Michael J. Auger is a freelance illustrator and graphic designer, a professional Tarot reader, and the artist and author of the Allcento Tarot and its little white book. I met Michael via facebook through the coincidence of our shared surname (which we pronounce differently*) and mutual interest in Tarot. Our surname, while not supported by any familial relationship, also hints at a shared familiarity with personalized comments and puns based on the incorrect assumption that the "g" in Auger is pronounced as it is in augur and augury. Indeed, I wonder if Michael wrote the subtitle for the Allcento Tarot 's little white book—"A complete collection of 100 esoteric images for auguring universal knowledge and guidance"—with tongue-in-cheek.
"Allcento" is a descriptive title that, like auger/augur encourages a certain perceptual blurring. Since cento is Italian for one hundred, it obviously refers to the one-hundred, rather than usual seventy-eight cards in the deck. The prefix "all" might be taken as meaning "all one hundred," or, if it is a play on the Italian "al," as adding the notion of these one hundred directing the user "to the" one-hundred or perhaps to the centre which is the deck itself.
Names and titles aside, Michael has put considerable thought and time into the design and creation of his deck. The extra twenty-two cards include fourteen representing the creatures (plus the scales for Libra) associated with the zodiac constellations: the familiar twelve plus the Sea Monster and Serpent Bearer, which are also visible in the modern night sky. The usual twenty-two trumps (counting the Fool) are supported by an additional eight, making a total of thirty which are treated in sets of three and ten. Some of these eight are familiar to historians, as they include the theological virtues of Faith, Hope, and Charity, and the cardinal virtue missing from the modern deck, Prudence. The other four are more unique to Michael's ideas about what cards should align with the other two in their triad. The Vision card, for example, represents another expression of the set including the High Priestess and the Hanged Man. Deck users can easily leave these extra cards out if they don't find them helpful in readings.
Michael also includes some bonus design features in the cards themselves, including suit colour coding, and the incorporation of conventional English playing card symbols on the suits and a five-pointed star on the trumps, and sigils for each suit element in the bottom label. Pamela Colman Smith's influence is apparent, primarily in some of the core imagery and the use of clear bright colours with black outlining. The rendering, however, is all in Michael's dramatic signature style with minimal shading, a hint of graphic novel animation, and well-chosen settings and props. The only genre show-cased through-out the deck is Tarot, not horror or romance, not books or movies, not swag, and nothing suggesting the momentarily trendy.
If the Allcento Tarot belongs in a category other than Tarot and Smith-influenced Tarot, it is that of high-end U.S. Games Tarot. That identification is encouraged by the fact that the cards are printed in that exactly-right size on that perfect stock with that shuffle-enhancing finish that characterizes the U.S. Games edition of the Rider-Waite-Smith Tarot. Likewise, the little white book is just the right size, is printed in a readable font, and has a complete explanation of both the familiar and unique aspects of the deck and interpretations of the cards. It also has a few extras beyond what is included on the cards themselves, such as the comments about the usefulness of the Myers-Briggs personality types in understanding the courts and attention to basic numerology in reading the pips.
All in all, The Allcento Tarot is a beautiful readable deck that is likely to find a place with the classics in both acid-free collection binders and on well-worn daily-Tarot-reading holders. Whether it's all in the name or not, I definitely enjoyed reviewing this deck and expect to make use of it in the future.
* Michael pronounces his name in the French tradition as Oh-zhay.´ My paternal ancestors likely hail from a France of the very, very distant past, but have roots in England stretching back centuries prior to emigrating from Cornwall to Ontario, Canada. We pronounce our surname Aw'-jer, with the g pronounced as in gem. It is distinct from the Germanic variation of Au´-gr in which the g is hard, as in augury.
~review by Emily E. Auger
Michael J. Auger. Allcento Tarot.
U.S. Games Systems, 2025
29.95 US$
Michael's website: https://arty4ever.com/
