BAKA TAROT
Baka Tarot is a calligraphic tarot that pays homage to martial arts, Zen masters, and the powerful energy of black ink to come through in any rendition, from the hand to the digital processing of the marks left on paper.
Each deck consists of 26 cards: 22 are named after the standard tarot trumps and 4 are named after poker actions, Call, Check, Raise, and Fold. In addition, a book has been written for this deck, now available in both digital and hardback editions.
There are two editions of this deck: a handmade edition strictly limited to 22 copies, and a standard, unlimited variation. The first edition was offered as a talisman and sold out in 7 minutes flat. You can read about its construction below.
The standard edition is available from the Read like the Devil shop with the Make Playing Cards company.
The Baka Tarot hardback book is sold separately from online stores, such as Amazon and others.
BAKA, THE FOOL
Baka Tarot is the result of a moment of regret. As I was looking one day at some calligraphy art and scrolls I made once upon a time, I realized that it had been too long since I last had a rendezvous with a brush. I did not have the time to go through a proper calligraphy session, but I thought that if I combined real black ink with digital ink, I might get something done. I ended up surprising myself at what I managed to come up with, both in terms of the digital output and the hand calligraphy. The gallery below features some of my old calligraphic art.
As I didn’t want to linger on past achievements, I decided to do something about my regret. Exorcise it by creating something again. I already had a method. As any creation of a deck of cards follows a tight principle I developed years ago, one that I call, One Cut, One Blood, I gave myself the time it takes to do all the cards in just one sitting. At some point I lost my nerve. How does one draw a trumpet, calligraphy style? As I couldn’t make up my mind, I thought I’d go for a clarinet instead. You can see it on the Judgment card.
In addition to the 22 traditional trumps in a tarot pack, I created 4 extra cards from the world of poker. I named after the actions in the game: Call, Check, Raise, and Fold. I could just imagine the usefulness of such words in divination, especially when advice is needed: do we risk it, or do we fold it? So far I’ve had great results using these cards. They complement the trumps of the tarot to the letter. It was a good idea to add them to the pack. After all, what we do with the cards and the way we create them is forever subject to chance. If this wasn’t the case, we wouldn’t be able to appreciate the ludic in life. Baka, the Japanese word for Fool, participates in this game, also as an homage to a long, calligraphic tradition.
BAKA AS A TALISMAN
Although I created this deck entirely for my own pleasure, when I shared in public a few images from it, people started coveting it. Coveting is bad, so I decided to indulge. I set out to make 22 sets of cards, hand cut them, sand and bone their edges, and bleed in the process.
I didn’t mind my fingers getting busted, as such an ordeal is part of the magic and what goes into the creation of a talisman. While I was at it, I went from experiencing the joy of making a special thing to cursing like a true Gypsy from Romania. But all of this is part of the enchantment. For a whole week I worked intensely at it to the point where I forgot to eat. Or when I was offered food, I got annoyed. All very silly, really, but then this tarot is called Baka Tarot, the baka in it suggesting everything irrational that goes into creating something unconventional.
My own sister said, ‘what a foolish thing, to spend so much time on this,’ and I couldn’t agree more. But from the perspective of magic, I was with a different logic there. I was with the logic of how love triumphs, the love of beauty, poetry, and art.
Baka Tarot was released on August 17, 2023. The deck was accompanied by a personalized black ink sigil inside a title card that also features a QR code to a ‘little white book’ describing the cards in no less than 11.000 words. The ‘booklet’ invites the reader to encounter the 26 cards, as they tell both an individual story and a story in a different context. As each description of the 26 cards culminates in a short reading of a 3-card string, one gets a sense of how the baka moves, so to speak, what risks the fool takes, and what fortunes he encounters. Along the way one can also note that on most of the cards there’s all sorts of ‘writing on the wall’ in the form of asemic script, or writing that carries no semantic significance. It’s all gobbledygook, but there’s a reason for it.
Baka Tarot was also crafted as part of a ritual. Besides the object itself that was infused with specific incantations during the process of making it, suffumingation was also performed in accordance with having observed the proper planetary alignments, drawing down just the stellar power for the cards.
THE SPECS
The first edition cards measure 2.4 x 3.8 inch and are printed on Tintoretto Neve 200 gsm paper from Fedrigoni. The backs feature an older suminagahi design, one that I also used for my Red Tarot. As these two tarots are similar in nerve, I thought it appropriate to use the same sheet of mulberry paper sank into ink that I did a few years ago for the purpose of showcasing the delicate art of Japanese marbling. When I don’t swing the brush, I like to use this art form for grimoire thinking.
All the 22 decks are signed and numbered, and, as a treat, in addition to the booklet, each deck comes wrapped in a unique suminagashi sheet that I created for an art project.
AVAILABILITY
If you missed the talismanic edition, get the standard release or get a reading with this deck instead. While I never make the same talisman twice, standard editions are made available on demand.
