DaughterOfDanu
Oh dear I wish I'd checked this thread first. I didn't know it was out at Amazon yet. I just got a copy from the Book Depository but it'll take a good week or two before it's in my hands (That is, if it doesn't get cancelled)
Dark Fairytale Tarot- LoS
rwcarter
This came Wed or Thu, but I didn't have time to do more than glance through it quickly. Finally took a good look at the cards and read the LWB. I find the Fool to be striking, and it's easily my favorite card in the deck. Love the backs.
The faces in the deck bother me. Most are real-life faces, but some (Magician and 2 Wands come immediately to mind) seem to be more cartoonish/comic book-ish) and some seem to be neither. I find the inconsistency to be jarring.
A few of the meanings in the LWB made me go "Huh?" but for the most part I like the different takes on traditional RWS meanings.
I find it interesting that they link the Dark Angels to this deck by way of "If you liked this deck, we also suggest you:" (sic - the "to" is missing before "you"). There's the Lillie connection in terms of LWB author, but where I find the Dark Angels to be 80's video cheesy, I think this deck has both merit and bite to it. Think I know which deck I'll be using for my next Dark Exchange reading.
Rodney
The faces in the deck bother me. Most are real-life faces, but some (Magician and 2 Wands come immediately to mind) seem to be more cartoonish/comic book-ish) and some seem to be neither. I find the inconsistency to be jarring.
A few of the meanings in the LWB made me go "Huh?" but for the most part I like the different takes on traditional RWS meanings.
I find it interesting that they link the Dark Angels to this deck by way of "If you liked this deck, we also suggest you:" (sic - the "to" is missing before "you"). There's the Lillie connection in terms of LWB author, but where I find the Dark Angels to be 80's video cheesy, I think this deck has both merit and bite to it. Think I know which deck I'll be using for my next Dark Exchange reading.
Rodney
Shade
Amazon was pretty quick with my order and I'm liking this deck.
One interesting aspect of the deck is all of the pop culture references that crop up in it. Just glancing through it casually we have Theoden both as he appears in The Two Towers and Return of the King films, Saruman as the Hierophant (he always manages to become the Hierophant) and Tim Curry as Darkness from Legend as the Devil. The pop culture references work for me a they did with the Cosmic Tarot and Tarot of Sweet Twilight, being an interesting nudge in a particular direction.
It's a fun deck, it will definitely get its turn when all my dark decks go into high rotation in the fall.
One interesting aspect of the deck is all of the pop culture references that crop up in it. Just glancing through it casually we have Theoden both as he appears in The Two Towers and Return of the King films, Saruman as the Hierophant (he always manages to become the Hierophant) and Tim Curry as Darkness from Legend as the Devil. The pop culture references work for me a they did with the Cosmic Tarot and Tarot of Sweet Twilight, being an interesting nudge in a particular direction.
It's a fun deck, it will definitely get its turn when all my dark decks go into high rotation in the fall.
Le Fanu
LOL. I really dislike this deck. More and more with each passing week. It's one of those that I'm going to really relish loathing 
It isn't just boring old "dislike"; you know those decks (or books or films or songs or people) that really get your back up, that really annoy you? Well this is one of those.
They don't come around often but when they do, they really set my teeth on edge!
It isn't just boring old "dislike"; you know those decks (or books or films or songs or people) that really get your back up, that really annoy you? Well this is one of those.
They don't come around often but when they do, they really set my teeth on edge!
velvetina
my Dark Fairytale has arrived & I just thought 'yuk nasty '
I was lured! Lured! like Hansel & Gretel to the witch; they by sweeties, me by the term 'dark fairytale' which made me feel all Angela Carter-ish (now if she had written a Tarot book!)
this thread intriques me though...I might try reading with it..but I'm not hopeful. The disappointment is similar to the time i tasted Absinthe..i was swept away by image & let down by reality
nasty ' I was lured! Lured! like Hansel & Gretel to the witch; they by sweeties, me by the term 'dark fairytale' which made me feel all Angela Carter-ish (now if she had written a Tarot book!)
