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Seventies Tarot Decks

Tea & Tarot

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#tarot #tarotcards #seventies

In this video I look at two decks of tarot cards produced in the seventies: The Morgan Greer from 1979 and the Aquarian from 1970. I also compare them to Pamela Colman Smith's classic designs of 1909 and discuss which decks are most helpful for divination.

My name’s Robert Farrah (aka Robert Farrar) and I’m a writer, musician and performer living in Berlin. I’ve also been a tarot reader since I was nineteen. Being an artist, I see life in terms of accessing and developing one’s natural creativity. And I see tarot as a playful, surrealistic ritual that increases one’s intuition and brain-power.

www.farrahtarot.com
Instagram: farrah_tarot

If you would like a 1-2-1 reading, contact me on Instagram or let me know in the comments.

17 Comments

@khan7459 3 years ago

If I remember well, at least in my area in 79 ( I was 6 years old then, so my memories might be blurred, but...) I think for me it was like "man= moustache". "Everybody = hair in armpits". When at some point the mode changed and man shaved their faces completely, and women their armpits, I felt they were all naked.
I like the RWS because I can read 10 different positive and 10 different negative meanings out of nearly every single card.... which I probably couldn't from the other 2 decks. Still, the Morgan Greer especially speeks very much to me, probably because that's really so strongly late 70's early 80's vibe - and it makes me realise how much that time influences who I am until now.

@HalfBlindAssassin-i5q 1 year ago

i know in every tarot there is a plethora of head gear , kings wear crowns , knights wear helmets etc but it always worried me a bit with the aquarian tarot it seems like mr paladini said "damn i can't get away with not drawing faces on these people , but i'm terrible at ears , i'm not gonna draw any , and hairdos as well if i can get away with it " it just seems this particular tarot has more wimples , mantillas , headscarfs , earmuffs , chinstraps etc etc than any other (i haven't actually counted , but it seems like it to me) they all seem to dress like timelords out of some 70's episode of doctor who :)

@robertawalsh2995 3 years ago

My first and only deck for 50 years was the 1JJ. Both the Aquarian and the Morgan Greer are so typical of the 1970s I feel like they have the date printed across the cards.

@francesrobinson1335 3 years ago

Both the Aquarian and the Morgan Greer are beautiful decks. But, as you pointed out, they lack so much of the symbolism of the Waite-Smith deck. I know a lot of people kind of sneer ar the WS, but I think it's beautiful. The other two are also beautiful, but I look at them more as great design work rather than tarot decks I could use for divination. Thanks for the comparison. Interesting.

@januspatermagnus 3 years ago

I quite like both of those decks. An utterly destroyed copy of Morgan Greer (one of the early editions on flimsy cardstock) was my first deck. Just recently, my mom gave me her Aquarian that I used to LOVE as a kid but was never allowed to touch. :-)

@melissagerber7231 3 years ago

" And,another thing,the music you kids listen to,is just noise!
Now,get off my lawn!"🤭

@melissagerber7231 3 years ago

I recently got copies of Morgan Greer and Aquarian,for the art,and the borderless look on MG.
If you already know about tarot,they're still readable.
I also got a Morgan's tarot,that's more of an oracle.

@ladybooksmith3347 1 year ago

I love the 3 cups in the Morgan Greer. It is just so 1970s and is so evocative of my teen years. I loved the Romeo teenage magazine. The art work is stunning (to me anyway)

@inkythinky 3 years ago

Thank you for the comparison! To my beginner eye, Morgan Greer keeps enough symbolism and tradition that it is not hard to read, but reduces so much visual clutter (the King of Pentacles really demonstrates this) which is less overwhelming and allows me to focus without giving up. It's a bit like training wheels, but without the vibe of trying too hard to cater to beginners or modernity. (And I can attest based on the men in my family, almost all of whom are straight that all men with the ability to grow them definitely had mustaches haha.)

@kateatkinson624 3 years ago

The Aquarian deck is hands down my favourite. ❤

@rustynail2648 3 weeks ago

I am just wondering how some cards could still work when a main figure like a horse is missed.

@nemiatarot497 3 years ago

My first tarot deck was the Thoth, but my first book was Spiritual Tarot which interprets the WS, the Aquarian and the Morgan Greer. Which means I knew them well before I bought them.

I get a lot of warmth from the Morgan Greer, much less so from the very stylized Aquarian, but all three decks read very well for me. I'm still a Thothian though ;-)

@NYCHFAN 3 years ago (edited)

I just found your channel, and you have a new subscriber. I absolutely LOVED this video. I've thought the exact same thoughts about Morgan-Greer - the references to The Stones, especially the Devil card, and that 3 of cups has the original 1970's Herbal Essence shampoo and body spash vibes. 😂 The mustached man looks just like my high school boyfriend, lol! (Just about all the guys had those thick mustaches in the 70's). I've never been able to connect to the MG as it seems to be missing things and is a bit too "cartoony" for me, but this video gave me a fresh perspective. Thank you so much! ❤

@thomasjordan3241 3 years ago

The Aquarian was my 1st deck as well. in the early 80's at least in the US, these were pretty much the only two alternatives to the PCS drawn decks. I have loved them both for a very long time. Happy to see there are others who share my point of view. Great channel !! I am a new subscriber.

@melissagerber7231 3 years ago

My first deck was a Swiss 1JJ,from my mom,when I was 16. Recently,I found out that she'd bought one,when my younger brother was 14. He hasn't touched it, since he predicted her death with it.😢
Anyway,my first one that I bought,was the University Books Albano Waite,from the Universe Book Club.
The colors make the yellow box deck from the '70s look washed out.

@plume-watcher 5 months ago

That Huson book looks good. I was looking carefully at the pages you showed and couldn't see any reference to Eudes Picard and his interpretation of the minors. Is he mentioned at all?