Customer Reviews

Initiatory Tarot of the Golden Dawn Deluxe (Lo Scarabeo Decks) (English and Spanish Edition)

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This Tarot deck is an interesting new rendition inspired on the Golden Dawn's tradition as intended by its designer, Giordano Berti. Patrizio Evangelisti`s beautiful artwork resembles contemporary comic book style. Black inked outlines and tones define the images, while contrasting colors and soft shadows fleshed out the scenery.

In the Golden Dawn Tarot, the suites are evidently associated with the four elements: wands with fire, chalices with water, swords with air, and pentacles with earth. This association is more prominent within the court cards, showing figures within flames for wands, on a shore for chalices, within clouds for swords, and on a grassy field for pentacles. These have been labeled Princess, Prince, Queen and Knight like in the Thoth Tarot.

The Mayor Arcanas are labeled the same way as in the Rider-Waite or Marseilles Tarots, and the imagery shows evidence of both traditions for most of these Trumps. However, a few lean more toward one tradition than the other. Such are the case of The Chariot, Death and The Sun Trumps which leans toward Marseilles, while The Wheel of Fortune leans toward Rider-Waite. There are a few Trumps that are beyond Rider-Waite and Marseilles traditions. For example: The Fool depicts an innocent child sitting on the grass with a wolf watching over, and The Lovers depicts a warrior coming from a cloud to confront a sea serpent which is about to attack a chained maiden.

An interesting feature of this deck is the inclusion of an additional set of Justice and Strength cards, swapping 8s and 11s on these cards to allow you to match either Rider-Waite or Marseilles ordering. At least that was the intention. My deck contains a card with a scene of a girl standing by a lion which is Strength (8), and another with a woman sitting on a throne with a sword and scales at hands which is Justice (11). However, a second card with a girl standing by a lion was labeled Justice (11), while a second card with a woman sitting on a throne with a sword and scales at hands was labeled Strength (8). This is an error as the names should have not been swapped. It may be just my deck, but beware.

I recommend this deck for tarot collectors in general, and for those interested on the Golden Dawn tradition in particular. It includes a satin bag and the usual Little White Book.

Other decks by Patrizio Evangelisti:
Initiatory Tarot of the Golden Dawn Deck (Lo Scarabeo Decks)

This is a beautiful picturesque deck, that tells the story with striking images! A modern comic book feel for the modern Tarot Reader! Some Images are Sexy or nude, some are heroic in nature. Easy to use if you are familiar with Rider Waite decks, or just use intuition. In my opinion this is the best looking Golden Dawn deck if you like your images with a graphic novel contemporary modern feel that reflects the art style of today's comic book artist.

I haven't studied Golden Dawn symbology much, so i can't say for certain how accurate they are but this is one hell (or heavenly) deck especially for admirers of the female form <ahem> !

The Mythical Theme also brings passion to the imagery, highly recommended!