this thread intriques me though...I might try reading with it..but I'm not hopeful. The disappointment is similar to the time i tasted Absinthe..i was swept away by image & let down by reality
velvetina
but I enjoyed the LWB! if only the images suited it better
rwcarter
my Dark Fairytale has arrived & I just thought 'yuk
I was lured! Lured! like Hansel & Gretel to the witch; they by sweeties, me by the term 'dark fairytale' which made me feel all Angela Carter-ish (now if she had written a Tarot book!)
this thread intriques me though...I might try reading with it..but I'm not hopeful. The disappointment is similar to the time i tasted Absinthe..i was swept away by image & let down by reality
The Dark Deck Truths Circle is starting up for this month and you still have a week to join in. I plan on using this deck for the exchange.
Winterchild
Theoden
Absolutely.... I was just thinking exactly the same! Bernard Hill.... I met him, he used to live down the road from me in the UK... sure it has to be him.
Absolutely.... I was just thinking exactly the same! Bernard Hill.... I met him, he used to live down the road from me in the UK... sure it has to be him.
DaughterOfDanu
I had hopes for this deck, especially the mention of how it's nothing like the dark angels tarot.
But 4 cards in I realized I don't think this will be one for me. So far with the majors I'm finding that there's nothing to really show which card is which- I don't understand what makes this lady the empress... why does The Devil look like hellboy on a power trip?
I do like the minors a wee bit more. The seven of cups in particular- I like the very Pagan looking scene and the womans tattoo'd wings- something that I'm saving up for myself.
But I'm finding that to me this deck is very shallow feeling. I find myself asking "What makes this card the ___" because there's very little I'm picking up on from the symbolism (Or lack there of) in the cards.
As much as my everyday mind likes the people in these cards (They're sexy, often in sexy outfits) my tarot mind doesn't. Once again I feel like it's a shallow deck made more for looks than use.
The LWB seems decent and I'm sure I'll be using it for some test readings just to get the feel. I like how someone mentioned the Unseelie Court when it comes to this deck because that's the only real drive I have to continue working with this deck, to kinda explore that theme and that feeling.
But 4 cards in I realized I don't think this will be one for me. So far with the majors I'm finding that there's nothing to really show which card is which- I don't understand what makes this lady the empress... why does The Devil look like hellboy on a power trip?
I do like the minors a wee bit more. The seven of cups in particular- I like the very Pagan looking scene and the womans tattoo'd wings- something that I'm saving up for myself.
But I'm finding that to me this deck is very shallow feeling. I find myself asking "What makes this card the ___" because there's very little I'm picking up on from the symbolism (Or lack there of) in the cards.
As much as my everyday mind likes the people in these cards (They're sexy, often in sexy outfits) my tarot mind doesn't. Once again I feel like it's a shallow deck made more for looks than use.
The LWB seems decent and I'm sure I'll be using it for some test readings just to get the feel. I like how someone mentioned the Unseelie Court when it comes to this deck because that's the only real drive I have to continue working with this deck, to kinda explore that theme and that feeling.
SixDegrees
I just received this deck two days ago, and while I haven't read with it yet, I have to say that I LOVE it! I normally loathe photo/digital decks (I can't use Ciro's creations at all), but there's something about the subject matter here that works very well with that style. It's very campy and thoughtful at the same time. It doesn't really strike me as a fairy deck, at least in comparison to other contemporary fairy decks. To me it's really more of a "Dark Fantasy Tarot."
This may be blasphemy, but as a "dark deck" I like this far more than the Bohemian Gothic, which I tried to connect with multiple times but found too lethargic (and blue!). The Dark Fairytale is pure (melo)drama. It's been a while since a deck has actually surprised me, but the Dark Fairytale has a couple striking riffs on traditional meanings that really knocked me back. The Three of Pentacles, for example, had me scratching my head over the artist's choices when I looked at online scans--what do a gentleman and a lady outside of a church have anything to do with "work"? Then I read the LWB: "Desperate straits call for desperate measures. There is no shame in using the gifts that life has given."
