TAROT FOR ROMEO AND JULIET
SPECIAL HARDBACK EDITION LIMITED TO 193 COPIES
6×9 inch | silk cloth and stamped in gold and gilt edges | red ribbon and mother of pearl end papers | 144 pages printed on Munken Pure Rough 150 gsm | signed and hand-numbered by the author.
Tarot for Romeo and Juliet: Reflections on Relationships by Camelia Elias (2021), is about the tension between how singular the manifestation of love is and what we assume, often wrongly, about the idea of togetherness. To know the difference means to know the heart of the other. To know the heart of man is, in fact, the highest, sages and artists tell us. But who has this gift? Lovers do. Lovers share a passion that exceeds common understanding, and yet their acting on it can be fraught.
While knowing the heart of the other is the premise for the experience of grand passion, this very knowledge is also the price we pay for the image of an infinite love. But what if lovers fail at relationships? This book is an investigation into what happens to the knowledge of the heart when basic communication breaks down, or when we realize that all the assumptions we make about the other are wrong.
Borrowing Shakespeare’s passionate lovers, Romeo and Juliet, Camelia Elias weaves a personal story of love and loss through encounters with the Tarot. At the cartomancy table we also encounter Werner Herzog’s films, Klaus Kinski’s acting, Formula One driver Ayrton Senna, and professors of Psychology, Renaissance, and Religious Studies.
In this book Juliet drives a sports car without crashing, and Romeo commits harakiri, Japanese style, while reading tomes such as Thinking with Demons. This book is an homage to the love whose image exceeds even that of the imagination.
The fine edition is sold out. For the paperback and ebook editions, go here.
Three editions
The fine edition – which is sold out – is made with the bibliophile in mind, the type of book lover who can appreciate the power of form and top notch materials. How does the well-pondered design match the author’s intent? The fine edition aims at giving readers the physical experience of sitting with a magical object in their hands.
The paperback & ebook are available from all online stores.
Seven variations
$98 SOLD OUT
Juliet’s talisman features magic for love in the form of the 7-pointed star, or Venus’ heptagram drenched in attar of roses. What you get with Juliet’s talisman is the signed and numbered fine book plus the heptagram designed to capture love in a cup. The ‘cup’ has been ritually infused with rose attar of the finest quality. The rose attar leaves a trace on the paper in the form of ghostly figures. Each exudes a power all its own. Put this talisman in your pocket and experience attracting love or the other whom you love. The talisman is printed on Japanese paper in square format (90 x 90 mm). See images below. It is offered for as long as the stock of the limited edition lasts.
$93 SOLD OUT
The Cloak and Dagger variation: this is the ‘book only’ option, numbered and signed and featuring inside the covers a magic, calligraphy sigil.
$144 SOLD OUT
The Icon variation features 22 exemplars of the signed, fine binding book that are accompanied by an original icon artwork made as a love talisman (acrylic and ink on heavy cardboard).
$150 SOLD OUT
The Bibliomantic Box variation: There are 15 copies made of the book as boxed. What is special about this is the bibliomantic aspect of it. I’ve made myself 15 unique boxes to house both the book and an eight-page excerpt from a test print of the book (a printer's signature). Each signature is adorned by my own individual calligraphy and stitched together with red thread. The spine of the box and the Tarot face on it feature dendritic painting in acrylic. The idea is to start with the words on the spine, and then trace more words alongside with the red ink for an oracular message. The ink used contains hematite and gold. Each book is not only signed and hand-numbered, but also features a small ink calligraphy, a sigil for success in relationships. See the last images in the gallery below.
$114 SOLD OUT
The Spell variation features 22 exemplars of the signed, fine binding that are accompanied by a facsimile Carolus Zoya card printed on 200 gms Tintoretto paper. On the back of the card I’ve created a spell based on a three-card reading drawn for each individual who goes for this variation.
$111 SOLD OUT
The Strong Liaison variation features the book and a sigil made on August 3, 2022 in accordance with the rules of electional astrology for the configurations of Venus and the Moon in mutual reception alongside with an aspect to Jupiter.
$133 SOLD OUT
The Red Tarot reserve. The last 15 remaining copies of the limited edition Red Tarot kept in reserve are now joining Romeo and Juliet. Please note that these decks are hors série, so they are not numbered.
Reviews
“There's something going on in this writing. It's so good. There's something amazing about it. There's a distillation, subtlety, and clarity in it that makes one really tune into it. It's high culture and pre-existing knowledge, and I'm just astonished. While reading this book I felt the need to ritualize Camelia Elias's ideas about relationship.” – Carlos Abler, artist, philosopher, and online content and marketing strategist
“This is a sensual book, alluring, soft and yet cold if one is caught unawares. It is a thing of incredible beauty, I will treasure it.” – Marco Felgueiras, operations coordinator
“I love this book so much. It just feels perfectly in sync with the moment, the day itself. And I decided to slowly enjoy every page of it, instead of just binging on it.” – Nebojsa Savic, anthropologist
“This is a sensual book, alluring, soft and yet cold if one is caught unawares. It is a thing of incredible beauty, I will treasure it.” – Marco Felgueiras, operations coordinator
“It is brilliant.” – full review here – Emma Giannini, literary critic
