The Tarot of Oz Deck

Measurements: 3.3 x 4.63 inches, or 82 x 117 mm.

Back of card: A big yellow O with a big yellow Z in the center. Same color of yellow as on the major arcana cards. The center of the O has a green field, the same color green as in the center of the World card, above. (The Oz on that card is virtually the same as what's on the back.) On the outside of the O, at the 12 o'clock, 3 o'clock, 6 o'clock & 9 o'clock positions, small images of the icons of the four suits. The overall background is white. Not exactly the same upside down, but inverts fairly well. Does not contrast well with the front of the card.

Book included: Yes, small, 180 pages. Measures 3.45 x 4.95 inches, or 87 x 125 mm. Illustrated.

Publisher: Llewellyn. Printed in the US.

Comments: Unbeknown to most, the celebrated book, The Wizard of Oz, was followed by fourteen sequels, from 1900 to 1920 (most by 1910). All starring Dorothy & various other characters. I remember seeing many Oz books in the public library in the mid-1960's. Never read even one. I imagine libraries have discarded all but the first. Libraries discard books when people stop reading them. They also discard books full of scientific facts, theories & other fancies that are no longer true or, perhaps, popular. Your local public library is not a repository of the wisdom of the ages, just in case you were wondering. But I digress.

You may also be unaware that, in America in the year 2002, copyright lasts nearly forever. So if you're looking at The Fool/aka Dorothy, above, and can't make out Judy Garland, relax. The 1939 MGM movie is still under copyright. Permission must be granted before images from that movie can be used. There's no hint in the book if Sexton asked or not. Copyright on the original books expired some time ago.

What L. Frank Baum ended up writing in his 15 Oz books, was, of course, an archetypal story of good vs evil & all that. Due perhaps to the influence of various externalized magical organizations (Order of the Golden Dawn, Theosophical Society, etc.), such stories were popular at the time. In his tarot deck, David Sexton uses characters & stories from all 15 books. This might be why MGM's images were not used.

As a deck, this is fairly standard. The usual majors, the usual minors, the usual suits (Pentacles are called Stones), the usual face cards, or nearly so (Princess, Prince, Queen, King). Quite frankly, I found the Tarot of Oz lacked creativity & was visually dull. One might expect better than every card with the letters OZ on it. Okay, okay. It's the OZ deck. Show us something else on a card.

Note to Net Nannies: The World card (shown above) is the only card with a nude in this deck.

David Sexton has also created the The Winged Spirit Deck, which in many ways is similar to his Oz deck.

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