Saturday 25 April 2015

First Impressions Review - Tarot of the Magical Forest

The Tarot of the Magical Forest is a deck i've had my eye on, with it saved on my wish list for quite a while.  Recently it has been popping up in various places online and each time it has really made me smile with its cute and quirky characters.  Payday arrived this week and The Magical Tarot was my choice of treat from my "pocket money"  and i'm not disappointed.


Unwrapping the box, revealed a standard tarot box however this one had a nice glossy finish to it.  The deck enclosed was plastic wrapped and accompanied with a little white book of 63 pages of which on 14 are in English with the remainder in Italian, Spanish, French and German.  For a beginner to Tarot this would be a problem as there is not enough information to work with however the information provided gives an introduction to the idea of The Magical Forest Tarot and some interesting perspectives to each card.

Artwork by Leo Tang
Instructions by Giovanni Pelosini
Published by Lo Scarabeo


This Tarot being my first purchase of a Lo Scarabeo deck I wasn't sure what to expect.  I'm really impressed by the quality and feel of this deck and especially love the image on the reverse of the card with it's kaleidoscope effect of a forest scene. The cardstock is of a reasonable thickness and has a silky matte texture without being too slippery.  The cards measure 6.5cm x 12cm.



The Major Arcana cards have the numbers written in Roman numerals with the Minor Arcana in Arabic numberals.  When you see the cards laid out it's easy to spot the The Majors from the Minors and because the size of the numbers is in a large font you see it easily.  What I like too is that the name of the card is written in small font so really you notice the image and the number first without having the name and number written out in full.  It feels clean and uncluttered.  Each of the suits are illustrated with a particular animal, rabbits with chalices, frogs with wands, foxes with pentacles and cats with swords.  The Major Arcana are illustrated with a variety of animals such as pigs, sheep, owls, hedgehogs, polar bears and bats to name a few.


I'm so pleased to at last have this deck , there is a simplicity and ease of reading these cards as well as a feeling of delight and fun.  You can't help but smile.  This will be a great deck for those days were you are  feeling light hearted, days where you really need a lift or with children who are curious about Tarot.

I really enjoy so many of the cards but my two favourites have to be the Strength and Hanged Man cards.



26 June 2018 - Edited to add that I trimmed the deck a few months ago but only today remembered i'd not posted up an image yet for those who may be interested.




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