The Cosmic Tarot deck by Norbert Lösche depicts symbols and icons gathered from several different eras — from ancient Egypt to modern Europe. Symbolism is used extensively and yet the deck is designed to remain accessible to even beginning readers.
It is a standard 78 card set. The suits are Wands, Cups, Swords and Pentacles; court cards are King, Queen, Prince, Princess. The Justice card is card 8, Strength is card 11.
Colour is used to help convey meaning, for example, the images of the Wands suit are usually in shades of red for fire, cups in blue for water, etc.
Many of the characters have been drawn in the likeness of famous Hollywood actors. The deck is known for the evocative quality of facial expressions, no doubt a factor in why this deck is considered easy to read.
Norbert Lösche was born in 1951 near Aachen, Germany. After earning a degree in Art History, he became an artist/illustrator, providing the art work for books dealing with fantasy and spiritual themes. His own spiritual journey began with a study of Hinduism, entering in-depth studies of the Bhagavad Gita and the Ramcaritmanas. In 1982 he joined the community of Indian guru Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh (Osho). After a visit to the commune of Bhagwan (Osho) in Oregon (USA), he left the community.
It was not long after this that he designed the Cosmic Tarot and wrote the accompnaying book (available only in Spanish). The deck itself is now translated into nine languages and is distributed worldwide.
The Cosmic Tarot Publishing Details
The Cosmic Tarot was first published by FX Schmid in 1988, a Bavarian company. Unfortunately this company was sold in the 1990s and Lösche’s agent, Walter Holl, had to find new publishers – AGM-AGMüller in Switzerland and US Games Systems, USA.
(Source: thecosmictarot.wordpress.com)
