Lo Scarabeo Epic Tarot

I have a difficult time with the court cards so I actually think having them be non-human would be easier for me. I really like the colours in this deck, and I think the artist is my favourite of Lo Scarabeo's artists so I've preordered this deck.

This deck came from a script that I made almost 10 years ago.
I recall at that time I made two Tarot scripts. One was the Tarot of Peace and the other what is now the Epic.
So long ago that I actually forgot most of the detail. To be honest, Barbara made a wonderful work of giving sense and shape on my scattered notes.

The deck started as an experiment on the Majors actually. When I made the Manga Tarot, I focused most of my attention to the minors. And with the Epic I wanted to complete the journey. My idea was to create a strong connecting structure among the cards, linking them in simmetry of opposition and complementarity. Something it's apparent in most esoteric systems (like Wirth or any related to Cabbalah). But I wanted it to be free of an outside system.

As for the Courts, I embraced willingly the 4 animals for two main reasons.
Forst, I didn't want the Court to be confused with other cards. So many times in a deck I have the feeling the Courts have no real place inside the deck. They are wonderful... but all the meaning the artist was asked to place was "make the Kinf od Cups: he is a King and holds a cup. Make it emotional but strong".
The animals are even more like this (or should I say they are purposefully like this). In a way, the Unicorn of Cups it's not different from the Unicorn of Wands, because they are actually the same Unicorn. In a different landscape.

But it was long ago. My passion for Tarot burned much brighter. And I always looked for the "why" of everything, trying to break and stretch the mold.
Today it's not a deck i would have done anymore. But... also, today, I don't feel anymore like doing a deck.

RiccardoLS said:

In a way, the Unicorn of Cups it's not different from the Unicorn of Wands, because they are actually the same Unicorn. In a different landscape.

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That makes so much sense.

RiccardoLS said:

But it was long ago. My passion for Tarot burned much brighter. And I always looked for the "why" of everything, trying to break and stretch the mold.
Today it's not a deck I would have done anymore. But... also, today, I don't feel anymore like doing a deck.

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That's sad. The Fey, for instance, is one of my favourites.

WAIT - I just found the original drawings you showed me way back when ! That's GREAT to see it out there I THOUGHT the Fool looked familiar !

RiccardoLS said:

So many times in a deck I have the feeling the Courts have no real place inside the deck. They are wonderful... but all the meaning the artist was asked to place was "make the King of Cups: he is a King and holds a cup. Make it emotional but strong".

Click to expand...

This made me laugh very hard... because it's very true.

RiccardoLS said:

But it was long ago. My passion for Tarot burned much brighter. And I always looked for the "why" of everything, trying to break and stretch the mold.
Today it's not a deck i would have done anymore. But... also, today, I don't feel anymore like doing a deck.

Click to expand...

So sorry that you are getting a little burned out. You do create wonderful decks, and i hope that your enthusiasm comes back.

So despite the fact that the US Amazon.com says June 08 I was able to order a copy and it arrived today. The deck is gorgeous - and well named, the epic feel permeates throughout.

It's more suit-cohesive than the Universal Fantasy was with each minor suit has the flavor of a world culture (Cups seem Japanese, Pentacles seem Celtic, Swords seem Greek, and Wands seem Arabian). I say flavor because it's the style of those cultures without overdoing it, I know some decks that do the culture-per-suit thing can feel a bit scattered but it works well here.

What I loved about the Universal fantasy is that the Tarot bones are there but lots of cards have strange, unusual images that suggest other possibilities and that is true with the Epic as well. If you want to you can slide into RWS for most of the cards but each has some other elements that allow you to take it further.

With the background info provided by Ric the arrangements of the courts don't bother me at all - I originally thought that would be an issue but the understanding that this is our Phoenix Queen as she travels through the realm of water works.

I'll post images of a few favorites when I can. Oh and the bonus card with a quote from the Odyssey was a nice touch.

My copy arrived today. It is gorgeous.

I pretty much agree with Shade 100%. The art is not as intricate and over the top as the UF's -- oh, don't get me wrong, it's intricate enough; but this is a deck that pays a lot more attention to human figures and facial expressions. It's a very different deck; just as good, but different.

I'm still not sold on the courts, though; I'll have to read with it, and see. (It's hard for me to connect a Phoenix with water, for instance.) I do love the peculiar twists on some cards, particularly the 8 of Cups; it's just brilliant.

It's a pity that Riccardo is not doing more decks. I think that's a waste. We need more decks like this one.

I took advantage of a bout of insomnia last night and trimmed it. Then I edged it in silver. My UF is trimmed and edged in gold --a wilder, showier deck. The Epic feels more subdued and cerebral, and silver fits it better, I think.

I just feel very enabled on this or the Universal Fantasy... actually, I love these courts! [emoji4]

One thing bothers me though: is there really no Fool card in this deck as the review on AT states? I looked for pics of the deck on Google and there is a card that definetly looks like the Fool! I'm a bit confused now...

I'm sure there is one. When ric started on it I saw some of the b/w images and there was a fool in there, as I said in an earlier post. It seems to be called the seeker now... but the image is shown here as 0.