortably so as she is smiling. Perhaps she is happy being suspended up there for the time being. Death is somewhat like a lover’s embrace with a skeleton figure gently touching a woman’s face as she cries, her butterfly hair clip perhaps suggesting a rebirth after an ending. The towers from the Moon feature prominently in the background with a bright rising sun. After this Death there is promise of a new day. The Devil does not seem ambivalent, looking fierce and threatening, somewhat reminiscent of Asian dragons. The naked people in his charge are definitely tied and bound tightly. They sport little devil horns and appear not to be in distress, somewhat like willing acolytes learning the lessons of bondage.
The Court Cards are not necessarily assigned traditional gender or human form but nonetheless bear the traditional names. The Knight of Wands shows a strong young woman holding her staff firmly looking out to her mission in life with visionary focus. Whereas the Page of Wands is a wily Fox with a cunning and mischievous look about them. The Queen of Cups is not on her throne at the seashore, looking pensive. Instead, she is standing tall and confident, looking straight at you, and knows the target of her affection, as two naked nymphs stand waiting, looking on in awe and anticipation at their Queen. The King of Pentacles has a soft, caring demeanour. Surrounded by ripe red grapes with a laurel wreath around their head just beneath the crown. Unusually, and I am not certain, but apart from the laurel wreath and the gold crown, there also appears to be two horns. This might be an astrological attribution to Taurus the Bull, but I also wondered if this could be a Court Card Minors’ ‘lower case’ version of The Devil. Their head and eyes are slightly lowered, which depicts a sense of strength, love, and responsibility. One way or another, I sense this King is very capable.
The Minors are equally interesting. In the Three of Pentacles, gone are the architectural plans and the tradesman with his tools. In this card, we have three Marmots in front of cathedral-like windows and arches, conferring with one another, perhaps planning for the coming season. The Seven of Cups shows an alluring belly dancer from the ancient world dancing in a large cup adorned with a sheer face mask and a large green emerald in her hair. Wrapped around one arm is the snake from the Fool. She appears to be floating in the clouds with her cups in front of the Hellenic Temple of Artemis at Ephesus. The Ten of Swords is an interesting departure as it appears to show a male laying face up with Ten Swords thrust through his face, throat and body, pointing skyward as he stares through his blood at his severed hands skewered above him on the Swords. Perhaps a message to those who are considering betrayal or to those betrayed that he cannot hurt you anymore.
This Eight Coins Tattoo Tarot is the mini edition and as such, comes with a little white book. But don’t throw it away and do read it as it contains the thoughts and reflections of the creator Elian-James Showell. The meanings they have applied to the cards in this Tarot deck loosely conform with traditional meanings, however, they have Elian-James’ own insights, flavour and sentiment. The meanings are simple, useful and decry the author’s own personal experiences, I sense. After reading this guidebook, I came away feeling like the meanings were reminiscent of proverbs, or perhaps they are Elian-James’ own aphorisms of tarot. The guide booklet also includes a useful and innovative seven-card circular Rose Tattoo spread for resolving a situation.
I read with the deck several times, and one was a six-card written reading I did for a client using my own spread. I found the cards revealed insights that I may not have considered if I had used my regular deck. The reading flowed well, it certainly was not a hard jump, and I felt that the art in the cards blended well when referencing the cards in relation to each other and the question. The querent also made some lovely comments about the art in the cards. It’s a great deck to carry around too, and fit into my satchel without any problem, although, the flip box is paper after all and would not take too much battering inside a bag, so I put it into a little drawstring bag which protected it while I was visiting New York City for a week. While I was there, I attended a Tarot workshop one night in the East Village and took the Eight Coins mini deck along. A number of the other participants saw the cards and were attracted by the vibrant colours and interesting depictions of the art. The teacher came over, too, and asked curious questions about the deck. When I arrived at the class, I didn’t know anyone. But through having this little Tattoo Tarot deck, I made a few new Tarot friends. It was a good experience.
So many good things can be said about the Eight Coins Tattoo Tarot Borderless Miniature Edition. I did not know of this deck previously or its big sister, a normal-sized deck that I understand has borders. But getting to see this deck, doing a few readings, and the great comments I received from others really made me become close. I like it very much indeed. It has a personality, it is stunning to look at, it fits nicely in my bag, and it’s kind of playful and exciting to pull it out and draw a few cards or just flip through. I think I’ll adopt this one!
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