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Kabbalist's Tarot      1999 Susan Arnsten-Russell      USA                                                   Art Medium: Coloured pencil and black outlines in pen. Description: A prototype of the unpublished Kabbalist's Tarot created in 1999 by the American artist Susan Arnsten-Russell, printed on an ink jet printer. Using delicate coloured pencil she has created a tarot strongly based on kabbalistic ideas. Each of the 78 cards bears a frame, on the left side of which is a tree of life glyph with the relevant 'path' coloured in gray. The Wheel of Fortune is rather fine, using the image of the spinning wheel. For her minor arcana, she uses the extended Tree of Life as first codified by Warren Kenton (Z'ev ben Shimon Halevi), in the left side of the frame. This codes to the four traditional elements (and thus the tarot suits) with the ten sephiroth (the pip cards) for that respective element and four courts to key sephiroth. It might seem a complex abstract system, but it is at root quite simple. Her designs for the pips are remarkable in that she shows the Tree of life from different perspectives with the image she has created for this card (based on the emblematic imagery used in the Rider-Waite minors) shown on its sephira which is brought to the foreground through the perspective. It is a truly remarkable effect.