Product Description

The latest of Lo Scarabeo's stunning metallic decks, The Golden Tarot of Tsar is printed with shining gold foil, evocative of the richness of the art of the Tsars. Atanassov meticulously captures the intricate art of the Russian miniaturists who exemplified the art of this time. He also brilliantly merges the archetypes of the Tarot with the histories of Christian saints. Just as the saints achieved spiritual enlightenment and expressed their precepts in their daily actions, so the Tarot helps us access the spiritual and manifest it in our everyday lives.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #865660 in Books
• Published on: 2002-06-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 78
• Binding: Cards

About the Author
Since 1987, Art Publisher Lo Scarabeo has published over 100 Tarot decks that have been acclaimed all over the world for originality and quality. Only the best Italian and International artists are selected for our new decks, and the result is that Lo Scarabeo's decks are all recognizable as an exceptional artistic value.TraditionOne of Lo Scarabeo's goals is the preservation of traditional Tarot decks.DevelopmentNew decks and ideas are continually gathered from all over the world. This allows Lo Scarabeo to produce some of the most innovative decks available today.QualityLo Scarabeo is committed to ever increasing quality and beauty of their products.Distribution*Llewellyn is the exclusive distributor of Lo Scarabeo products in North America.

Customer Reviews

Good adaptation of Christian icons to Tarot archetypes
This deck represents Tarot archetypes using icons from the Eastern Christian tradition. For the most part, it accomplishes this goal quite nicely. The artwork is simply beautiful -- the creator of the deck is faithful to the iconographic style, and the backgrounds of the images are decorated in gold foil. The deck, for the most part, is pretty close to RWS in its interpretation. Because it uses Christian imagery, however, readers who are well-versed in Christianity -- specifically, stories from the Bible and tradition -- may be able to glean even more meanings from the cards.

The LWB is somewhat helpful. I didn't find the given divinatory meanings to be too helpful. Then again, the LWB format presents space limitations, so I guess that's inherent. On the other hand, one thing I did find especially useful was the description of the scenes. For example, the Three of Wands is described as Paul sailing toward Syracuse. Without that description, I would simply see a guy in a boat. Knowing who the guy is and where he is going helps me put the picture in a context and draw more levels of meaning from the card.

One minor gripe I have about the cards in general is that, in the Minor Arcana, the scenes could be a bit larger. As it is, the Minors feature the appropriate number of suit symbols over much of the display area, with a relevant scene in the middle of the card. In some ways, I would have preferred the suit symbols to have been directly integrated into the scenes, but that might detract from the iconographic style.

The court cards are sort of hard to read, but that's probably my issue rather than an issue with the deck. Like many other readers, I have always found court cards to be the most challenging.

The Major Arcana are executed very well in this deck. My personal favorite is the Star, which depicts the Nativity of Jesus.

I would recommend this deck to those interested in Christianity, especially Eastern Christianity.

Outstanding tarot deck!
This is a very beautiful deck from the Lo Scarabeo publishing house in Italy. As a collector's piece, the artwork chosen, the gold foil backgrounds and accents, and the fact that it is a unique Eastern Orthodox Christian deck fully illustrated with icons from that tradition make it a Must-Have. The Orthodox believe that icons are not just religious art, but are spiritual "windows into heaven", and that concept makes this tarot deck all the more meaningful.
For tarot reading, this is not a deck for beginners, but can be very rewarding. It opens up an entirely new dimension to tarot, by drawing on a very old tradition. It is quite simply wonderful!