Tarot of the Imagination (Lo Scarabeo)

Thread originally posted on the Aeclectic Tarot Forum on 13 Aug 2002, and now archived in the Forum Library.

Faerie Lin	13 Aug 2002
This deck came yesterday, been wanting this deck since FORRR EEE VERRR (lol seen the movie Sandlot?). This deck is so freakin neat! I am in love with the style of artwork on it. I haven't seen anyone talk about this deck yet (I don't think anyway, if anyone could help me out I'd appreciate it), I did a search for it and found someone from long ago mentioning it but it didn't any replies, I was in such shock!! haha. Anyhow, I think this deck is absolutely beautiful, I have the feeling this is going to become one of the main tarot decks that I use. I think this deck is also GREAT for collecting. And with that said, I have to say that I have to put my tarot deck buying to a halt for now, maybe start again in a few months lol. But it was so fun collecting with you all, I'll still keep an eye out on everyone's good and bad reviews of decks. If it wasn't for you all, I would have still just had 3 decks. I'm gonna miss that new tarot deck high *sniff*. But I really have to become dedicated to saving up for certain things. Ok, I'm done! lol Lin

Keslynn	13 Aug 2002
I won this deck on eBay and am still waiting for it to arrive. When I saw pictures on the web, I admired many of them but was puzzled by others. Still, I think it's one I'm going to like. I'll let you know what I think for sure when I get the actual deck into my hot little tarotholic hands. :TQS Kes

Faerie Lin	14 Aug 2002
Hey Kes! :) I have to say looking through the cards I am kinda puzzled at a few myself. I am gonna do a reading for a friend of mine with this deck soon (hopefully today). Hope I can connect with it, they are such beautiful cards! I'll be looking forward to your opinion when your's arrive. Lin

Jeannette	15 Aug 2002
Kas: In case you're interested, I've had the opportunity to chat (both "live" and "electronically") with Riccardo Minetti at Lo Scarabeo, who was a primary contributor to the research/source material for the "Imagination" deck. It's a contribution he's particularly proud of (for good reason, IMHO), and he has a lot of interesting things to share about this tarot. One point I find particularly interesting is the background on the Sword suit. Here is a portion of an exchange between myself and Mr. Minetti that occurred on the CompTarot list: Quote: ME: I do find some of the [tarot of the imagination] imagery "disturbing" in some ways, but I do not mean that as a criticism at all. MR. MINETTI: I think the most disturbing is in the Suit of Swords: it pictures the "massacre of the Fosse Ardeatine", in Rome, during World War Two. It was one of the blackest point in Italian history. German troops, to avenge the death of 30 soldiers, killed by a bomb, rounded 300 persons and executed them: men, women, children... The image is shocking, as it gives fully the inhumanity, the coldness of that moment. But we thought that we should remember. Violence is not just part of the world, but too often part of our spirit. So we need to face it, outside, and sometimes within. But I agreed, in the end, with reviewers: I wouldn't want to have that image in front of me everyday :) I hope this gives you at least a piece or two of the "puzzle." -- Jeannette http://www.tarotgarden.com

Ophiel	05 Dec 2002
I just ordered this deck as I found the imagery quite dreamy and I thought I might want to crawl into a few of these cards. You should know ... I do not read cards. I study cards, meditate on them, in them, but have never had an interest in reading. I must be an oddity in this group...lol. This original post started in the summer, I believe, and now that I'm waiting for my new deck to arrive, was wondering if anybody has had an experiences with it, pro/con, and using them in readings is fine. I'm curious what sort of after-energy they leave you with.

RiccardoLS	06 Dec 2002
> I just ordered this deck as I found the imagery quite dreamy > and I thought I might want to crawl into a few of these cards. > You should know ... I do not read cards. I study cards, meditate > on them, in them, but have never had an interest in reading. I > must be an oddity in this group...lol. If You don't "read" cards You'll work perfectly with the Imagination. It just doesn't suit itself very well to traditional readings. Actually it was not that the purpose of the deck... or at least not with traditional spreads and questions. I remember I had a long "mail" conversation with Lee Bursten following on his review: http://www.tarotpassages.com/imagination-lb.htm Riccardo

neptune	06 Dec 2002
LOL! hah! I've seen the movie Sandlot too and I've wanted this deck FOR EEV VER too!

Ophiel	07 Dec 2002
I have been drawn to darker energy lately and I think this deck will "suit" me just fine. I find those most attractive to me are rarely the more popular decks. I think there is a great deal of energy to be found in the darker side of life. It's the other half of the whole picture. The sun warms the soul, but the moon nourishes it in a different way.

truthsayer	08 Dec 2002
due to the good press, i've researched this deck some. wicce has it listed in her 10 best decks list. maybe i'm a wimp but i don't think i'm ready for this deck yet. i can see that the art is exceptionally well done but the violence level bothers me. while violence is a part of life and art reflects life, i see about all the reality i can take on tv and newspapers. i at least like my tarot world a little more peaceful. who knows? i may get a wild hair one day and get it. ;) })

Ophiel	08 Dec 2002
Hi truthsayer >"while violence is a part of life and art reflects life, i see about all the reality i can take on tv and newspapers. i at least like my tarot world a little more peaceful. who knows? i may get a wild hair one day and get it."< Well, turn off the tv, cancel your newspaper, and order the deck already!

