Deck Review - Universal Fantasy Tarot by Paolo Martinello
A surprise recent addition to my collection, I saw The Fool card linked on a fellow Tarotistas blog, and had my interest piqued, as it was a deck I didn't recognise...so naturally tracked my prey, hunted it down, and invested!
Let's start with the basics!
Creator: Paolo Martinello
Publisher: Lo Scarabeo 2006
Deck Type: Tarot Deck
Cards: 78
Major Arcana: 22
Minor Arcana: 56
Court Cards: Knave, Knight, Queen, King
Suits: Chalices, Swords, Wands, Pentacles
Majors: standard titles, Fool = 0, Strength = 8, Justice = 11
Card Size: 2.625 x 4.75 in. = 6.5cm x 12.00cm
Corners: Rounded
Borders: yes, white border with black header and footer. 4 languages in the header, 2 in the footer.
Card Language: English, French, Italian, Spanish, German, and Dutch Card
Back: Reversible, showing scenes from the Wheel of Fortune card in each corner
Companion Material: little white book in English, Italian, Spanish, French, and German.
This deck is populated by characters and creatures made popular by fantasy novels and films, some familiar, others bizarre and strange - "Fantasy is one of the many narrative genres, consisting of adventure stories in settings that, while they contain elements of our Middle Ages, are actually outside of time, in a dimension that is extraneous to history. This fictional world is dominated by magic and populated by extraordinary characters and creatures: dragons, witches, invincible knights, demons and gods" - [excerpt from the LWB]. The LWB is very basic, giving just a sentence or two for each card, but provides details of an unusual 15-card spread, called 'The Castle with 15 Rooms', which is worth checking out!
The imagery in the deck is beautifully coloured, with bold yet natural shades, rather than eye-watering vibrancy, with many of the scenes set against well-proportioned backdrops and settings. The artwork is busy, and it can take the eye a few moments to pick out details, but the images are so rich that it's a joy to discover little touches that the artist has proudly included in them. The art style is flowing and organic, which is especially present in many of the court cards and majors (such as the Giger-esque Empress and the Mucha-esque Justice), and there is enough variety in the styles and content to keep the interest, without slipping out of the theme for the deck.
The cards are standard 'Lo Scarabeo' card stock, which means they're a little thinner than I'd like, and I worry how long they'd stand up to determined and prolonged use (or withstand a bit of mishandling by a cack-handed querent!), but as an occasional deck, they should last very well.
They're lightly coated, and, unlike some other Lo Scarabeo decks, which can be a little clumpy or sticky until they've been well handled, they shuffle like a dream, for both casino and hand-over-hand style - just the right size for the hand!
There are some images that are a little hard to grasp at first glance, like the darkly seductive Three of Chalices, the art-in-progress Ten of Wands, and the Seven of Swords that reminded me of a scene from 80s hero/sci-fi/fantasy classic Krull, but with a little patience, they yield valuable insights, and novel interpretations and influences for the meaning of the cards.
From beautiful art-nouveau touches in the Sun, the delicately organic Temperance and Lovers cards, the tribal style of the Knave of Swords, to the cleverly interpreted flag-waving Two of Pentacles, the deck offers a lot to explore and to indulge fans of the fantasy genre, and offers enough freshening of classic interpretations to have wider appeal too, definitely one to consider adding to your Tarot collection!
[images are © Lo Scarabeo srl, and included here with kind permission, and can be purchased via Amazon.com or Amazon.co.uk]
