Lee
I received this deck by Mark McElroy and Anna Lazzarini a few days ago (I had ordered from Amazon, and they said it wouldn't be available for months, but suddenly there it was in the mail). I'm really excited about this deck for several reasons. I suppose I might be biased because a) I'm a Lo Scarabeo author too, and b) I've worked with Mark (I assisted in a small way on his book Beginner's Guide to Tarot). On the other hand, I think I've been pretty good about stating my honest opinions about decks, positive or negative, over the years, so take it as you will!
I love the Lo Scarabeo Tarot. Much as I enjoy theme decks (and having created two of my own), I also like to read with "back to basics" kinds of decks, which for me means decks which echo the first deck I worked with, the RWS. This group for me includes the Gilded Tarot, the Robin Wood, the Hanson-Roberts, the Morgan-Greer -- decks which don't reflect any particular theme or culture other than a pseudo-Medieval environment, and symbology based on late 19th century occultism. The Lo Scarabeo Tarot is firmly in that category and to my mind deserves to be considered in the same rank as those other decks I listed. In fact, I think it represents an improvement on those decks.
The stated theme of the deck is that it combines the three major tarot deck "traditions" -- the RWS, the Thoth, and the Marseille. Having now seen the entire deck I can confirm that there is indeed a major influence from all three traditions in the Lo Scarabeo Tarot (hereinafter I'll refer to it as the LST). However, Mark has fashioned the deck freely and creatively, and so people shouldn't expect that each card will contain 33.333% each of RWS, Thoth, and Marseille. In many cards one or two of the influences predominate; in some cards, only two of the influences are detectable. But due to Mark's and Anna's skill, the deck doesn't appear to be a jumbled mess of disparate imagery stuck together. Rather, the deck is an organic whole, and the visual elements from all three traditions combine in a harmonious way.
People who take any of the three source decks extremely seriously, though, will probably want to stay away from this deck. Although the LST borrows elements from the RWS, Thoth and Marseille, the LST is not the RWS, the Thoth, or the Marseille, and if you are the sort who believes that one or more of those three decks perfectly reflects the mathematical laws of the universe (not that there's anything wrong with that), you may feel that the LST is being disrespectful of an honored tradition.
If, on the other hand, you enjoy seeing familiar tarot tropes re-imagined in creative and vital ways, then this deck is for you.
I suppose there will be much discussion and argument about the specific choices Mark made in regard to the three traditions. To be honest, I'm much less interested in the combination-of-three-traditions aspect of the deck and much more interested in judging the deck on its own merits as a reading deck. There's a lot more to the deck than the RWS/Thoth/Marseille elements. Mark also adds plenty of his own insights and inspirations. I even detect a few glimpses of the Thomson-Leng Tarot.
And I must say something about Anna's gorgeous artwork. She works in the same style as many of Lo Scarabeo's artists, but she is extremely skilled, and my theory is that she's devoted more time and care to the creation of this deck than is involved in many LS decks. The images are line drawings colored with watercolor, and they're interesting and stimulating while at the same time being very serene and refreshing. I much prefer this art to that of the Llewellyn Tarot, whose images I find to be too indistinct. The LST images are lovely and also lively and communicative. One card I love which I don't in most decks is the Devil. It generally follows the RWS, but the expression on the Devil can be seen as gentle, suggesting that the energies symbolized aren't inherently dangerous, and only become so when repressed.
In the LWB mark provides two keywords for each card (one representing the "Light" and the other the "Shadow" aspects of the card). Some of these keywords may be a bit puzzling to those who are unfamiliar with Mark's approach to tarot. I have no idea if there will ever be a book for the LST, but in case there's not, if you want more insight into the keywords and also into the reasoning behind some of the images, I suggest you consult any of Mark's tarot books, especially the Beginner's Guide to Tarot. But if you prefer to just work with the deck without the LWB, you certainly can, as the pip cards follow the GD-based meaning pattern found in the RWS and Thoth.
The cards have the standard LS titles in six languages, but, as on the Universal Marseille, they're so small that it's easy to not notice them. My only gripe is that the titles in some cases differ from the titles used in the LWB. The LWB has Coins, Cups, Princess, Prince. The cards' English titles have Pentacles, Chalices, Knave, Knight. I had a similar problem on an LS project that I was involved with, so I know it's not Mark's fault. Other than this, Lo Scarabeo deserves a round of applause for a job well done on this deck.
