*FAIRY Tarot 78 Card Divination Deck +Instr Lo Scarabeo

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This enchanting  release from the creator of the Tarots of the Gnomes features the playful little fairies themselves as the cousins of the Gnomes, with recognizably similar art styles. Small animals also feature prominently as the fairies' cohabitants of the magical world. An overall charm permeates the images in this deck.

This marks the fourth deck overall by Lupatelli, who shares a genuine love of fantasy and mythology with his artistic talents. It is his great skill in painting that saves this and his other decks from the terminally "cute" category. It is almost as though this one is a sequel to Tarots of the Gnomes, and you may do well to get both.

The Major Arcana has the usual 22 cards, and some are titled traditionally, others not. The Elf replaces the Fool, The Lover replaces a Lovers card, The Dryad symbolizes Justice, The Oread represents the Wheel, The Sylph replaces Temperance, The Troll takes the place of the Devil, The Naiad signifies the Star, and the Globe is at the end instead of the World. The Dryad as Justice is 8, and Strength 11. Cards are bordered in white with the Roman numeral at the top, titles in Italian at the bottom, and smaller letter titles in English, French, German and Spanish in the upper corners. Many of the Major scenes are shown at night in this deck, more than is usual, but they are all appropriate to the characters shown.

In the Minor Arcana, there is an interesting departure from Lupatelli's standard mode. While the Aces and the Court Cards feature his familiar style, the numbered cards are illustrated with Victorian-era pen-and-ink drawings of fairies. The look is totally different from Lupatelli's and is a surprise if you're not expecting it. Each numbered card features a pip arrangement of the suit items in one portion of the image field, with the pen-and-ink renderings in the other portion. Aces feature adorable baby animals. The suit items themselves are, in this deck, Hearts, Bells, Acorns and Leaves. Court titles are King, Queen, Knight and Knave. White borders again host the titles in five languages and the number at the top, this time in Arabic numerals.

The cards themselves are standard sized, which means they are slightly larger than their Gnomish counterparts. A thin but flexible card stock makes the deck comfortable to handle and easy shuffling. There is a slightly slippery protective coating on the cards. There is a little white booklet which accompanies the cards which has the most captivating little tale of the Fairy people given in it. A spread or reading key is also given for use with the cards, and it is different from others in different decks, so that when you collect all the decks you have a variety of reading spreads to use. Explanatory meanings for each card are also given, and there is a questionnaire at the end to fill out and send back to LoScarabeo.

This deck is recommended to anyone who collects fairy things. If you have the Gnomes deck you will also want this one. This deck would be extremely good for reading with children. However, the appeal is an all-ages one.  Deck collectors will definitely want to add this deck to their collections.

Fairy Tarot

By Pietro Alligo and Antonio Lupatelli
Artwork by Antonio Lupatelli

Tarot Deck - 78 Cards - Published by Lo Scarabeo

This deck by Antonio Lupatelli was published in 1997, and has found favour with many.

According to the little white instruction book, it seems that the great gnome wizard, Sichen, created the tarot. Fairies, unlike the industrious gnomes, are lazy but covetous, and wanted their own deck, so denizens of the Enchanted Realm (where the fairies live) got to work under Sichen's direction ... and there you have The Fairy Tarot.

The suits are Hearts, which correspond to Cups "This suit represents the emotional and sentimental sphere of the fairy society..." and Leaves, which correspond to Swords "Leaves are for fairies signs of thoughts and of intellectual gifts, but meanwhile it is also the sign of existential difficulties due to inner crises.". The other two suits don't correspond as neatly to the traditional suits: Acorns are "the basis of the winter diet of fairies. The choice of such a sign depends on the fact that this suit deals with difficulties and hard moments and gives suggestions how to overcome them." Bells "represent the sphere of manual labour, of craft, skill, and work."

These cards evoke a truly magical place. Each Ace has a totem animal -- the lamb for Hearts, the rabbit for Bells, the hedgehog for Leaves, and the pig for Acorns. Each comes with a Latin motto.

 Leaves: Assem Habeas Assem Valeas - A penny saved is a penny earned (or valued).

Hearts: Curae Acuunt Mortalia Corda - Cares (both anxieties and caring 'for' someone = solicitude) inflame or incite (literally - sharpen to a point) the mortal heart.

Bells: Discipulus Est Prioris Posterior Dies - Discipline is of the first following after the day. (It means something like - discipline is the first priority at the end of the day.)

Acorns: Bonis Nocet qui Malis Parcet - Goodness injures what evil spares (Goodness discourages what evil doesn't discourage).

Many of the Minors have meanings similar to the Rider-Waite-Smith ... but the message is made in an adorable, non-traditional way. The Three of Cups shows a wee angel celebrating with several friends -- but, in this case, they are birds. The background's chromatic effect just adds to the charm of the image. The Six of Cups shows the young fairies entwined with each other, but the air of childlike innocence speaks "nostalgia" as much as the R-W-S Six of Cups. The Five of Leaves (which corresponds to Swords) shows a tug of war. There are three children on one side, an insect on the other -- and the "rope" is one of the insect's legs! In the Six of Leaves, a child elf rides on the back of a swan across a tranquil river.

The backs are reversible, and look like photographs of a Lupatelli Knave (back to back). The instruction book is somewhat standard. Short interpretations of each card are given, along with the story of how the deck was created (by Sichen and the fairies, not by Mr. Lupatelli), a short piece on the method of divination (every reading is an act of magic), and The Pentacle, a five card spread.

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