Tarot of the Elves

I tarocchi dei folletti t is a very nice Italian deck with a strong fantasy influence. The 78 whimsical cards show enchanting scenes of playful fairies and forest creatures.

The Goblin Tarot is a bizarre set of cards based on fools. In reality they look rather like gnomes with wings attached: the artwork is very similar to the other work of Mr. Lupatelli, Tarot of the gnomes. If you can get around that though, it’s a beautiful deck with fun artwork. The colors are rich and lovely, making this deck a pleasure to look at.

On all the cards there are titles in the Lo Scarabeo manner, depicting the English, Italian, Spanish, French and German languages. This can be useful if you are a new reader or it distracts you if you prefer not to write on your cards at all. The booklet, which is 63 pages long, is also in multiple languages, including Italian , making it easy to search for keywords if necessary.

Some of the cards have names that aren’t in the standard Rider-Waite style: The Elf for The Fool, The Dryad for Justice, The Oread for Wheel of Fortune, The Sylph for Temperance, and The Troll for The Devil. In the minor arcana, the pages are rogues and even the suits change: Bells = Pentacles, Leaves = Swords, Acorns = Wands and Hearts = Cups. I found them easy to remember: bells are gold so pentacles / coins, leaves = blades of green then swords, acorns are kid’s wood, so wands and mugs are all heart-centered.

The major arcana closely follow the Rider-Waite system except for those few titles and are recognizable by what they are only in the photo. Troll as the Devil works really well, Trolls would be good devils! There is very little nudity in this deck, but the Dryad (Justice) * IS * naked, so keep that in mind if nudity bothers you. In this deck, Justice is 8 and Strength is 11. The Hermit, my favorite majors card, has a charming gnome character with a textbook and his little lantern – definitely a hit for me in that regard!