This deck was one I wanted to get as a gift for a friend of mine who is Italian.  All the titles are done in Italian, and the artistry is simply gorgeous.  On the Major Arcana, that is.  The Minor Arcana are more of the same stuff as in several other decks, i.e. the Eight of Wands is eight wooden sticks.

The pictures in the Major Arcana cards are elliptical in shape, with heavy gold borders and a series of symbols inset into the border.  These symbols include hebrew, sanskrit and isatin letters, numerical symbols, and esoteric symbols referring to the hidden meaning of the cards.  Most of these symbols will go over anyone's head who is not a Golden Dawn initiate or higher.  I know what they are supposed to be, but their meanings are certainly above my head.

However, the paintings themselves are simple enough to work with, and are very attractive.  I would buy this deck just to have the Major Arcana to work with, and leave the Minor Arcana cards in the box.  The suits are Swords, Staves, Coins and Cups but that is almost useless when there are no real pictures of worth in those cards.

The deck is larger than standard, mostly in length.  They aren't terribly easy to shuffle because of their length.  However, this can be gotten around if need be.  One thing that did annoy me was that the booklet that accompanies the deck is a published version of a hand-written text.  I don't understand why they couldn't have typeset the booklet.  Small enough nuisance however, in light of the quality of what is written in the booklet. It’s actually meatier than most little white booklets, with a good amount of useable information, if you don’t go blind reading it!

Click here for pictures

or here to return

Please use your browser's back button to return from pictures

Review Copyright 1998 by Gina M. Pace