Keslynn	08 Dec 2002
When I got this deck, I flipped through it a few times. A lot of the images are really nice, and I don't think it would be a problem to read with it. However, we just didn't click. I never even got the urge to read with it. So I traded it away... :) Kes

RiccardoLS	09 Dec 2002
What I personally like in the imagination is the feeling those card are able to awake in me. Try to call in your mind those movie in which something "loud" happens, but there is not sound at all, like an explosion in space? I don't think I can describe exactly what I have in mind, but probably someone who owns the deck, may look at the deck in the same way as me. Best, Riccardo

firemaiden	27 Dec 2002
I purchased the deck in a desparate tarotoholic binge attack several months ago after seeing some of the art on line. I literally couldn't sleep until I had this deck in my hands. I am like Ophiel, I am not really a reader (yet?), but I just love the cards, they are like some kind of ferociously addictive mystic food! This deck, as far as mystic food goes, is one of the richest meals so far...that is to say, every image is so polysemic --- showing so many aspects-- depending on how you feel you can notice a positive detail, or a negative detail. What your consciousness choses to notice first of the card is so telling. In the 8 of coins for example, The booklet says, "the last stretch, the hardest, which bears all the load of the world" It is a card that shows the terrible oppressive weight of the world, and yet, and the same time, the success of bearing over it. Here is a horse-drawn coach labouring over a hill. It looks a bit like a "myth of Sisyphus" hill, the kind they might not ever get over, but rather keep rolling down to the bottom and having to begin anew. On the other hand, if I look at the spotless white horses, I see that they have just reached the pinacle and the worst seems to be over. The driver has his legs casually crossed with one foot dangling off the side, and looks unconcerned, but a man on the ground is pulling a rope and looks as though he is straining with all of his might to heave the carriage out of the mud, -- I can see it is mud because the carriage wheels are caked. A passenger looks to be sleeping, but above him, a diaphonous death figure is reaching a sinister hand down to his face. Here are a host of polarities: the horses are white, the carriage is dark. The man on the ground is straining, the driver is relaxed, the passenger is resting, yet haunted by visions. The sky is grey, yet hill is reddish. Everyone in the picture is connected to everyone else, by ropes, by reins, by by structures. Etc. I could go further, and notice that the shape of the carriage outlines a swastica, and intended or not, there are faces and figures to be discerned in the light and dark patterns of the hill and in the mud-cakes on the wheel! Depending on wht your eye choses to pick up in the moment of reading, this could be a card of hope, or a card of dispair. That is why I find this deck so stimulating!

firemaiden	27 Dec 2002
Caro Riccardo -- if you are there I see from reading here that there is a book in Italian created for this deck? I do read and speak Italian, it would be so interesting to have more information about what is specifically evoked -- clearly here are some very specific historical moments and figures, -- some need no introduction -- King Henry the Eighth and his Six wives, for example, or Jews being loaded onto box-cars during the Holocaust. But for the rest I would really love to read more from the creators of this deck. Is such a book still available? How would one get a hold of it. Do I have to help translate it? Paula

firemaiden	28 Dec 2002
p.s. What is the movie Sandlot? I have not heard of this.

Ophiel	28 Dec 2002
Here is a link to "Sandlot," though I have no idea what it has to do with this thread! lol. http://us.imdb.com/Title?0108037 I seem to be drawn to decks that have a touch of the surreal, like this one, the Secret Tarot. Another that comes right to mind for me is another Lo Scarabeo deck I just got, Tarot of the Imagination. Since my use of the cards isn't for reading, I find such decks (and gotta add Rohrig, too!) I must say, it's a bit overwhelming in this group, being surrounded by so many readers and not sharing that inclination myself. I use the cards for imaginative stimulation and meditation, and find the cards take me to some remarkable places. The Majors are usually my main focus, particularly their occult properties. Lo Scarabeo seems to be on a kick with this sort of dreamlike decks and I for one love it! I don't recall my dreams so well, so at least when I wander through the images on these decks, I get a taste of the dream world.

contrascarpe	21 Apr 2004
I wanted to revive this thread instead of starting anew. There was alot of great discussion on this deck in this thread. Now for my point - I just got this deck through eBay and anxiously await its arrival. For some reason, the images I have seen really pulled me in and spoke to the intuitive in me. My question to anyone with the deck (particularly those who posted in this thread) - almost two years has passed since this thread was alive - do you still feel the same about it? I have the feeling this is one of those decks I will read well with from the get-go. However, I have had that feeling before and was wrong. Would be interested to see if anyone uses this deck frequently for readings. Thanks, Dan

firemaiden	21 Apr 2004
hahah... well, I've begun reading in earnest now, a change since this thread. I don't read with the imagination tarot... yet. I'm scared to turn over a card and see "massacre" "beheading" "being loaded onto boxcars" etc... Although once I did a self reading to enquire about a jolly gentleman I had just met. He was a bit fat and fiftyish, and seemed to really love women. I turned over the card of Henry the 8th and his six wives... thought that was amusing. :D

