Archetypal assignment decks like the Ghosts & Spirits Tarot offer a great learning opportunity. While the images are not traditional, they help us to understand the archetype of each card, and the archetypal nature of tarot in general. We see how those archetypes are expressed by universally recognized stories about death, the afterlife, and how spirits interact with the world of the living.

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While some of the stories used in this deck are fiction, such as Edgar Allen Poe’s “The Fall of the House of Usher” used skillfully to depict The Tower card, others come from ancient mythology, such as the Egyptian Book of the Dead which inspired the Judgment card.

Artist and writer Lisa Hunt gives her minor arcana as much weight and attention as she does the Majors. For instance the Two of Wands is the Doppelganger card. It is described in the Ghosts & Spirits Little White Book: “As one’s double, the appearance of this ghostly twin can presage ill tidings or death. It casts no shadow and bears no reflection in the mirror or water, lending to its ominous presence… The girl’s red hair symbolizes fiery ambition. She can either embrace those qualities that enable her to be focused and energized, or she can succumb to self-imposed fears as represented by her colorless counterpart.”