Initiatory Tarot of the Golden Dawn

Hi all,

I think when we originally heard about this deck it was being called the New Tarot of the Golden Dawn. I assumed it wouldn't be seen for some time but earlier I was minding my own business not trying to spend any hard earned money on new tarot decks when I saw the Initiatory Tarot of the Golden Dawn on Alida (can't seem to post a link to their scans)

I hunted around but only found a few mentions of the deck:

http://www.as2.pl/initiatory-tarot-golden-dawn-p-1419.html

http://loscarabeo.com/Preview_2008.pdf

Now, I've never made a lot of use of my Golden Dawn Magical Tarot but there's something I really like about this deck. It has the same esotericism of the Golden Dawn system but the cards, especially the people depicted have a much stronger emotional pull than I have seen on decks like the Golden Dawn Magical. I didn't see it for pre-order on Amazon yet so I'm battling the temptation to order from overseas and pay so much more for it (damn the weak US dollar!)

What do other folks think of the decks?

Incidentally: Wahoo post #1,000

The impassioned tarot yearning...until September...

Congraduations on 1,000, Mr. Shade!

...pleasant and charming as some of my tarot yearnings are, this one for me can wait until September 2008, at least. But if you do get a notion to have alidastore.com deliver it, I'll be all ears. I also found the Mona Lisa in scans and in seeing to be sumptuous and beautiful--but the book really seems to me to be the key to unlocking it's beauty, so I'm awaiting it for a year or so.

I like the scans of your chosen deck and I can see it looks charming and curiously different. The short-haired page-cut seems to frame an elfin charm and of course, she'll be whispering your name to you in your dreams. Who are you to resist?

It is kind of funny to me some decks that I've special-ordered sometimes got delayed...I was looking at my Spanish Tarot Hadas with the amazing book that I intended to study...but this got derailed last year because the Mystic Faerie danced its green and gold winsome charm all over my eyes.

But the Hadas re-emerged in it's pensive glory during a recent clearing up and
we'll see if I can keep at it for a bit.

I've been awaiting my Divinatory Tarot book Papus translation into English for about...I think the 'back-order' is about two years old! Oh well, maybe by December 2008...until then, I'm letting some of my esoterically challenging yearnings stay a yearning for a few more months!

Best wishes,

Cerulean

With a total lack of regard from my IDS pledge, I left work today not determined to buy a new deck but definitely open to the idea. And to my surprise, while some websites still have this deck on preorder status, my local book shop had a copy. I thought about it for the length of time it took me to reach down and scope it off the shelf and then headed to the counter to pay for it.

I am shocked by how much I like this deck from the very start. I knew it was coming out and not that interested. As soon as I started to look at images they are just great. They are the traditional style and look of a Lo Scarabeo deck but they seem deeper, darker and clarity to them.

As it has been said in the forum before there are the two corrected cards which does give you a bit of an option to set the deck to Strength as VIII or XI and likewise with Justice.

Loads of great facial expressions and I love the fact that to angle of the point of view is played in interestings ways. The Courts are fantasitic and powerful. There are heaps of imagery, symbols and color on evey card that will have something for everyone. This one will do doubt take some work to get a handle on and yet already feels familiar.

Only draw back for me, as I am a bit of a prude, is that there is a good deal of nudity. Though this deck seems to be very serious and intense I wouldn't see me using it with anyone who couldn't handle it.

Okay off to keep looking at the cards. My favorite cards right now are the Moon (awesome beauty), The Tower (standing at the foot of the Tower you look up in to the faces of those falling, Whoow), The Devil (Seriously a strange, dark card.)

Onyx.

Overall I am pleased with my deck. I love the majors. Great job there. I can follow the RWS style and yet see a great new twist. As it should be there is GD symbolism to enrich the meanings and take them to a new level. Great job!

Some of the minor cards I am not getting. I will have to research the symbolism a bit to get a better appreciation, but for now I would have to read intuitively.

The artwork is just beautiful. A job well done by Patrizio Evangelisti. Has he done any other decks? I love the expressions that are captured. I love the colors that are used. Just beautiful. It is a somewhat comic book style yet it commands respect because it is wonderfully executed. Again I stress what a beautiful rendition is done with capturing expressions and body language as well as intricate details like the muscles in the horses' bodies.

So what are the disappointments? Well, quite a few of the minors I don't quite get. The meaning intended does not pop out to me right away. I am hoping with a little research into GD I may get what the author is intending to portray. An example is the 6 of swords. A young girl, probably pre pubescent carries the head of a warrior on a platter. You can see the warrior's headless body laying on the ground behind her. She seems a little in shock to me. Unexpressive considering she is carrying a bloody head. Is there a reason her dress is shear? Who cut off the guys head? She is not bloody at all so it couldn't have been her. I am just not getting this one. There are a few other minors that I am confused about too.

Another disappointment is the court cards. They are based on Thoth and that is fine, but I see the same set of courts with just different backgrounds. Not much there in my opinion, to separate the different courts from there counterparts. In other words, to me, all the Princess' are very similar, all the Princes are similar, etc....

All in all, I am happy with this deck and will have fun exploring it. I think they did a great job with this deck. Hats off LoScarabeo!

I just got this deck yesterday, and so far I really like it. They added two extra cards - strength and justice, so that you can use whatver numbered version you prefer (8 and 11 or 11 and 8).

The card that puzzled the heck out of me, though, was the lovers card. I get that it's a heroic version of a card - I think that it's supposed to be Perseus coming to save Andromeda from the sea monster (maybe I should check the lwb)- but it still seems an odd choice of imagery. I'd have used that for the knight of swords, instead.

This is another deck I wish that there was a book for, although it's perfectly readable without one. I just don't know very much about the Golden Dawn.

Anyway, I like this deck so much that I've set it aside for further study, rather than immediately putting it away in my collection.

Printing error?

shadowomyn said:

I just got this deck yesterday, and so far I really like it. They added two extra cards - strength and justice, so that you can use whatver numbered version you prefer (8 and 11 or 11 and 8).

Click to expand...

The two extra cards are corrections for mistakes in the original printing. It is discussed here in this thread.

http://www.tarotforum.net/showthread.php?t=102934

If you notice on both XI it says Justice but the pictures are different, and on VIII they both say Strength.

Heck it isn't anything a Sharpie can't fix to allow you to chose but I thought I would mention the thread.

Onyx.

Whoops! Thanks for mentioning it. Well, that's kind of a bummer, I got all excited thinking this could become a trend.

eta: I remember wondering why "strength had scales in her hand, but figured it was balancing strength with mercy, or somesuch. LOL!

I'd love to see more scans (other than those here on AT). Does anybody know where to find some please?

Thankyou so much, jackdaw*!!! I absolutely love that Magician card, tho I find the Empress singularly insipid

*plugging through on slow internet*

\m/ Kat