Deck Review of Golden Art Nouveau Tarot
Lo Scarabeo Golden Art Nouveau Tarot
Published by Llewellyn Publications
Artwork by Giulia F. Massaglia
Instructions Authored by Lunaea Weatherstone
Publication Date: November 8, 2019
Availability for purchase: In Print
Average price/MSRP - $26.95 (USD)
Cardstock: common Llewellyn cardstock (Thin but not paper thin and flexible, easy to shuffle - riffle or overhand.)
Card finish: It's not a matte finish but it's also not a gloss. The non-golden parts of the cards have a light shine to them. The golden shiny parts of the cards are very shiny in the light.
Deck theme: Art Nouveau with shiny golden foil on box and card faces.
Deck size: It's the same height as Smith-Waite Centennial Tarot and only a little bit thinner (as in the width of the cards from left to right).
Deck box: Cardboard tuckbox (If you plan to carry this deck around with you, I recommend buying/using a tarot bag or fabric to wrap the deck in to protect it since tuckboxes tend to wear and tear pretty easily and quickly.)
Tarot Deck System/Format: RWS clone
Where to purchase (legitimately):
Amazon - Golden Art Nouveau Tarot: Massaglia, Giulia F.: 9780738763460: Amazon.com: Books
Llewellyn - Golden Art Nouveau Tarot (llewellyn.com)
Barnes & Noble - Golden Art Nouveau Tarot by Giulia F. Massaglia, Other Format | Barnes & Noble® (barnesandnoble.com)
Guidebook/LWB:
This beautiful tarot deck comes with a little white book/booklet (LWB) with 20 pages in English that give simple short meanings for each card. There are no pictures of the cards in the booklet but that is the norm with the LWBs. It also includes a simple 3-card spread (Hindsight, Insight, and Foresight) with an explanation of the spread at the beginning of the LWB in the titled section, 'How To Use The Cards'.
(If you're a beginner tarot reader or just learning the cards, I strongly recommend buying a separate book about the RWS (Rider Waite Smith) tarot system that will include very descriptive card meanings to learn the meanings of the cards from because the accompanying LWB is not that great for learning with.)
Card backs: The card backs to this deck are fully reversible. If you read reversals, then you will have no trouble doing so with this deck.
About the Major Arcana - The titles of the cards of the major arcana are not mentioned on the cards. They are only named by roman numerals. So, if you're unfamiliar with the RWS imagery, you will need a separate book (as I mentioned above) to learn what each of the major arcana images looks like for each card. If you are familiar with the imagery of the cards to the major arcana, then this deck will work just fine for you.
About the Minor Arcana - Just as with the major arcana, the minor arcana is also not titled and only bears a number at the top of each card to signify which card of its suit it is. There is also a horizontal symbol of each suit (Cups, Wands, Swords, Pentacles) at the bottom of each card.
This deck's minor arcana is fully illustrated.
Court Cards - There are no changed titles for the court cards in this deck. The court cards also bear the symbol at the bottom of the card (horizontally) for its suit and a symbol at the top of the cards representing which character they are (page, knight, queen, king). However, if you're familiar with the imagery for each one, then these symbols at the top and bottoms of the cards will not be necessary for you to differentiate between them.
Overall, I very much like and enjoy this beautiful tarot deck for its ease of reading, its beautiful artistic imagery, the luxuriousness of the shiny golden areas on each card as well as on the tuck box, and the ease of shuffling. It's like having functional art. They slide nicely without being slippery or sticky. I feel that this deck is a good one to have if you're accustomed to the RWS system or learning it. As long as you're not rough with it, I think it's sturdy enough that it will hold up for a good amount of time. I have also received positive feedback on these cards as I've used them for my daily energies card pull for the collective that I post (tweet) on Twitter Monday through Friday. I've also received a lot of "likes" on these gorgeous cards! That's always a win! If you feel drawn to this deck, then I recommend buying it. I consider it to be a wonderful addition to my collection.
Do I recommend this tarot deck to beginners? Yes, as long as you're familiar with the RWS imagery and or have a decent quality book about the RWS system to refer to. Just until you're comfortable enough to begin reading without needing to look up card meanings.
Final Thoughts
This is a beautiful and decent-quality tarot deck with fair pricing and ease of availability. I'd recommend it for all levels of tarot readers, beginner, novice, experienced, and professional. It's a great deck that is very eye-catching and very accurate! I hope that if you choose to purchase this deck as well, you will enjoy it and that it will also give you many accurate and insightful readings!
Thank you for taking the time to read this review. I hope you found it helpful and that it answered any questions that you have regarding this beautiful tarot deck. Have a wonderful day and wishing you many happy tarot readings!