Golden Tarot of the Tsar by Lo Scarabeo at House of Tarot

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Submitted By: Rachel on 11/08/2005
Since Christians originally designed tarot in the 15th century, it already had Christian symbolism deeply embedded within it. The Golden Tarot of the Tsar, however, takes that to a new level, basing the entire deck on images from the bible and various saints. The deck is painted by Atanas Atanassov in the style of Russian Icons, and is leafed in gold foil. It is a spectacular deck to look at and work with.

Many of the images in the deck relate easily to traditional decks. The Star, for example, is an image of Christ’s nativity, which certainly corresponds with the traditional meaning of ‘hope’. Saint John the Baptist is the Hermit, wandering in the desert, but also showing the way to others. The World card, interestingly, has the four evangelists (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John) in the corners, which in traditional decks are portrayed as an angel, bull, eagle and lion. Here they are depicted in human form.

In some cases, the images are very different from, say, the Rider Waite symbolism. The 7 of Cups, for example, is an image of Jesus’ baptism in the River Jordan. This is quite a departure from the confused man in the Rider Waite version. I found that by meditating on the differences, it has expanded my understanding of the archetype.

In the Golden Tarot of the Tsar, Trump 8 is the equivalent of Justice and 11 is Strength. The minor suits are pentacles, wands, chalices and swords. Oddly, the court cards appear to be generic. They don’t portray any particular saints.

The deck comes with a little white book that briefly states the name of the saint or bible story, but I found myself wanting to know more about these people, especially the saints I didn’t know. It would be great if there were an accompanying book that offered more detail.

Golden Tarot of the Tsar is a stunning deck. It has multi-language titles, like most Lo Scarabeo decks, which makes it easy to work with, even if you don’t know the images well. While I would not recommend this deck for tarot beginners, I certainly do recommend it for anyone who wishes to explore Christian symbolism from a tarot perspective. As a Christian myself, I find the marriage of the two archetypes to be extremely interesting and valuable. I love this deck.

5 of 5 Stars!

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