The Tarot of Meditation – Yeager Tarot

The notoriety of the Yeager Tarot stems from the fact that there was a considerable amount of nudity in the first edition (1975). The artist Marty Yeager (1945-1991) had studied many sources before creating his own images which incorporate elements of Buddhism, Hunduism and Christianity. Before the more commercial edition could be published (1982), Stuart Kaplan of U.S. Games Systems asked for some of the images to be ‘cleaned up’. Thus it was that cards 0, 1, 6, 10, 12 and 15 of the major arcana had fig leaves and underwear added to the figures for modesty. Curiously, however, female breasts were not subject to this treatment and even some genitalia were missed (see 18)!

Marty Yeager was known for painting landscapes and background scenes for films. It could be argued that those elements are more successful in his designs than the human figures. The minor arcana are quite plain. All the cards have black borders, while the backs are plain white with a gold spot in the centre of a ring of gold. Every card in each edition carries the mention “© Marty Yeager 1975” in black or white in the bottom left-hand corner.

• See the boxes

1975 edition

Above: Tarot of Meditation by Marty Yeager, published by Credo Company, Laguna Beach, CA, USA. 78 cards + 32-page booklet in gold drop-lid box inscribed “The Tarot” in black. Size: 78 x 114 mm. © Marty Yeager 1975

1982 ‘cleaned-up’ edition

Above: the Yeager Tarot (‘cleaned-up’ version), 1982 and subsequent editions published by U.S. Games Systems, Inc., New York, NY, USA (printed by AG Müller & Cie, Switzerland). 78 cards + 2 extra cards + 24-page booklet in tuck box. Size: 75 x 110 mm. © Marty Yeager 1975

Both sets of cards carry a copyright date of 1975. However, the booklet for the first edition is dated 1976. In the case of the second edition, the booklet is dated 1982 but the box is dated 1983.

The imagery has led to this pack being called the ‘gay’ Tarot, although there is little in the designs to back this up. Rather, it can be said to be a product of its times – California in the 1970s, when self-discovery was the name of the game. Interestingly, when Stuart Kaplan included the original edition of the Yeager Tarot in his Encyclopedia of Tarot, he deliberately omitted to show the six offending cards mentioned above • See the booklets

Reference

Kaplan, Stuart R. The Encyclopedia of Tarot, Vol. I. New York, NY, USA: U.S. Games Systems, Inc.; 1978. pp 290-1.