Deck Review: Serpieri Tarot

Paolo Eleuteri Serpieri (artist) and Pietro Alligo (writer), Serpieri Tarot. Torino, Italy: Lo Scarabeo, 2022.  ISBN: 9780738773100.  (link to Llewellyn, US distributor)

Genre: Tarot decks

Subgenre: Serpieri art, science fiction, erotica

Format: card deck with little white book in tuck box

Source: I own this one. 

Before I go on, a content warning. This deck does feature nudity and some fairly explicit scenes. If that is not for you, feel free to skip this deck and stop reading this review and move on elsewhere. You can check the blog's tags on the right side column. The "Tarot" tag features reviews of books and decks in Tarot. You can also check for reviews by publisher as I assign a tag to each publisher that I review one of their books. 

Still interested? Keep on reading. 

 

The Hermit-IX

This deck features the art of Italian artist Paolo Eleuteri Serpieri. He is known for his work in comics about science fiction and western stories. His female curvy figures are also well known including his heroine Druuna. This deck integrates all of those elements. If you are a fan of his art, you may want this deck as a collector. If you like science fiction with a bit of neo-western and post apocalyptic style, this may be a deck for you as well. 

The deck comes in a tuck box with the 78-card deck and a little white book (LWB). 

Typical of the Lo Scarabeo, the publisher, the LWB comes in four languages: English, Italian, Spanish, and Portuguese. The LWB includes: brief artist biography, a look at his art and how it connects to Tarot, the Major Arcana, and the Minor Arcana. The Major Arcana entries feature card name and number, a keyword, and a paragraph for interpretation. The interpretation includes some description of the images and symbols. The Minor Arcana entries are thinner with a main keyword, then additional keywords and a phrase or two. The LWB ends with a short statement on the symbolism of sex and nudity in the deck and Tarot. Given the rich art and setting of Serpieri's work, it is a pity the publisher did not commission a full companion book. 

The cards' art can work intuitively. If you do know Serpieri's work, you may be better able to appreciate the deck. You can still work with it if you do not know the art beforehand, but you may want to do some research to supplement. Thus this is not a deck for beginners. As an intermediate cartomancer, knowing the basics of Tarot helps. The deck has some nods to Rider Waite Smith (RWS) system, but a lot of it does not; it does its own thing. All in all you can read with it, but you do have to do some work and learning. I am good with that, but your mileage may vary. 

I love the science fiction somewhat post-apocalyptic art. It is a strong style, very expressive. Colorful in mostly light tones. Grey tones predominate a bit. Female figures are curvy, buxom at times. As I mentioned, there are some erotically explicit images. I like those images fine, but they are not your thing, or you are a prude, this is not the deck for you. I feel like this can be a good deck to use during the Hard Times. I will have to explore that further. 

Overall, I love the deck but the overall package falls a bit short. The LWB is seriously minimalist. The card themselves are great. While I do recommend it, I do so with the caveats I've already mentioned. Still glad to own it. 

4 out of 5 stars, for the overall package.