Fugdale’s Funhouse

The Phantasmagoric Theater Tarot

Theme

This deck has a very unique theme…the theater. You’ve heard the phrase ‘all of life’s a stage’. This deck takes that theme to heart, putting the reader and the subject onto the stage of life. The deck creator, Graham Cameron, describes the theme of the deck much better:

Imagine yourself as an actor, placed in a theater at birth. You have been invited to join millions of other actors, to take your place on the stage known as Phantasmagoric Theater. Every scene in the script has been carefully crafted, and you’ve learned your cues. If nothing goes wrong you should be able to sail through your performance until the final curtain call.

But things can and do go wrong–perhaps there is interference in the sound system, your costume is uncomfortable, or you’re unhappy with the scenery. So you begin to make adjustments, and in doing so, cause minor changes to the outcome of the play.

Using tarot, you can connect yourself through a psychic process back to the original script and recognize the deviations you may have made to the performance.

Although the idea that all of life is predetermined like a scripted play is debatable to some, the refreshing ‘life as theater’ take on the tarot provides a lot of insight into how the tarot works. Instead of being some immutable fortune telling device, it merely suggests the larger picture of life, the track you are on and the adjustments you can make to change the outcome of your story.

Imagery and Symbolism

The Phantasmagorical Theater deck doesn’t just provide the theater metaphor. Its symbolism includes references to the puzzling nature of life and suggests that life is full of pieces to an overall puzzle. The use of gaming symbolism, such as dice, suggests that many aspects of life are like a game. Throughout the deck you will discover question marks, jigsaw puzzle pieces and all sorts of dice. The deck suggests that a tarot reading is like being given a few pieces of a puzzle and asking you to put them into place in the larger schematic of your situation.

Additionally, this deck has very interesting artwork. The people in the deck all have large heads and look like cartoon rag-dolls, often with stitched up mouths, hollow eyes, large gangly whiskers or clownish make-up. Some of the characters have frightening characteristics adorned with gas masks with large tubes coming out of their mouths.

Color plays a huge role in this deck. Each card has a distinctive mood established by it’s color scheme. Most imagery on the cards immediately brings about very specific ideas and concepts. Most readers won’t have a difficult time creating stories about the characters on the cards. And as you use the deck more, you will continually discover new symbols you missed before and various connections between the different cards. Cards which have similar numbers, symbols or characters on them, tend to relate to each other.

The Cards

The cards are large and sturdy and the back image (see above) looks the same either way the card is flipped, so it’s great for doing reversal readings.

Each suit in the Minor Arcana features a different scenario. Wands all take place in a big top circus environment; Swords lie in the checkerboard labyrinths of the mind; Coins all seem to take place inside and outside doorways and windows; and Cups, interestingly enough, explore the dessert terrain, where you will only find the element of water inside the cups themselves.

The Major Arcana follows the Rider-Waite structure closely. Titles are at the bottom and the number is at the top. The Minor Arcana cards provide the suit at the top and the number at the bottom.

Aces feature a large symbol floating mid-air emerging from their corresponding element (fire, water, earth, clouds).

Booklet Descriptions

The booklet that comes with the deck is pretty basic. It features upright and reversal readings, but the interpretations hardly do justice to the rich imagery of the cards.

Each card features a character or player in the Phantasmagorical Production, particularly the court cards, and the booklet gives you a brief interpretation of each character and what they are doing in the image.

Here is an excerpt for the Seven of Coins (pictured above):

Seven of Coins
Morning arrives and Ryan opens his window, greeted by a new harvest. Ryan is a dedicated and hard worker who cultivates his skills and abilities. He is a productive villager who is beginning to reap the rewards of his hard work.
Meaning: The Seven of Coins represents achievement through effort and perseverance and being rewarded for hard work.
Reversed: Laziness, impatience

The Major cards deal with the larger aspects of the Theater theme. The descriptions are a bit more detailed and each includes an astrological correspondence as you can see in this example:

Wheel of Fortune
The astrological influence is Jupiter.
You are standing upon life’s chessboard. Before you is a great wheel. Life is full of both good and bad times. Observe how the theater is held together, with both comedy and tragedy. Upon the wheel a black arrow points upwards; in front of it stands chess piece inhabitants. To either side are signs indicating win or lose. We are not always in control of life; at times a governing law decides our future. The Wheel is continually on the move, taking us from one situation to another. Life will not always move us the way we would like it to, but it will direct us on a path to progress. We must appreciate our good fortune. The Wheel represents the value of life’s opportunities.
Meaning: Patience, new experiences, changes coming, opportunity in disguise
Reversed: A setback, a positive outcome possible only through great expense

Recommendation

As this is one of my favorite decks and gets a lot of use in readings, I have to whole-heartedly recommend it. New tarot readers will find it full of imagery to explore and because it closely corresponds to traditional Rider-Waite interpretations it is a good starter deck. Those more experienced with Tarot or the collector will find this deck sparkling and refreshing.

Deck Information

• Size of Cards: 3.5″ x 5.5″
• Number of Cards: 78 Major: 22 Minor: 54
• Major Arcana Titles: The Fool, Magician, High Priestess, The Empress, The Emperor, Grand Master, The Lovers, The Chariot, Strength (8), The Hermit, Wheel of Fortune, Justice (11), Hanged Man, Death, Temperance, The Devil, The Tower, The Star, The Moon, The Sun, Judgment, The World
• Suits: Wands, Cups, Swords, Coins
• Court Cards: Page, Knight, Queen, King
• Included with Deck: Booklet with descriptive interpretations, upright and reversal interpretations, Title cards
• Appeals to: Performers, Cartoon enthusiasts, Younger Readers, People who like vivid color schemes, People with twisted sensibilities, Gamers, Puzzle Solvers
• Deck Distributor: U.S. Games
• Designer: Graham Cameron