Malpertuis Bridge J7

Having completed several Lenormand decks over the past couple of years, I was looking to try my hand at a slightly different project. As I didn't feel quite ready for the major undertaking another full Tarot deck would represent, I decided instead to design my first deck of standard playing cards. Over the past year I'd become increasingly interested in the history of playing cards in their more familiar form.

I didn't think I've been unique in this respect: there certainly seems at present to be a growing enthusiasm for using standard playing cards - rather than Tarot or oracles - for cartomancy.  While the reasons for this aren't yet entirely clear - perhaps some readers are hankering after a 'purer' and less complicated cartomantic experience than Tarot or oracles provide - for myself I've definitely felt myself being pulled back towards more traditional decks, so the idea of creating a new deck in this style very much appealed to me.

There is already. of course, a vast number of decorative playing card decks available in every conceivable shape, size, and theme. I felt, however, that only a very limited amount of these decks - beautiful as they may be - lent themselves very well to cartomancy. I was therefore concerned when creating this deck about designing a set of cards which could be used for cartomancy as well as for traditional game play. While I wanted to keep the overall scheme of the deck fairly simple, I also wanted to give at least some recognition to the history of the standard playing card and to its subtle relationship with its 'cousin', the larger, more complex Tarot deck.

Neil Lovell