Secret Tarot [Cards]

Lo Scarabeo (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 8, 2000

Every card in The Secret Tarots has its own soul and a voice that whispers forgotten things to the hearts of all who will listen. With images reminiscent of everything from Lord Byron to Mad Max, the ancient archetypes are dressed in new clothes. These cards represent the journey along an esoteric path leading to the understanding of secrets from the past, present, and future.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Since 1987, Art Publisher Lo Scarabeo has published over 100 Tarot decks that have been acclaimed all over the world for originality and quality. Only the best Italian and International artists are selected for our new decks, and the result is that Lo Scarabeo's decks are all recognizable as an exceptional artistic value.

Tradition
One of Lo Scarabeo's goals is the preservation of traditional Tarot decks.

Development
New decks and ideas are continually gathered from all over the world. This allows Lo Scarabeo to produce some of the most innovative decks available today.

Quality
Lo Scarabeo is committed to ever increasing quality and beauty of their products.

Distribution
*Llewellyn is the exclusive distributor of Lo Scarabeo products in North America.

Product Details

• Cards
• Publisher: Llewellyn Publications (September 8, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0738700215
• ISBN-13: 978-0738700212
• Product Dimensions: 5.1 x 3 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,107,390 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

48 of 48 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars My Favorite Deck, July 21, 2003

By 

Charles Harrington (Calif, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Secret Tarot (Cards)

I have about 35 tarot decks at the time of this review and the Secret tarot is my trusty, faithful favorite. This deck has given me more breakthroughs than any other... and I have almost no idea why. At fist glance it seems slightly comic bookish in style with a lot of pale white women. Also rather than getting stuck in a pseudo-renaissance it seems to exist in all times as Julie Taymor's Titus does.

Some of the symbolism incorporated is just brilliant and was revealed slowly, a little at a time over a long period. I wondered what was going on with the Ace of swords... a sword is stuck in a piece of stone work with an engraving of a strange bird-man creature devouring a fish on it. This boggled me until one day I looked and got it, the bird (air intellect logic) devours the fish (emotion, felling, understanding) and thus the card represents a triumph of the mind over the emotions. The otter on Temperence was a wonderful idea: a creature that can survive both on land (solidity) and water (emotion again) but has been largeley forced to retreat to the waters (emotion) when it is in danger. I preferred not to use the little white book at all (read the first paragraph of it once) when learning with this deck, I had a much better time observing the cards on my own.

I try to read with a number of decks so that I can continue to get new information from the cards but the Secret Tarot is the one I turn to when I want to know what is going on.

30 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars CosmicCards.com LOVES this deck!, April 4, 2002

By 

Jo-Anne Penn-Kast "jo" (Ridgefield, CT United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Secret Tarot (Cards)

This is an interesting deck that uses the traditional titles printed on the cards in 5 languages (English, Italian, French, German and Spanish). The fully illustrated Minor Arcana uses the Chalices, Pentacles, Wands, and Swords as the four Suits. The Major Arcana numbers Strength as XI (11), and Justice as VIII (8), while the Court Cards are made up of Knaves, who appear androgynous, Knights, Queens, and Kings.

I am not a fan of comic book art, but many of the cards do seem to have that "look", but this is not a detraction for me at all. The style of the artwork is not consistent, which is one of the things I enjoy about this deck. The characters are portrayed in 17th, 18th, and 19th century, medieval, renaissance, ancient, modern, and fantastical garb. Some of the female characters are nude or partially nude, but are not exaggerated in the way that comic book art often portrays women. Many of the cards have a distinct 1930's or 1940's look to them, and some of the faces are much more detailed and of a totally different "look" than others, so it seems that there was more than one artist at work on this deck. The colors are rich and deep, the expressions and postures are subtle and effective, and often evoke meanings or impressions that don't always follow the "standard" interpretations.

