Samurai Tarot by Lo Scarabeo

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Submitted By: Stephanie Arwen on 05/28/2006
The Samurai Tarot wasn\'t what I expected. When I hear Samurai, I think warrior and so I expected a much more intense deck.

The images are very Asian with a watercolor or pen and ink feel to them. The Major Arcana are typical although some of the meanings in the LWB are not. The most unusual Major is the Hanged Man. Here we have a Samurai suspended by a chain over a tree. He is not hanging there seeking knowledge, he is sparring with two other warriors. The theme of training, learning, seeking is definitely there, but it is a more active seeking than most Hanged Man cards.

The Minor Arcana leave me torn. The colors are lovely, but there are no physical representations of the pips. For instance the Ace of Pentacles has three peasants walking over a bridge. They all have bundles so I suppose you could infer that they are going to market which would be a beginning of prosperity.

The Eight of Cups shows a monk at prayer. He kneels on a rock with a waterfall crashing behind him on one side. Above him to the right is either a stone statue of Buddha or another monk in prayer. The LWB says of this card -

Relinquishment: Living in the world. The voice of the water incessantly reminds me of its vanity of foam.

It is these uniquely, almost painfully obvious, Occidental turns of phrase that make me wonder if the writer of the LWB and the artist were ever in the same room.

I do like this deck but with reservations. Someone who is immersed in the culture of the Samurai or fascinated as I am by Asian ways will enjoy this deck. You might even be amused by the Zen-LWB. However, someone who wants a traditional-type RWS clone would do better to seek elsewhere.

4 of 5 Stars!

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