2013 Lo Scarabeo's Tarot Illuminati

garmonbozia said:

I wish I were that brave. and much less anal-retentive.

The images of cards that I have seen where people trimmed-ff hideous borders look really great, but I am afraid of the edges not being even. I more don't like the idea of hurrting my precious cards.

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Well, even if we allow that the trimming job is perfect and seamless, trimming doesn't solve the bigger problem (for me): that the images themselves remain much smaller than they would have been if not strangled by borders to begin with. This is my problem with many Lo Scarabeo decks; the size of the cards is just fine, but because so much of it goes to the borders, the images are painfully smaller than they need be or, IMO, should be.

garmonbozia said:

I'm also a tuck box lover (hate tarot bags), and trimmed cards would slosh around inside a tuck box which would annoy me. Boxes that are too big for the cards, aren't all that good for protection.

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I agree completely. I always re-house trimmed decks in new receptacles, but it's the devil of a time trying to find new vessels that fit the new dimensions.

Chiriku said:

Although I'm unclear whether it's Lo Scarabeo themselves who are publishing this with distribution through Llewellyn, or whether it's a Llewellyn production, I had similar fears.

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From the artist's facebook page:

So Tarot Illuminati is in the very early stages of Production with Lo Scarabeo ! Pamela Steele has written an amazing forward for the companion book and Kim Huggins is turning out a companion book that is in serious danger of out shining the deck itself!

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I wonder if it WILL have multilingual borders - the Sacred Sites doesn't, for one, and nor do quite a few others of theirs, these days.

Thanks for that, gregory.

I'm not speaking as someone who is deeply bothered by the famous LS borders (although, admittedly, I am such a person) when I say that this sort of very visually "occupied" (busy), baroque-textured art will be severely underserved by equally "occupied" multi-lingual borders. The clash will be horrendous.

Chiriku said:

Thanks for that, gregory.

I'm not speaking as someone who is deeply bothered by the famous LS borders (although, admittedly, I am such a person) when I say that this sort of very visually "occupied" (busy), baroque-textured art will be severely underserved by equally "occupied" multi-lingual borders. The clash will be horrendous.

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For me it's more the jarring of opulence, colour, extravagance and captivating artwork and then this rather plain, dowdy "real life" font that punctures the otherworldliness of their decks. The last few decks have had very discreet borders but Dark Grimoire borders are my most unintrusive favourite.

If the cards were as big as the de Angelis/Universal "Professional" deck I wouldn't mind. That's such a great size.

Chiriku said:

I'm not speaking as someone who is deeply bothered by the famous LS borders (although, admittedly, I am such a person) when I say that this sort of very visually "occupied" (busy), baroque-textured art will be severely underserved by equally "occupied" multi-lingual borders. The clash will be horrendous.

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Oddly enough - as I say, I went through the Gilded Royale last night. The original Gilded had black borders - and the images bleed into them. The new one has lush fancy borders - and to my surprise I find that the images pop more than out of the plain black. YMMV !

Le Fanu said:

If the cards were as big as the de Angelis/Universal "Professional" deck I wouldn't mind. That's such a great size.

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That is much the size of the Gilded Royale. It would be nice.

Le Fanu said:

punctures the otherworldliness of their decks.

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A perfect turn of phrase to describe it.

No one should ever ask my opinion about the size of cards, because for me, the luxury of seeing a large image laid out before me always trumps any minor lack of ease in handling a large card. (This is assuming the large card is not eaten up by large borders--a rather unsafe assumption in the tarot world).

gregory said:

That is much the size of the Gilded Royale. It would be nice.

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Yes, wouldn't it. (Cue the Beach Boys).

Thanks felicityk for the link to the facebook page.

All l can say is wow! these cards look absolutely stunning the colours blew me away.
I know there is lot to take in and maybe some folks will think they are too in your face.
All l can say is l want, l want lol! I've not been this excited about a tarot deck for ages. The artist Erik C dunn has done a fab job. My favourite from those l have seen so far is the beautiful Hermit card, took my breath away.

And Kim Huggens (Kiama here) is writing the accompanying book. A fine tarotist and an experienced writer (Tarot 101, The God Tarot, and soon The Goddess Tarot).

I am going to add some of these in my wishlist.

Out of interest l googled the definition of illuminati, l really hope that the creator meant this to be a tarot of enlightenment, because the definition of illuminati has all sorts of....... what l can only say is darkness. Nevertheless l still think these cards are a masterpiece and maybe calling them what he did was coincidence and nothing to do with what the definitions say.