For me, it is the mixing and combining of these various "looks" or styles that draws me to this deck. I love it, because the mixed manner of costume alone can stir up images, ideas, concepts and entire stories. Take the Lover, Trump number VI (6) as an example. Here we have a young man in renaissance costume standing on the ground holding out six fingers. A glamorous 1940's style woman stands on a set of stairs, sideways, holding out two fingers, and a "can-can" sort of woman holds up her dress on a second staircase. These untraditional images add a whole new layer to my understanding of this card through their different styles of costume, and expressions, over and above the standard Rider-Waite Man and Woman with "Eros" or blind Cupid between them. (To read a rather untraditional interpretation of this card, visit the CosmicCards.com website

http://www.cosmiccards.com

The Fool, Trump 0, is another example of finding "twists", or exceptions to the "standard". Generally, The Fool suggests that you may be ready to embark on a new way of life, or take a "leap of faith", and that you may be confident that everything will turn out "ok". The Fool can represent a clean slate or new beginning, where hope, optimism, and wonder can lead to a new sense of freedom. However, The Fool in this deck tells me something more. He seems to have commitment issues as the root cause behind his desire or need to make a "new start". He appears to be resentful of the reminder of the domestic life he is leaving behind, and as such, he is probably not an "innocent", but more of a transient, always on the move, living out of a suitcase, as it were, on his way to the next "big" thing when he tires of his current state. He probably doesn't last long anywhere, and seems to be an angry loner, who may have too much pride, or by contrast, too much self-pity for the apparent unfairness of life. His fist is clenched, and it is not too far of a stretch to imagine him swinging his stick and bundle at the dog, or giving it a good kick. This is probably not his first "journey".

When I was first able to put voice to my instincts on both of the above examples (The Lover and The Fool), I began to accept, without reservation, my own way of interpreting the cards. This was the first deck that, in a sense, gave me "full clearance" and complete confidence to interpret the cards from my own intuition and perceptions, which is what I had been doing anyway, rather than from some little white book, or "standard" meaning according to those who had gone before me. I don't put much stock in the LWB's. I don't read them, and I don't keep them, so I can't share with you what IT has to say, which is probably for the best. (I should mention that my peculiar perception of The Fool in The Secret Tarots was again brought forth when I came upon the Tarot of the Old Path, but that will be for another review).

The Secret Tarots has many cards that challenge the reader to look a little deeper in order to uncover its "secrets", and as a Certified Professional Tarot Reader (CPTR), I hunger for this challenge. For all its depth, the images seem willing to give up their stories with just a bit of effort on my part. I don't see any (obvious) references to astrology, or specific magickal schools of thought or systems, and yet I wouldn't classify it as an "art deck". It can reveal much simply by looking at the pictures, even with no previous knowledge of the tarot. I highly recommend it to any teen or adult tarot reading level, including novices and experts, but probably not to young children because many of the references would most likely, but not necessarily, be over their heads. As with all Lo Scarabeo tarot decks, the quality is second to none.
copyright 2002 by Jo-Anne Penn-Kast

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Trusty, but a good introduction deck., January 27, 2004

By 

Jesse Brandon Purtle (Camdenton, Missouri United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Secret Tarot (Cards)

This is a very beautiful, acurate deck. Using the card meanings found in the included booklet, this deck is deadly accurate. So much so that I work with it almost exclusivly these days, although it's naturally wise to have another deck to fall back on. In fact, a few friends and myself were using them to 'cheat' at a basketball game, and they were accurate every time.

The artwork is just fabulous, too. Just goin' through the deck without doing a reading is fun just to look at the beauty of the cards. The magickian and temperance cards are deffinatly two of the most beautiful cards I've seen in any deck.

Also, they are fairly easy to read.

My only complaint is that the included booklette is absoloutly non-informative. It includes the intended meanings for the cards in about a two-three word description, and they are generally far from the traditional meanings, which can leave a beginner very... confused, to say the least.

However, if you don't mind a slightly non-traditional deck (never been a traditionalist, personally) and you know enough about the tarot via your own translations or the traditional ones, which you can find online, then you'll love this deck. I did.