TAROT
Sixty Triumphs for a New Dawn
JOHN MATTHEWS and CHARLES NEWINGTON
RED FEATHER 2024
The Fool’s New Tarot Journey by John Matthews and Charles Newington is a new way of looking at tarot in today’s world of extraordinary and ongoing change as we would seem to be transitioning into the Age of Aquarius. Conceived by John Matthews during the first coronavirus lockdowns in 2020, isolation brought time for reflection and for many, creativity. As he stated in the accompanying book, tarot did not have one creator but evolved over centuries. The twenty-two major arcana or triumph cards were first described as the Fool’s Journey by Eden Gray in the 1960s. It was in 2020, the possibility of a new journey to navigate current times was imagined by John Matthews, whose contribution to the world of tarot has been exceptional through many decades. So, The Fool’s New Journey began.
The Fool’s New Journey set consists of a set of 60 Triumph cards, including the traditional twenty-two tarot triumphs and thirty-eight new cards and an accompanying small, concise book. The Fool remains as zero and sits outside the other fifty-nine cards which relate to his search for wisdom. While the 38 new cards describing aspects of the journey have been placed intuitively throughout the journey, a few small changes have been included to the sequence of the traditional cards to benefit the flow of the story, as The Fool seeks to know “who I am”, “who I was”, “who I will be”.
Charles Newington’s card images for The Fool’s New Journey have an initial appearance of simplicity and innocence. With study and use the cards’ clarity reveals depth, intuitiveness and are profundity expressing their meanings so well. The colors are soft and subtle reflecting the sensitivity of the creators. The cards are sturdy and of a comfortable size to handle.
The accompanying book includes an introduction, followed by three parts. Part, one contains colored images and comprehensive meanings of all sixty cards. The card meanings for the traditional cards are refreshing, learning more about all the cards in the deck.
Part two includes the stories of The Fools Old Journey, [A Fable Told by Tarot] and The Fool’s New Journey [A Tarot Fable]. These two stories display the differences between the old and new and how they overlap. Through these two stories or fables, the empathy for one starting or travelling on the path to discover wisdom, is expressed insightfully and sympathetically by John Matthews and the acknowledgement of innocence of a genuine seeker is touching. Both these stories will teach about tarot, both traditional and the new cards included. It is as though the traditional cards cannot tell us what to do but give gifts of triggering memories, insightful questions, and strategies as we plod through our corporeal world.
Part three gives practical advice on reading the cards, suitable spreads as well as reading for self and others. The invitation to be creative with the cards, and storytelling is encouraging. The mention of another planned book to further work creatively will be very welcomed.
Working with the cards, I first drew three cards The Believer 3, The Fisherman 23 and The Teacher 24. As a Piscean,” I Believe,” my first response was a feeling of “these cards know me”. Belief in self and belief in the unseen worlds is so much part of me. So, believing in myself to gather what I need from the unseen gives me what I need and desire to teach.
Another three-card spread asking about the energy of the new moon in Leo produced, Truth 40, The World 58 and The Listeners 48. The world has been made aware of the need for truth and of course, the truth varies according to points of view. The secret to knowing the truth is through listening, which differs from hearing, as it requires understanding of what is being said or written. Our world needs listeners. This message feels personal but also applies to all.
The cards are very intuitive and most worthy of study and practice whether you are reading for yourself or for others.
Creating a deck with an updated version of the Triumph cards required courage, such as is embodied in the Strength card, strength with compassion and sensitivity. These changing and challenging times have produced the need to look at traditions with respect and creativity to help those struggling and searching to meet new demands. John Matthews and Charles Newington have shown such courage. The Fool’s New Journey has potential to support seekers on their journey in the search “To Know Thyself.”
Linda Henery
The Tarot Conservatory
2024