This deck has immediately become my scenic-pip deck of choice, and my non-scenic deck of choice is Chris Butler's Le Millenaire Tarot de Marseilles. I feel more strongly connected to these two decks than I have with any other. I highly recommend them!
-- Lee
I love the Lo Scarabeo Tarot. Much as I enjoy theme decks (and having created two of my own), I also like to read with "back to basics" kinds of decks, which for me means decks which echo the first deck I worked with, the RWS. This group for me includes the Gilded Tarot, the Robin Wood, the Hanson-Roberts, the Morgan-Greer -- decks which don't reflect any particular theme or culture other than a pseudo-Medieval environment, and symbology based on late 19th century occultism. The Lo Scarabeo Tarot is firmly in that category and to my mind deserves to be considered in the same rank as those other decks I listed. In fact, I think it represents an improvement on those decks.
The stated theme of the deck is that it combines the three major tarot deck "traditions" -- the RWS, the Thoth, and the Marseille. Having now seen the entire deck I can confirm that there is indeed a major influence from all three traditions in the Lo Scarabeo Tarot (hereinafter I'll refer to it as the LST). However, Mark has fashioned the deck freely and creatively, and so people shouldn't expect that each card will contain 33.333% each of RWS, Thoth, and Marseille. In many cards one or two of the influences predominate; in some cards, only two of the influences are detectable. But due to Mark's and Anna's skill, the deck doesn't appear to be a jumbled mess of disparate imagery stuck together. Rather, the deck is an organic whole, and the visual elements from all three traditions combine in a harmonious way.
People who take any of the three source decks extremely seriously, though, will probably want to stay away from this deck. Although the LST borrows elements from the RWS, Thoth and Marseille, the LST is not the RWS, the Thoth, or the Marseille, and if you are the sort who believes that one or more of those three decks perfectly reflects the mathematical laws of the universe (not that there's anything wrong with that), you may feel that the LST is being disrespectful of an honored tradition.
If, on the other hand, you enjoy seeing familiar tarot tropes re-imagined in creative and vital ways, then this deck is for you.
I suppose there will be much discussion and argument about the specific choices Mark made in regard to the three traditions. To be honest, I'm much less interested in the combination-of-three-traditions aspect of the deck and much more interested in judging the deck on its own merits as a reading deck. There's a lot more to the deck than the RWS/Thoth/Marseille elements. Mark also adds plenty of his own insights and inspirations. I even detect a few glimpses of the Thomson-Leng Tarot.
And I must say something about Anna's gorgeous artwork. She works in the same style as many of Lo Scarabeo's artists, but she is extremely skilled, and my theory is that she's devoted more time and care to the creation of this deck than is involved in many LS decks. The images are line drawings colored with watercolor, and they're interesting and stimulating while at the same time being very serene and refreshing. I much prefer this art to that of the Llewellyn Tarot, whose images I find to be too indistinct. The LST images are lovely and also lively and communicative. One card I love which I don't in most decks is the Devil. It generally follows the RWS, but the expression on the Devil can be seen as gentle, suggesting that the energies symbolized aren't inherently dangerous, and only become so when repressed.
In the LWB mark provides two keywords for each card (one representing the "Light" and the other the "Shadow" aspects of the card). Some of these keywords may be a bit puzzling to those who are unfamiliar with Mark's approach to tarot. I have no idea if there will ever be a book for the LST, but in case there's not, if you want more insight into the keywords and also into the reasoning behind some of the images, I suggest you consult any of Mark's tarot books, especially the Beginner's Guide to Tarot. But if you prefer to just work with the deck without the LWB, you certainly can, as the pip cards follow the GD-based meaning pattern found in the RWS and Thoth.
The cards have the standard LS titles in six languages, but, as on the Universal Marseille, they're so small that it's easy to not notice them. My only gripe is that the titles in some cases differ from the titles used in the LWB. The LWB has Coins, Cups, Princess, Prince. The cards' English titles have Pentacles, Chalices, Knave, Knight. I had a similar problem on an LS project that I was involved with, so I know it's not Mark's fault. Other than this, Lo Scarabeo deserves a round of applause for a job well done on this deck.
This deck has immediately become my scenic-pip deck of choice, and my non-scenic deck of choice is Chris Butler's Le Millenaire Tarot de Marseilles. I feel more strongly connected to these two decks than I have with any other. I highly recommend them!
-- Lee
) and was really captivated by how readable it was and yet how respectful of the three traditions its creators had been while synthesizing them into a continuous whole. As you say, fundamentalists who adhere strictly to any one of these traditions may be irked, but the cohesion and imagination in this deck is palpable.
