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Title: Kalevala Tarot by Kalervo Aaltonen ISBN: 0-88079-187-X Publisher: U.S. Games Systems Pub. Date: 01 July, 1996 Format: Cards Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $28.00

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Average Customer Rating: 3 (4 reviews)

Rating: 2
Summary: Mostly inaccurate and dogmatic - but some nice drawings :)
Comment: In the companion book, Aaltonen makes several interpretation errors which undermine the validity of his joint work with Taina Pailos. For instance, he mixes characters Ainikki and Annikki, which are clearly different personalities coming from different sources of oral tradition. He also misinterprets Lemminkäinen as having slain the swan of Tuonela (p.159), while the Kalevala recounts that he was killed before he could do it. Ukko is mistaken for Virokannas (p.99), and the fight between Väinämöinen is interpreted as courtship for Aino (p.153). Some cards are drawn according to these "false" interpretations. Furthermore, some of the cards meanings are far-fetched. A lot of the Smith-Waite symbolism is held on to, with some weird modifications (antlers replacing a crown..). Aaltonen really tried to cover the Kalevala but I would have come up with characters/scenes for most of the cards. I especially disagree with the Court cards and the treatment of the Kullervo cycle. Some characters who are introduced are simply non-existent in the Kalevala and Finnish oral poetry altogether. The interpretation of the cards, described in the book, is very dense. The symbolism is heavy, involving colors, notions of modern psychology, self-help material, shamanism (animals..), and sometimes end up being inconsistent (as demonstrated by the pine and birch). I found that the cards' interpretations often overlap each other, because the symbolism is too dense, especially if you also try to take in account the Crowleyan kabbalstic diagrams of pages 10-16 (with no text!). The catchy sentences printed in the booklet in order to summarize the meaning of each card, sometimes have little to do with the book. It seems as if he has thrown in a lot stuff (mainly copied or transmitted from Crowley) very quickly without checking the correspondences at all, in order to add substance to his book. You can read my full-length review at home.primus.ca/~matti

Rating: 2
Summary: Inacurrate and forced
Comment: In the book accompanying the Tarot deck, Aaltonen makes many mistakes who undermine his own understanding of the Kalevala and the credibility of his work. 1)On page 159 he mistakingly writes that in the Kalevala, Lemminkäinen achieves the three tasks that Louhi set for him, including killing the Swan of Tuonela. In fact, he doesn't kill the Swan, but gets killed himself just before. Lemminkäinen's death is an important scene in the Kalevala and one wonders how Aaltonen could forget it altogether. 2)On page 75, he pretends that the name Ainikki was given to two different characters in the Kalevala, eg, the sisters of Ilmarinen and Lemminkäinen. In truth, Ilmarinen sister is not Ainikki, but Annikki, a wholly different person (associated sometimes with with Tapio's daughter in other Finnish folk songs, while Ainikki was associated sometimes with Kyllikki and the character which became Aino). 3)On page 99, he states that Marjatta's Son was brought before Ukko. That's a mistake since he was rather brought before Virokannas, sometimes called ukko Virokannas (meaning : old Virokannas, while Ukko with a capital U designates the god Ukko). 4)On page 153 and on his Three of Stakes, he describes Väinämöinen and Joukahainen fighting for the courtship of Aino. In the Kalevala, they are not fighting for her at all; she is Joukahainen's sister whom Joukahainen promises to Väinämöinen ultimately to save his own life. 5)On pages 14 and 16, Aaltonen lists a bunch of people which he says to be of Kaleva clan, and among them, he lists Louhi, the mistres of Pohja! (clearly not Kaleva). That'S for the Kalevala. Now, about the Tarot, his book contains a series of kabbalistic diagrams of the sephiroth and the links between them grouped together and associated with several cards, suits or characters. Most of these diagrams are, in substance, copies from Crowley's Book of Thot (or any other book who copied from it) and Aaltonen doesn't give any explanation or reference. What's more, the kabbalistic associations that he makes with the Tarot cards are incoherent with the associations he makes betwen the Kalevala and the Tarot cards (already poorly fit). His choice of court cards is dull, introducing a lot of characters unknown to the Kalevala! Some of the card designs just try to reproduce the Smith-Waite cards with funny substitutions, such as antlers instead of a crown, bears instead of horses and so on. I also found that the cards' interpretations often overlap each other, because the symbolism is too dense. The catchy sentences printed in the booklet in order to summarize the meaning of each card, sometimes have little to do with the book.

Rating: 3
Summary: Looks nice, but a poor fit to the Kalevala
Comment: As a tarot deck, this one is attractive. The accompanying book has brief descriptions of the various characters from the Kalevala, the Finnish national epic, and their histories. Unfortunately, the fit between the characters and the meanings given for the cards is often very forced -- a disappointment to me as a Kalevala lover. I guess I'll stick to keeping the Kalevala and tarot separate.