Tarot of the Sars

Tarot of the Stars (Tarocchi delle Stelle)

This deck by the artist Tavaglione, predates his more familiar Stairs of Gold Tarot deck. The styles are similar, though Tarot of the Stars lacks the ornate borders and has scenic Minors, vice pips. The art is good, though it seems less refined than that in the Stairs of Gold. Some of the scenes on the Majors are very similar between the two decks. The Minor scenes show a strong Waite-Smith influence, and in many cases are merely reinterpretations of Pamela Coleman-Smith's scenes. The color is good, and the illustrations are ornate and detailed. There is a lot of upper nudity, both male and female, though many figures are fully clothed as well. The cards are rather large: 3 1/4" X 5 3/4," with a central scene and a white border. The name (in Italian) and number of the card are worked into the bottom of the illustration, along with a short interpretation in Italian. The Majors also have the card name in the four corners of the border in English, French, Spanish and German. Tavaglione has a penchant for symbol correspondences and this deck is not exception. He has included the Hebrew and English letters of the alphabet, the planet or astrological sign, and the letter of the celestial alphabet. The Court consists of King (Re), Queen (Regina), Knight (Cavaliere), and Page (Fante). The Minors have the Italian interpretation at the bottom of the card. The same interpretation is written in English, French, Spanish and German in the four corners as well. Qabalistically, Tavaglione assigns Aleph to the Magician, vice the Fool, with the Fool being assigned to Shin. Tavaglione's astrological correspondences are the same as the French occultists, vice the Golden Dawn.

The booklet is in Italian and it appears quite detailed. However, since I can not read Italian, I can not comment on it. I find Tavaglione's work quite interesting. He is an excellent artist and has obviously studied the occult. He is able to combine, art, symbolism, and occult correspondences in such a way as to be pleasing to the eye. I recommend this deck for collectors, and those who find correspondences between the tarot and other occult symbols interesting.

Tarot of the Stars (Il Tarocchi delle Stelle)

Teodomiro Dal Negro s.p.a.

Available from Alida

This company ships quickly, but the mail takes 6 - 8 weeks.

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