Customer Reviews

The Vampires Tarot of Eternal Night

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Vampires, Tarot of the Eternal Night is attractive to look at but lousy for a tarot deck. Tarot decks are a challenge for the artist. They have to create nearly 80 pictures for just the one project. The cards have to be pleasant to look at, stick to a theme and convey the traditional imagery of the cards so they can be read. Normally I'd agree that two out of three ain't bad but here there deck so badly misses the third point as to make the deck useless for tarot.

It is a nice deck. The pictures are lovely and dark and avoid the porno vampire images and keep it sort of quasi Victorian man/beast stuff. The back drop is supposed to be sort of slightly shabby Rumanian night.

The problems with the images is that they usually don't carry off the required message. With the lesser cards traditionally the theme is repeated on the card- 5 cups are in the picture in the 5 of cups card. The challenge for the artist is to work them in. These have a picture with a number at the top and the suit at the bottom. But when it's more than one or two of each that disappears here, meaning the person using the deck doesn't really need the picture at all, just remember the numbers and suits. The 10 of swords for example, traditionally is some variation on a body riddled with blades. Here it's someone about to be staked. Is that the 10 of swords (real death) or the 9 of swords (fear of death) but you don't need the image, just the number and suit. Reader should use the picture for inspiration so you don't need to memorize all those details. These would just be a collection of numbers rather than inspiration.

The major cards are even worse. Just numbered, no title which is ok if the picture is invocative but these aren't. Not even close. For example card 11 is justice. The image in most decks is usually something about a judge . Here it's a slim woman sitting on a thrown holding the bat winged wand of the deck's image in one hand and a scale in the other .but the woman is not impressive and the scale is pretty small sort of lost in the other imagery. By the image this is more likely the queen of wands maybe- or the 6 of coins/pentacles oh right ignore the picture just look at the numbers. Card 21 the world shows a woman standing on a small path with a candle in each hand - it looks far more like a woman caught between problems the traditional imagery of either the2 of swords or 2 of coins is closer. 15, the devil in the deck is a beast vampire. Ok, a beast but the rest of the deck is full of these images too so it doesn't stand out.

Examples go on and on and on. The bottom line is that the pictures are nice for what they are, representations of vampires, However as tarot cards conveying traditional images within their own ethos, it kind of...sucks (well they are vampires.) nice to look at if you like vamps but as a tarot deck, move on. Not working and not worth it.

I must admit that buying Tarot decks is addictive for me. I find a deck with beautiful art and I find more often then not that I have to have it! :)

I have many decks, but only use a few on a regular basis. I hoped to add this deck to my "regular" rotation. However, I do have a few...grumbles about this deck.

First, the artwork is beautiful and interesting. The images are clearly computer generated, but mesmerizing. (I feel compelled to note that the images aren't just of vampires or vampire lore. There are also werewolves and some gargoyles, which could displease someone who thought the deck was composed of just vampire images.) Yet, the deck is confusing to use for a few reasons. Most tarot decks have cards that are properly labelled. A card will read "The Moon" or "The Sun", etc. However, these cards put symbols where the titles should be. One needs to use the booklet to figure out what the card is in the first place before moving on to read the meaning of the card itself.

Which brings me to another complaint. Most tarot decks have meanings for the reversed positions of the cards. There is a good and bad side to everything, so most decks have both meanings defined with each card. This deck only tells you the meaning of the right-side-up position of the card. There is no meaning if you draw the card and it is upside down. Sure, you can guess and say the reversed is the opposite of the right-side-up meaning, but most tarot decks don't let you make that leap on your own.

Personally, I found this deck to be a bit lacking. The art is wonderful, don't get me wrong, but the lack of proper titles and reversed meanings makes it a bit difficult to use and take seriously.

I don't regret buying the deck. I will try to get used to the differences and use it, but I didn't think it was one of the best on the market.

I found the artwork to be beautiful, the imagery is dark but intricate enough to allow for my style of reading to work well...the one problem I have with it is that the point of view of the imagery is so skewed towards darker ideas that I've found it tricky to use.
Still, if you are a fan of vampires, Gothic images, and have a darker point of view this is a great deck.

I would rate the art 5 stars and the symbolic representation a 0 star. The art is great, I gave it 3 stars because the art does not correspond to traditional tarot representation. You are asked to relearn the meaning of each card. I had the pack for a day and gave it to a friend.

If you dont mind relearning the meanings of the cards, are an intuitive reader, or a fan of vampires you'll love this deck. If, on the other hand, you are looking for a tarot deck with great art while sticking to traditional tarot interpretations, you will not.

The Tarot that I had bought, the Vampire Tarot of Eternal Nights, is a very good deck for tarot beginners. I am myself, an advance user of Tarot, and the main purpose of buying this deck is solely due to the attractive art. But the manual that comes with the deck is very easy to understand, even for beginners.

Fully recommend this product to tarot users, whether beginner, advance or expert levels.

P.S: Amazon.com delivers it very fast to me, within a week even though I opted for the slowest delivery method. Well done

"This splendid deck of Tarot pays homage to the wonderful `horror' literature of the 19th century. The suggestive images of Davide Corsi transport the observer to distant times, in fantastic and mysterious places, where darkness becomes the essential element. The walls of ancient manors hide and safeguard the secrets of the vampire, who comes here depicted in all his manifestations: man or woman, dog, wolf, or bag, demon or monster." -- From the Little White Book to the Vampires Tarot of the Eternal Night

I am not "into" vampires. I've never read an Anne Rice's Vampire Chronicles nor the Twilight series. However, I *am* a fan of Davide Corsi's computer generated decks, which include the Pictorial Key Tarot and the Tarot of the Elves.

