- Author: Oliver St John
- Published by: Red Wheel/Weiser
- Publication Date: November 2025
- RRP: GBP £33 / US $39.95
- ISBN: 9781964537078
- Reviewed by: Helen Diamond
Oliver St John is the director of studies at Ordo Astri, Hermetic Order of the Star and Snake. He has written more than twenty books on the occult, tarot, Qabalah, astrology and divination. He writes and edits the monthly journal Metamorphosis, and hosts his own podcast combining the occult and his music.
The deck is of good card stock, and is relatively easy to handle and shuffle with. The accompanying book is a paperback of good standard quality. All the material aspects of this deck and accompanying guide are well made and satisfying to handle.
For cartomancers exploring deeper the Golden Dawn/occult aspects of tarot, the Egyptian Tarot carries a wealth of information. The deck’s blurb lists the many accomplishments of the author and, when reading through the guidebook, this is also apparent. Most of the chapters are dedicated chiefly to the Major Arcana and are packed with information. Clearly this work is the result of years of study.
The trump cards are mostly revised to the Egyptian Gods as a departure from ‘the humanistic conventions in early and modern Tarots’. For example, The Fool is changed to ‘The Seer’, The Chariot is ‘Atet’ and The Star is ‘Nuit’. The colours are vibrant and the deck provides an interesting alternative to typical tarot offerings.
The cards replicate motifs and figures across the majors and court cards. Various gods have been depicted with the same image template with only minor changes, such as colour here and there, or flipping the design. The same figure is used in the Priestess as the Princesses, for reasons that are unclear. Of course, this is to evoke the hieroglyphics, but reading cards with repetitive design can feel a little uninspiring.
The Minor Arcana are given little attention. The designs are quite basic, even when compared with other pip decks. There is a very brief summary in the back of the book. Low effort minors cards are a personal bugbear of mine. Their inclusion feels almost redundant, but on reflection, perhaps this is deliberate. Oliver St John expresses in his chapter on divination: ‘divination really has nothing to do with intuition’, he goes on to chastise most readers for ‘guessing at the first thing that jumps into their head’. It appears that the author has a serious chip on his shoulder.
From the guidebook, it seems St John is on a mission to correct us all. It is littered with language like: ‘It is not X, as has long been thought/supposed/imagined, but Y’. Such phrasing soon becomes tedious. Other examples of negativity include: in The Priestess, ‘The use of “clairvoyance” here has nothing to do with psychism, save on the most inferior level of understanding possible’; in card VI, Shenut, ‘The five senses support all mental perceptions, which produce what the ignorant person mistakes for reality’; in card IX, Isis, ‘The literal meaning of philosophy is “love of wisdom” – would that it was the norm and not the exception!’ All of this gives the impression the author is looking down his nose at all of us poor human ignoramuses.
It’s a shame because there is fascinating information here. Card XV, Set, is a particular highlight, and goes some way to explain why many struggle to articulate this card: ‘Set is the most difficult of gods to pin down; his very nature forbids it’. It’s just let down by negativity and unnecessary ‘splaining, e.g., ‘meaning is not in words themselves but in what they can imply’ (thanks very much?).
Personally, I would struggle to work with a deck this plain (and with such low effort from someone so intent on blowing their own horn), and a guidebook so prescriptive and proscriptive. St John might be happy to only have a niche audience, but then why publish at all?
About the Creator:
Oliver St. John has dedicated his whole life to the theory and practice of magick and the occult, including related sciences of tarot, Qabalah, ritual, astrology, and divination, and is an acknowledged expert in these fields. He has written more than twenty books on these subjects and is the director of studies of Ordo Astri, Hermetic Order of the Star and Snake. He is also a musician, creates his own podcasts, and writes and edits the monthly journal Metamorphosis. He lives in Cornwall.
You can purchase the deck here: https://redwheelweiser.com/book/the-egyptian-tarot-9781964537078/ and from all good bookstores.
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