ZOINKS!
I had never thought of sex work before when contemplating the Three; the industrious figures in the RWS are just all too...clothed. Looking at the image in the DF again, however, I could easily see this as a man propositioning a woman with a number of dark overtones (She's doing it out of desperation! They're outside of a church! This is politically upsetting to some!). Then I thought about the meanings of "apprenticeship" and "training" (which some people associate with the Eight, I know, but which I find a better fit with the Three), and almost immediately I thought of "Fifty Shades of Grey" and all sorts of similar sexual relationships based on a difference of experience.
Here's another example: Although I could do with a little less running mascara throughout the deck, I think this works especially well on the High Priestess. As much of my graduate work revolves around psychoanalytic theory, I read her as the guardian of the unconscious and, therefore, repressed desires. Is she crying because desires can't escape, or because she knows what will happen if they do?
And another: I typically read the Ten of Wands as "burden" or "persona" (an extreme expression of the selfness of the Wands, so much so that it is really a role more than a reality--which can become quite a burden). The DF Ten depicts a woman in a dramatic navy dress traipsing off toward a spooky mansion on a path lined by wands. She holds the dress like a cape (equally costume and protection), weary but bent on playing this part one last time. Part of her might even still enjoy it.
This is what I really like about the deck. It's close enough to the RWS that I can use my overlay of personal meanings, but at the same time it challenges that overlay and forces me to think about my own blindspots in very productive ways. It's sexy without being objectifying, and what objectifying it does do fits well with the theme of the deck (unlike most of the other Lo Scarabeo offerings today). I cannot wait for the fall--and especially October--to come so that I can begin reading with this gem. I hope that others come to appreciate it as much as I do!
This may be blasphemy, but as a "dark deck" I like this far more than the Bohemian Gothic, which I tried to connect with multiple times but found too lethargic (and blue!). The Dark Fairytale is pure (melo)drama. It's been a while since a deck has actually surprised me, but the Dark Fairytale has a couple striking riffs on traditional meanings that really knocked me back. The Three of Pentacles, for example, had me scratching my head over the artist's choices when I looked at online scans--what do a gentleman and a lady outside of a church have anything to do with "work"? Then I read the LWB: "Desperate straits call for desperate measures. There is no shame in using the gifts that life has given."
ZOINKS!
I had never thought of sex work before when contemplating the Three; the industrious figures in the RWS are just all too...clothed. Looking at the image in the DF again, however, I could easily see this as a man propositioning a woman with a number of dark overtones (She's doing it out of desperation! They're outside of a church! This is politically upsetting to some!). Then I thought about the meanings of "apprenticeship" and "training" (which some people associate with the Eight, I know, but which I find a better fit with the Three), and almost immediately I thought of "Fifty Shades of Grey" and all sorts of similar sexual relationships based on a difference of experience.
Here's another example: Although I could do with a little less running mascara throughout the deck, I think this works especially well on the High Priestess. As much of my graduate work revolves around psychoanalytic theory, I read her as the guardian of the unconscious and, therefore, repressed desires. Is she crying because desires can't escape, or because she knows what will happen if they do?
And another: I typically read the Ten of Wands as "burden" or "persona" (an extreme expression of the selfness of the Wands, so much so that it is really a role more than a reality--which can become quite a burden). The DF Ten depicts a woman in a dramatic navy dress traipsing off toward a spooky mansion on a path lined by wands. She holds the dress like a cape (equally costume and protection), weary but bent on playing this part one last time. Part of her might even still enjoy it.
This is what I really like about the deck. It's close enough to the RWS that I can use my overlay of personal meanings, but at the same time it challenges that overlay and forces me to think about my own blindspots in very productive ways. It's sexy without being objectifying, and what objectifying it does do fits well with the theme of the deck (unlike most of the other Lo Scarabeo offerings today). I cannot wait for the fall--and especially October--to come so that I can begin reading with this gem. I hope that others come to appreciate it as much as I do!
