Eyes of the Tarot
Eyes of the Tarot is a juvenile fiction novel written by American author Bruce Coville. The book is a mystical adventure made richer by accurate descriptions of tarot cards as well as techniques for utilizing the cards and Coville's suggested interpretations. In many ways, the heroine's experiences with the figures from the tarot mirror those found in Russian occultist P.D. Ouspensky's 1913 book The Symbolism of the Tarot.
One notable technique for utilizing the cards involves sleeping with a specific card inside your pillowcase in order to commune with the figure on the card while dreaming.
The book's tagline is: “Death is in the cards.”
Plot
Teenager Bonnie McBurnie discovers a deck of antique tarot cards in her grandmother's attic, which are accompanied by a withered human finger.
She takes the finger and deck home with her and learns how to work with tarot cards by reading books in the library, eventually tucking The Fool card, which resembles her boyfriend, Alan, into her pillow. During the night, the figure from the card comes to her in a dream. The following day, she seeks out Madame LePanto, a local fortune-teller, for help using the cards. Bonnie begins to feel uneasy about the cards and the outcomes she finds in her readings, but isn't certain why.
When the The High Priestess arrives in a dream, she explains that the deck is cursed and all the figures are trapped on the cards, and that Bonnie should avoid looking into their eyes. Later, the kids at school ridicule Bonnie, calling her a "gypsy princess," and she predicts the death of some family friends who die in a car accident.
Eventually, the characters from the cards begin appearing in real life. Bonnie and Alan see Death riding beside them on the beach, causing them to crash Alan's dune buggy. The Magician then appears and murders Madame LePanto, to whom Bonnie had entrusted the deck for safekeeping.
She discovers the deck belonged to a Scottish magician named Magistimes, who had designed the deck to not only tell the future, but to actually create it. Magistimes was killed by Bonnie's ancestor, the Duke of McBurnie, in 1432 after giving him a bad reading. However, the magician had cursed the deck and his spirit was trapped on the Magician card, which was an actual portrait of him.
Bonnie and Alan try to burn the cards, but they are impervious to flame. They take the deck to the ocean to destroy it with water and Magistimes appears, trying to convince her to give him the deck so he may be reborn again. Instead, Bonnie throws the deck and Magistimes' withered finger into the ocean. This action causes all the figures of the tarot to find freedom and one by one they are released from the deck.
Characters
- Bonnie McBurnie - High school girl of Scottish ancestry.
- Alan - Bonnie's boyfriend.
- Randy McBurnie - Bonnie's younger brother.
- Madame LePanto - The local fortune-teller.
- Magistimes - An evil magician trapped in the tarot deck.
Background
In the early 1980s, Coville simultaneously wrote four mystic adventure books for the juvenile market. These were:
- Eyes of the Tarot
- Waiting Spirits
- Spirits and Spells
- Amulet of Doom
The books were written as novels of "teen terror," but Coville's goal was to bring more substance than might normally be found in the young adult horror genre. While writing Eyes of the Tarot, Coville worked with a deck of tarot cards, experimenting with various spreads to add a sense of authenticity to his story.
Publication history
Eyes of the Tarot was first published on November 1, 1983 as part of Bantam's "Dark Forces" series.
Coville later later revised the text for republication in 1996, when it was released with three other novels as "Bruce Coville's Chamber of Horrors" series. The cover art for this edition was created by Argentine artist Ciruelo Cabral.
He subsequently revised the 1996 version of the text again, making minor changes and adding some new material. This third edition was released in March 2012.
Legacy
The novel has not yet been adapted in other media.
Occult author Travis McHenry has frequently cited the book as inspiring him to purchase his first deck of tarot cards, a Rider-Waite-Smith Tarot deck in 1993. He subsequently published more than a dozen tarot and oracle decks.
Eyes of the Tarot is included in the William G. Lockwood collection of Romani Ethnology and Gypsy stereotypes at Michigan State University. This collection contains thousands of works which contain references to Romani stereotypes.