Dark Fairytale Tarot- LoS

swedishfish612

I know a lot of folks have written this off as silly and lacking substance, but I've had it for a few months now and it reads like a dream for me. I felt a little silly when I ordered it, as it didn't seem like the sort of deck a 35-year-old mother buys. But I was drawn to the images I could find online.

I absolutely love this deck. It's atmospheric and moody. I put 3 cards down side by side, and I can see a story so effortlessly. Honestly, this is the first deck that I picked up and read intuitively, and often times my interpretation of a cards is waaaay off RWS. It doesn't matter; the readings I do with Dark Fairytale feel natural and instinctively right. I didn't feel like I had to get to know this deck; it felt just right the minute I pulled it out of the box.

And its my first Lo Scarabeo deck (though I have 2 others coming in the mail, so it won't be for long!). It shuffles beautifully and the cardstock, while thin, just feels great in my hands. I love the way the cards slip together so easily. I have a special, beautiful brocade bag also coming just for this deck!

Dark Fairytale has prompted me to look for others with a similar feel, but so far nothing seems to be just right. Dark Angels doesn't move me. I love the look of Bohemian Gothic, but I'd have to skip the car payment to afford a copy! :p
 

Winterchild

Great Review

SixDegrees said:
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!
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Really enjoyed reading your review Six Degree's, although I have to say if I had read it before I added the deck to my wishlist, I may have been put off, as soon as I saw mention of *50 Shades of Grey* !!!

I really truly *HATE* those books!!!
 

SixDegrees

Winterchild said:
Really enjoyed reading your review Six Degree's, although I have to say if I had read it before I added the deck to my wishlist, I may have been put off, as soon as I saw mention of *50 Shades of Grey* !!!

I really truly *HATE* those books!!!
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Oh, I've heard they're dreadful and inaccurate from my BDSM-inclined friends, and I haven't read them myself. Given my own lack of experience with the culture, however, they were the first thing that popped into my head upon reading the LWB description.

I'm glad that little detail didn't dissuade you! :)
 

Manda

I very much like this deck for readings with sexual over and under tones, and used it on my blog for several readings, and the adults only blog for at least one. I know it's tasteless but I am coming to accept I may be tasteless too.
 

Winterchild

SixDegrees said:
Oh, I've heard they're dreadful and inaccurate from my BDSM-inclined friends, and I haven't read them myself. Given my own lack of experience with the culture, however, they were the first thing that popped into my head upon reading the LWB description.

I'm glad that little detail didn't dissuade you! :)
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I think if anyone was really into BDSM they would run a mile from the goo in those books... there are some great spoof sites about it tho!!! How did they sell so many.... ! betcha a lot of people are jumping on that bandwagon now... there will be a Tarot Deck soon....! Now I have to wait until my *birthday surprise* arrives from Amazon...been waiting a month already :(
 

Shade

I've been using this one at the Tarot Meetup I attend and it has been a lot of fun to work with. It's enough RWS that you can fall back on that but unique enough that you can let your intuition explore the individual stories when you have the time and inclination.
 

Eeviee

I just received mine a couple days ago and thought I'd share my thoughts with you...

First impressions: "Oh, Dear Gods, the woman on the box is blurry and almost looks cross-eyed! And the word "Fairytale" is in PINK! PASTEL PINK! ...I have made a horrendous mistake!"

Boy was I wrong!

I love this deck! There are minimal things I disagree with/don't like. I love the art and I think it was truly executed BEAUTIFULLY! Truly, the only deck I've seen live up to the expression: "hauntingly beautiful".

I love Lillie's writing in the LWB. Her notes are precise, but ambiguous. There is such a balance to this deck, it is truly remarkable.

Things I feel I should mention to anyone interested:
-The backs are reversible (and growing on me!)
-The Majors follow standard RWS Titling in the LWB, but only have Roman Numerals to indicate on the cards
-Strength is XI, Justice is VIII
-Courts: King (all seated males), Queen (all seated females), Knight (males upon horseback) and Knave (all females)

Anyone interested in a study group?
 

swedishfish612

Oh gosh, you're not kidding about the tuck box. It really is unattractive, almost dated. I'm not wild about that card (the World) in this deck to begin with. But "hauntingly beautiful" is dead on for this deck. I went through and made a list of all of my decks today, and made a checkmark next to my absolute favorites, the ones I'd replace immediately if lost, and this was one of the 3 that I checked off.

I absolutely would join a study group!
 
deck ID help? Russian Tarot of St Petersburg printed in???