Khatruman	21 Apr 2004
Quote: Originally posted by firemaiden once I did a self reading to enquire about a jolly gentleman I had just met. He was a bit fat and fiftyish, and seemed to really love women. I turned over the card of Henry the 8th and his six wives... thought that was amusing. :D Heyyyyyy, I have only added a few fun pounds to my middle, and, as you know, though I have just turned 43, I am not in that "fiftyish" category... as far as women...well, I have a particular fondness for fiery ones... ;) Actually, I did have something ON topic to say. I see an old post where you mentioned a book in Spanish. Did Riccardo ever give you info on that book or as to whether it might be available in English? I would love to know the referents for some of the pictures in the deck and the LWB doesn't say squat. Goes out singing,.. "Ahhm 'Enery the Eighth ah am, 'Enery the Eighth ah am, ah am...."

firemaiden	21 Apr 2004
Hey Buddy! you be mah man! I think the language in question was Italian, (don't let anyone hear me say this, but I have my doubts as to whether these two are actually separate languages) and no, Signore Riccardo did not answer. Lets invoke him... OH RICCARDO RISPONDERE PER PIACERE... Is there a book on this deck in Italiano?

Cerulean	21 Apr 2004
It is beautiful and I can work effectively with dark decks, but none of the stories illustrated in it related to how I was or am now. For some reason, the Tarot of the Imagination seems to me about beautiful scenic places that other people have been, not my own experience. For instance, my nephews can tell you about the pyramids in the Valley of the Kings from pictures in history, but it means little to them...it's someone else's history. It reminded me of Magritte, but I'm likely not remembering it well. http://www.magritte.com/ On the other hand, the surrealistic Dante Tarot and other Lo Scarabeo decks did strike a resonating note--Imagination did not for some reason although I found it amusing in some ways, as if I was in a film noir movie. The Gothic Tarot of the Vampires by Lo Scarabeo did click with me and you may find it silly, but there's more in it that related to some funny glitches in my personal history--leaves, flowers, shadows, light and shadow, small trees and branches and walking quietly at cemetary places with great respect and a sense of caring for those about me--once holding my younger sister's hand when she was three, once speaking also to a woman with a three-year-old about not tripping over the grass clumps. Sorry to ramble. I always thought it beautiful. Cerulean Mari

contrascarpe	22 Apr 2004
Thank you for your opinions. My Imagination came yesterday just as I was headed out the door but I haven't spent much time with it yet (perhaps this evening). I did go through each card and it somehow seems a bit uneven, but that may be a good thing. There are some very powerful images here - not sure I see it as a dark deck, but some cards are rather disturbing. I will have to pick and choose my victims for readings with this deck. Mari, I don't find your attachment to Vargo's Gothic at all silly. It is an interesting deck, rather reminiscent of experiences from my childhood (my brother of 9 years my senior instilled a warp view of the world on me, lol). Dan

DarkElectric	22 Apr 2004
Hi Dan :) I just got this deck too, and I absolutely love it. I don't refer to the lwb at all, I just let the images speak to me (although reading this thread and seeing the historical information concerning the suit of Swords was enlightening). I'm able to read reasonably well with it so far, although my experience isn't extensive yet. It may be one of those decks that I use for certain situations, where I would feel this deck would give me information most germain to whatever the situation happened to be. We'll see. So far, so good!

contrascarpe	30 May 2004
Well I have been working with this deck for over a month now and find it to be a powerful reading deck. I have used it for all of the Past Lives readings I have done. It is amazing how the cards seem to "shift meaning" for me. I see something new everytime I use it. I own many decks which are more beautiful, and also many that I also get effective readings with, but this one has yet to disappoint me. Even the "horrifying" cards often shed a silver lining in interpretation. One oddity - I believe every time I have done a reading, the Queen of Wands has appeared. I have never seen this with any other deck I have used. Needless to say, I am very happy with this deck, despite the dark images. Dan

tao51	22 Jun 2004
This deck is perfect for difficult readings. I can spend great periods of time meditating on individual cards.--Tao

tao51	23 Jun 2004
that this deck explores all aspects of the imagination from the violent to the erotic. The surrealistic aspects makes this an illuminating deck to read.--Tao

contrascarpe	24 Jun 2004
Yes, tao, this is my number one reading deck. There are decks I find more beautiful, artistically speaking, but this one is my most intense. Dan

tao51	25 Jun 2004
is I can do a spread then gaze into each card and see them form a story. I remember when I found this deck. I was searching for surrealistic deck that embraced more than psychodelics. The scenes on the cards showed a wider range of concepts. The basic LWB was of no value to me. I can draw a single card and see something differemt each time. They speak to that inner ear. They arouse and appeal to the spirit. Intuitive interpretations abound! It is my favorite deck for personal readings. --Tao

The Tarot of the Imagination (Lo Scarabeo) thread was originally posted on 13 Aug 2002 in the Tarot Decks board, and is now archived in the Forum Library. Read the active threads in Tarot Decks, or read more archived threads.