I'd only popped into Number Seven to buy a sympathy card. It was the first time I'd been out the house (apart from going to the gym) for a week. But my little halogen heater had broken (this one has lasted all of three months) and it was warmer out than in.
Anyhow. I duly held out my chillblained, frostbitten paws, and felt something being laid onto them. Well, a vague sensation approaching feeling.
Something rectangular, a slim box the size of a large playing card. As my eyes focused, I recognised the drawing and yelped with excitement.
The Fantod Pack by Edward Gorey.
'Oh my God!' I squeaked.
'It's a present,' said Davina. Yay! I love presents. Having a birthday at the fag-end of Christmas means I don't score high in the present-receiving stakes and, if I do, I tend to get fobbed off with everyone else's unwanted Christmas gifts. So unexpected, unusual and hugely welcome ones like this are triply appreciated.
I love Edward Gorey. As in, ever so slightly obsessed. Have been so ever since my brother gave me a desk diary with his illustrations way back in the 80s.
Anyhow. The Fantod Pack is Gorey's legendary (piss)take on tarot. First published in a limited edition in 1995 and long out of print - it consists of 20 cards with odd arcana such as The Limb, The Effigy, The Insects, The Bundle and The Burning Head.
'Don't you want to know what dreadful things lie in wait for you?' it asks. Of course!
Want me to read your future? Just say the word (Yes!) and I'll pluck a card for you from my floor.
Pics from lioninthesunps.com - apart from the one of my diary, obviously.
16 comments:
Yes.
Please x
@Barb. Right...here goes...
You get...*fanfare*...The Tunnel!
A sexual disturbance may occur on Monday. Loss of wits or, alternatively, boredom.
Thank you. Probably the best fortune ever told x
You're welcome. Yes, I tend to concur. No waffle or flannel. It just cuts to the chase. :D
Hmmm, whats to loose??
Yes please Jane! Xxx
Okay, Teresa... *shuffle, toss* - You get...The Urn.
Watch out for mumbling sickness on Friday. A forged invitation could lead to a sexual dilemma. Beware harmful rays!
Ha, ha, fun Go ahead, though I've plenty of cards tumbling in the air right now.
It's The Child for you, Ashen. Expect hallucinations and rust. Come September you might experience sties, forced restraint and loss of youth. Oh, and denigration. Nothing like a bit of denigration.
Jane, I was and still am a great fan of Mr Gorey. Lucky to have a few of his books on my book shelves. There once was a bookshop, on 47th street in the heart of the diamond district, Gotham Book Market (I will trust my memory without checking with Mr google) that had many exhibits of Gorey's works. I so regret never having actually met him, or even had an in person view of him in that raccoon coat.
And so to honor that artist (who lived on Cape Cod, so perhaps you did meet him?) I would love you to toss those cards in the air for me.
xo
Hallucination, rust, sties, forced restraint, loss of youth, and to sum it up - denigration. Makes me feel strangely energised - it's what denigration does to me :)08ll
@Ma - So? :) Wanna card anyhow? :)
@Frances - I had no idea he lived on Cape Cod. I never read biographies (well, only a handful). And no, I didn't meet him (how wondrous that would have been). Okay...cards shuffled, tossed and...
You get The Effigy. There may be an accident in a stadium come August. Rashness and amnesia result in clouded mentality. Unpleasant secrets.
:)
@Ashen...yeah, nothing like a bit of honest-to-God denigration to revitalise the senses. :)
Ahh Jane, lots of chew on in interpreting the Gorey reading.
Think that I was last in anything like a stadium ages ago to see the Stones at Shea.
So perhaps I shouldn't take the stadium reference personally?
Amnesia might be a gift.
xo
to chew on, ...perhaps the mind is its own stadium.
xo
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