Naturally, I wanted to get my hands on the Vampires Tarot of the Eternal Night, primarily so I could see what technical wizardry Corsi produced with this latest deck from Lo Scarabeo.

Gratuitous bloody scenes or romanticized hand-to-the-forehead poses might be expected for a deck dedicated to vampires. Not in the Vampires Tarot of the Eternal Night! Instead, I found this deck to be provocative, even elegant.

Realistic, arresting creatures populate this deck. Yes, the pale, lithe vampires are here, but there are also hairless, bat-eared beings with milky, translucent skin as well as wolfish, powerful, menacing monsters.

From burnished wood caskets in card X (The Wheel) to veined, muscled black horses in the Knight of Swords, many depictions are downright photorealistic. There's also a strong sense of movement to the Vampires Tarot of the Eternal Night, as with the blurring of bat wings in card XVI (The Tower) and the dusty stirrings of skin disintegration in card XIX (The Sun).

The card borders are outstanding: a stonework frame, reminiscent of a mausoleum's entrance, encases the central image. As with his two previous decks, there are no words on any of the cards. The Major Arcana features roman numerals, while the Minors bear color-coded, marble-like placards with the number and suit symbol. (Coins are emerald green, Cups are royal blue, Wands are crimson, and Swords are gold. The Majors are charcoal).

The Court Cards symbols are a bat (Knave), lion (Knight), head with long feathery hair (Queen) and head with coiffed hair (King). Because of the absence of cards names and abstract court symbols, beginners would probably find the Vampires of the Night Tarot quite challenging to use.

Cards measure approximately 4 ¾ x 2 ½ inches with handsome backings that are not quite reversible because of the (small) central sphere in the design. However, whatever that scarlet central image (I haven't been able to figure it out), it certainly produces a hypnotic effect while shuffling!

The Little White Book to the Vampires Tarot of the Eternal Night contains glaring errors and contradictions, and the interpretations don't correspond with the images (as is the case with many Lo Scarabeo decks). However, the card meanings that *are* clear and accurate aren't bad at all (some are even thought provoking).

So how does the Vampires Tarot of the Eternal Night read for someone who's not into vampires? I was wondering this myself! I admit not to expecting much, not because of the illustrations--as I said, they're striking--but because I don't relate much to the genre.

Yet, when I did three separate one-card readings with this deck, I'll be darned if it was not only accurate, but had a sense of humor! The cards spoke with such clarity, that I admit to being quite surprised. One card made me chuckle with its encouraging bluntness, while another was truly profound. For example, I asked what I needed to know most about my novel-in-progress and drew card IV (The Emperor).

However, I didn't notice it to be The Emperor right away. Rather, I the ankh brooch at the neck of the figure, located at the throat chakra, "said" to me "express your truth, don't censor". Then I noticed the large, clear goblet of wing (er, blood?) that the person was holding. I immediately thought of the Ace of Cups and "heard", "write from your soul, the depth of your being". (The Ace of Cups often comes up for me when I need to dig deep when writing, or accessing the wellspring of Spirit.)

And then I saw the glowing full moon in the background and "heard", "trust your intuition and the receptive side of creativity". It was *then* that I noticed that it was the card usually called The Emperor. And then I heard a message about boundaries, organization and routine (something for arranging those impressions in an orderly fashion). And I "got" all that information in under a minute!

So if you enjoy the CGI artistry of Davide Corsi and would like to expand your cache beyond traditional decks (in case you're not into vampires like me!), do give Vampires Tarot of the Eternal Night a try. I found the imagery of this deck to be far superior to the cartoonish The Vampire Tarot in both art and depth of intuitive transmission. I plan to use this deck for the "darker" elements of my novel and for plotting, as well as any time I want an especially piercing dose of truth.

-- Janet Boyer, author of Back in Time Tarot

(To see 19 images from this deck, visit the Reviews--Decks section at JanetBoyer.com)

I must say, I love thos new tarot deck, the long wait was worth it. Each card tells a story and gives a horrific, yet artistic message. This creatures look as if they are talking to you or kill you, either or. Tehy are worth getting, they will leave your mind thinking and wonder how to interpret each card. If your a gothic person or love the dark side of things, this cardsa re for you.

The Vampire Tarot of the Eternal Night from Lo Scarabeo is the newest of several vampire themed decks. This photo-real offering however, has a gothic noir realism that others lacked. The deck has a general lack of traditional symbolism that might make readings difficult, however the deck does depict a rich midnight landscape of iconic vampires whose dramatic presence and subtly horrific demeanor effectively portray a secret world bathed in moonlight, ancient memories and casual horror. At different points we see glimpses of both the smooth bloodless sensuality and the cold predatory monster that haunt our dreams of the glamorous undead.

I am not a fan of the vampire genre but this darkly beautiful deck is something special. The rather backwards nature of the deck creates some unusual twists such as the aggressively colored Sun's portrayal of purifying fire burning away the corruption that is vampire existence. I particularly liked The Hermit. This has always been a favorite card, and I liked it's treatment in this deck. The tall brooding stranger gazes knowingly over a balustrade, while The Hermit's lantern is cleverly depicted as a streetlight. The deck is artistic and it's figures are expressive, any fan of the forever pale would find The Vampire Tarot of the Eternal Night a sanguine addition to their collection.

The Vampire Tarot of the Eternal Night is a standardized Tarot deck of 78 cards/22 Major Arcana/56 Minor Arcana. The deck measures 2.60 x 4.72 inches (6.60cm x 12.00cm). It created by Davide Corsi and Barbara Moore with companion book by Barbara Moore and was published by Lo Scarabeo in 2009. [...]