Tarot of the Master [Cards]

Lo Scarabeo (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 8, 2002

Originally published at the end of the nineteenth century in black and white, Michela Guadenzi has skillfully colored Giovanni Vacchetta's inspiring Major Arcana and elegant pip cards. A teacher of art at the Polytechnic of Turin and a patron of the arts, Vacchetta incorporated some Masonic symbolism into this masterful deck. The cards were designed as if he were carving them from marble. The images have a sense of material solidity, yet are characterized by graceful lines. An important historic reproduction modified for modern audiences by the addition of delicate color, this deck will be of interest to collectors and readers alike. Vacchetta was not only a skilled artist but also a scholar and learned iconographist (hence the name: Tarot of the Master).

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: 78 pages
• Publisher: Llewellyn Publications; Crds edition (March 8, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0738702366
• ISBN-13: 978-0738702360
• Product Dimensions: 4.9 x 2.8 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #434,308 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A beautiful and workable historical Tarot!, June 2, 2010

By 

Heyward B. Gardner Jr. (Osaka, Japan) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Tarot of the Master (Cards)

I highly recommend this Tarot as a reader and collector. It is beautiful and of historical significance. One of the earliest to adopt symbolic pictorial images on the Minor Arcana, this deck naturally carries a rather roccoco, 'old Italian' feel. The decorated Minor Arcana are not actually full scenes as in the Rider-Smith-Waite but they have a charming imagery all their own. The symbolism is not always explicit however and may perhaps be easier for reading for those Tarotists with some experience. But if you are new to Tarot and are drawn towards these older decks, don't hesitate, get it. The key words presented along the edges are not a detraction and can be useful if you choose to interpret with them. To use this deck is a joy, but you must be willing to step outside the 'Smith-Waite box' of interpretations a little bit and simply open up to the subtle imagery & symbolism.

The colors are soft but luminous and the illustrations are well composed and classical. I especially like the image of Diana on XVIII LVNA, and her brother Apollo playing a viola on XIX SOLE. There is other unique imagery as in the Regina Di Coppe (Queen of Cups) as a crowned hausfrau raising her cup while she roasts cornish hens in a kitchen; or the Queen of Swords (here as Regina Di Spada) holding a sword in her right hand and a sack in her left which obviously carries the severed head of a headless figure in the background scene of many tents (a battlefield ?).

I admit I am not totally pleased with the back design of the cards (a softly shaded green print of Le Bateleur) and would wish the publisher to give the card backs a more classical feel, and a pattern which would not so easily indicate reverse positions before the card is turned. But this is really not so big an issue with me and would perhaps reduce my rating by only half a star. The card stock is great and shuffles with ease. All in all, another great, quality edition from Lo Scarabeo.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Lovely deck, February 1, 2005

By 

Remy "Miacomet Remy" (the Bay State, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Tarot of the Master (Cards)

I am not sure what the previous reviewer was discussing as the picture of the Batleur, or Magician is on the back, and it is very obvious you can see which is which. But that's a minor quibble. The LWB (little white book) that comes with it is okay but does not truly discuss the symbology in the decks fully, it does give you a sample tarot layout to try which is called the Bridge and is just a nice 4 cards, so a beginner could start with this historical Tarot.

As for the colorization, it is incredible and if you are familiar with Marseilles thought you could get by very well and use standard Marseilles meanings. The cards on the side do have meanings in several languages English, French, Italian, German & Spanish that give you some hint of what and how they can be interpreted. I have found this helpful. An example is:
vi Amore Dolce Tavaglio where a blind cupid stands on the globe and aims wildly, underneath is a heart with an arrow.

The side says Amore, Love, Liebe, Amour, Amor.

I mention this as it is an interesting break with Marseille, which would show choice, and Lo Scarebeo's book does say that it was created with "artistic, aesethetic, and symbolic purposes" so there is some differences between it and Marseilles but it is not a Golden Dawn deck but the booklet does tell us that the artist was a master of design at the university there and magick did thrive in the area. All the more enjoyable.

So, if you enjoy working with the images more than the reasons, if you love to delve into the Tarot and want something where you could totally eschew guideposts and just go, this deck is for you. If you want to patch on Marseille meanings, you can but putting on Thothian ones may be a stretch. And yes it uses Marseille numbering so xi is Forza and not the Golden Dawn/Kabbalistic Justice and if you are a follower of that system, just ignore this deck. Otherwise from beginner to advanced reader, this deck is a surprising find....in the tarot tradition, here's a card to send you on your way, vii, il Carro, the Chariot, Glory.

8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An interesting deck from the pre-Rider-Waite-Smith period, October 29, 2002

By 

S. Gustafson "Holy Roman Emperor" (New Albany, IN USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Tarot of the Master (Cards)

This is an Italian deck that was engraved in the last years of the nineteenth century by Giovanni Vachetta. This puts it about twenty years before the familiar Rider-Waite-Smith deck.

The trumps are mostly based on Marseilles symbolism with some Classical touches; Cupid, Apollo, and Diana, for instance, are on the Lovers, the Sun, and the Moon. There doesn't seem to be any discernible esoteric theory behind the variations, though; there is no visible influence from Wirth, Levi, or the Golden Dawn here. All the cards are drawn in an attractive pre-Art Nouveau style.

The court cards are given personalities and settings; the King of Cups appears to be Bacchus; the Queen of Cups is in the kitchen cooking. The Queen of Swords seems to be Judith, wandering away from the camp with the severed head of Holofernes in a sack. Some may find some depictions rather annoying; the King of Coins, for instance, is a [typical]miser.

The pip cards are given various illustrations that may have been intended to convey divinatory meanings. The 9 of Clubs, for instance, depicts the clubs as pipes of an organ, with a Latin inscription "Dulce auditum" --- sweet to hear. Others may not be, though; the Coins march through the sequence of the Roman emperors, with the next one depicted on each coin; hard to see divinatory meanings for that. They are, however, decorative.

Unfortunately, the backs are not symmetrical on my copy. This makes the cards harder to use for reading; you can tell whether the coming card is upright or reversed. This is to me a flaw.