Lovecraft Tarot

Lovecraft tarot is one of the most sought after tarot card decks by collectors and aficionados.

Who Was H.P. Lovecraft?

He sees life as impenetrable to human intellect and the world as intrinsically inimical of humanity.

He was greatly influenced in his style by Edgar Allan Poe. Both these authors were original and created their own styles and fantasy world.

This author's fame has grown after his death and he is now considered one of the most influential horror story writers of his century.

He has greatly influenced Stephen King for his fascination with macabre and fantastical, weird tales.

A central theme in many of Lovecraft's writings is forbidden knowledge.

Many of his main characters are driven by curiosity but ultimately are doomed by their thirst of knowledge and come to regret what they have learned.

Another recurring theme in Lovecraft's stories is the idea that descendants cannot escape the guilt of crimes committed in by their ancestors.

Despite all their efforts, the offspring of criminals will be haunted by culpability and the inescapable past.

Often the characters are unable to control their behavior, they cannot distance themselves from danger and are impotent  when it comes to change their fate.

Lovecraft also created the Cthulhu Mythos story cycle and the Necronomicon, a fictional, magical textbook of forbidden myths and rites.

This author's stories often convey a lack of concern for human beliefs and events. The scientific progress of his time made Lovecraft see humankind as insignificant, helpless and ultimately doomed.

Lovecraft himself adopted atheism early in his life.

This original author was relatively unknown during his time but correspond ed with other contemporary writers as Clark Ashton Smith and August Derleth.

This group of writers became known as the "Lovecraft Circle" and, after Lovecraft's death, the Lovecraft Circle kept going.

With the Lovecraft's pantheon of alien gods, that were for him just instrumental to the plot of the story, Derleth made up a whole cosmology.

The Lovecraft Tarot

Many of Lovecraft’s stories and inventions were drawn from his dreams and nightmares, the material of Carl Jung's archetypes.

So, it is not surprising that Lovecraft's rich lore found its expression in  Tarot cards.

The Lovecraft cards are probably the most sought after by collectors but the deck is now out of print.

There are three decks that directly derive from Lovecraft's works: The H. P. Lovecraft Tarot , the Necronomicon Tarot and the Dark Grimoire Tarot.

The second edition of the H.P. Lovecraft tarot is sepia-toned and the artwork is by noted artist Daryl Hutchinson.

The deck comes with an 80 page book by Eric Friedman that provides a detailed explanation of each Major Arcana, its connection to the Cthulhu Mythos, the traditional tarot and their relation to the jungian archtypes.

The artwork is intriguing and insightful and can be valued as a masterpiece of this style of art or as a divinatory tarot deck.

The deck contains 78 cards corresponding to the Major Arcana and Minor Arcana of the traditional tarot.

The Minor Arcana of the Lovecraft tarot consists of the Suits of Man, Artifacts, Tomes & Sites while the Major Arcana represent characters and creatures of Lovecraft's work and the Cthulhu Mythos.

The H. P. Lovecraft Tarot

Surprisingly enough, there are no court cards in the suits but the cards are numbered from one to fourteen.

Back to Homepage from Lovecraft Tarot

Back to tarot decks