This brand-new tarot deck from Lo Scarabeo is painted by Silvana Alasia, who also painted the Egyptian Tarots (I Tarocchi Egiziani).  Those were painted on papyrus; this set looks a little less like ancient tomb art.  There is still the same flavor of being painted in the style of the ancient artworks; however, these have more character as if depicting excerpts from everyday real life in Egypt.

The backdrops on these cards have a slight creamy blue color to them, and are bordered in a medium blue.  The titles on the cards are in five languages; the Italian is in the bottom border, English, French, German and Spanish are at the top, as well as the numbers.  Even the back design is an interesting repeated pattern of smaller images of an Egyptian woman.  These are not in any way a copy of Rider-Waite symbolism, but are consistent with the Egyptian style throughout the deck.

The Major Arcana in this deck feature traditional titles and order, with a small exception.  The Lover replaces the Lovers.  One letter can make a lot of difference and there is a great deal of difference in the nuance that defines this card.  Justice is 8 and Strength 11.  Another interesting deviation from the traditional is the Devil card, which features a stylized Nile crocodile as the Devil.  In addition to the figures in the scenes painted on these cards, the images also contain a lot of symbols, as if they were painted on the walls in the rooms the figures are standing in.  Many contain actualy hieroglyphics, but there are also key signs such as the Eye of Horus, Scarab beetles, and the like.  Suit signs are also shown periodically.

In the Minor Arcana, we return to some traditional roots.  Cups, Pentacles, Wands and Swords are the suit titles.  The pentacles themselves appear to be golden disks with ankhs on them.  The cups look more like Egyptian pedestal footed bowls.  Wands are standard long staves, and the swords are true to the type of sword used in Egypt at the time consistent with what is pictured in the cards.  Aces are represented by animal beings which represent the powers inherent in each suit.  I hate to borrow from Native American terminology to describe Egyptian symbolism, but they are effectively totem animals, only from a different culture.  In this case, the Scarab beetle is the Ace of Cups.  Horus is on the Ace of Swords, and there is an Ox on the Ace of Wands.  The only one I can't figure out is the Ace of Pentacles; the animal looks to be some sort of baboon but since it is representational not a direct likeness it's hard to tell.  Court cards are King, Queen, Knight and Knave.

The cards themselves are standard in size and printed on a slightly thinner card stock than the usual for Lo Scarabeo decks.  They are coated with a thin glossy protective finish that makes them a little slippery to handle at first.  They shuffle and handle easily and break in quickly.  The deck comes accompanied with a little white folded booklet, which is a new feature with Lo Scarabeo decks.  Previously, decks came with a series of cards at the end of the deck, which gave *very* brief simplified meanings for use.  In these booklets, more information is given about the background for the deck, and the divinatory meanings are more in-depth than they used to be.  An interesting note is that a different spread, or "reading key" as it is called in the booklet, is given with each deck.  This means that collectors who own more than one deck will accumulate different spreads to use.  The booklet ends with a fairly detailed survey card which the user can fill out and return to Lo Scarabeo with their comments, a welcome change.  This form can also be found on the Lo Scarabeo website for those who wish to send it electronically.

I can recommend this deck easily for anyone who is interested in working with Egyptian symbology in their tarot studies.  Like the Egyptian Tarots by the same author, I find this authentic art style much more pleasing to the eye than some of the other styled clones I have seen before.  I especially like the "distressed" look the images have, which makes the paintings look somewhat ancient and faded, and really contributes to the flavor of the deck.  One drawback is that the art style is so similar to the Egyptian Tarots that owning both decks is rather redundant.  I am partial to this one more than the other one, on a personal level.  Beginners will have a hard time learning with this deck, but it might be a valuable accessory in tandem with a more traditional deck.  Collectors will definitely want to add this one to their collections.  This deck is not, as yet, distributed in the United States.  Email Wicce for more information on ordering a copy.

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Review Copyright 1999 by Gina M. Pace

Tarots of the Sphynx by Silvana Alasia, 1998
published by Lo Scarabeo

note: if you are interested in purchasing this deck, email Wicce.