Before Tarot. Lo Scarabeo, Italy. Full divinatory tarot deck, Mediterranean suited, 78 double-sided cards + divinatory-meanings booklet. Size: 66mm x 120mm.
Deck make-up:
Trumps: 0-21.
Pentacles (i.e. coins), wands (i.e. clubs), cups, swords: A, 2-10, foot jack ("page"), mounted jack ("knight"), queen, king.
The Before Tarot was released in 2018 by Lo Scarebeo. This agreeable pack was authored by Pietro Alligo and Floreana Nativo, with the artwork by Eon Rossi and Simona Rossi. It is one of a pair of "time-frame" decks (the other being the After Tarot). The images on the Before Tarot are set in time just moments before the familiar Pamela Colman Smith artwork of the 1909 classic Rider-Waite-Smith tarot. For example, on the Strength card, the lion is shown approaching the wise woman but has not yet been petted. On Judgement, the figures in the coffins are dead and have not yet risen to life. The 3 of swords shows the swords before they have pierced the heart. And so on.
One slight criticism I might have is that the artwork here is further away stylistically from Pamela Colman Smith's originals than its sister, the After Deck, as the two decks, despite being related, were illustrated by different people. Another issue (for me) is that, once again, somebody has apparently seen the need to alter the colour palette of the original PCS artwork – the lettered panels on these cards have been changed from the grey of the originals to a dark yellow, and the blue hues have been swung round to be more green in colour. Check out, say, the 5 of wands for a readily obvious example of the latter.
The deck is also available as part of a kit. The kit comes with a glossy 160-page book by Corrine Kenner. Unlike quite a few of these kits, the book isn't just a stand-alone work offhandedly bundled with the deck in question, but really is about the Before Tarot specifically (although it does rather assume you have also bought the After Tarot or shortly will be doing so!) Rest assured, though, it does also include all the tarot basics a beginner needs as well.
Click on any card to explore the design. Optionally, using the control below, you can display three cards for each rank: the card from this deck; the card from the original Rider-Waite-Smith tarot; and the card from this deck's sister, the After Tarot.
(Comments or corrections, please e-mail: Click to see e-mail address.)
Card image size, below:
Comparative images shown (in order: Before Tarot (this deck), Rider-Waite-Smith tarot, After Tarot):
LWB For a deck so close to a standard RWS one, I'm not sure why the divinatory meanings given here are not the Waite ones. There are also no reversed meanings.
The deck on this page is one masterminded by a Golden Dawn (or its offshoots) member, or designed to adhere to their concepts of tarot. A list of other major such decks is given below (scroll/swipe to the right if needed):
Deck | Author/s | Artist/s (if diff.) | Release year | "Official" guide book | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Marseilles tarot / Tarot de Marseille | unknown | various | 15th century | The Tarot: Its Occult Signification, Use In Fortune-Telling, And Method Of Play, Etc. | The booklet cited (written in 1888 by Samuel L MacGregor Mathers of the Golden Dawn) gives "official" Golden Dawn divinatory meanings when using the Marseilles tarot (referred to at that time as the Italian tarot). In 1889, Swiss occultist and artist, Oswald Wirth, designed a well-known tarot specifically for esoteric use with his own versions of the trumps in the Marseilles pattern. |
The Rider-Waite[-Smith] Tarot | Arthur Edward Waite | Pamela Colman Smith | 1909 | The [Pictorial] Key To The Tarot | |
Builders Of The Adytum (BOTA) Tarot | Paul Foster Case | Jessie Burns Parke | 1931 | The Tarot: A Key To The Wisdom Of The Ages or Highlights Of Tarot [NB doesn't cover pip cards] | Revised version of Rider-Waite with some "corrected" trumps and courts, and simple pip cards. Trumps also issued in colour form; full deck is b&w. |
Thoth Tarot Deck | Aleister Crowley | Lady Frieda Harris | 1972 (painted 1938-43) | The Book Of Thoth (Egyptian Tarot): A Short Essay On The Tarot Of The Egyptians | |
The Golden Dawn Tarot (aka The Whare Ra deck) | Israel Regardie | Robert Wang | 1978 | An Introduction To The Golden Dawn Tarot | |
The Hermetic Tarot | Godfrey Dowson | 1979 | Only the Little White Booklet that comes with the deck. | Black & white. | |
Golden Dawn Magical Tarot (aka The New Golden Dawn Ritual Tarot) | Chic Cicero & Sandra Tabatha Cicero (with Israel Regardie) | 1991 | Golden Dawn Magical Tarot / The New Golden Dawn Ritual Tarot | "Ritual" was the earlier name. Do not confuse this deck with the one below – they are different! | |
The Magical Tarot Of The Golden Dawn | Pat Zalewski & Chris Zalewski | Skip Dudchous & David Sledzinski | 2022 | The Magical Tarot Of The Golden Dawn: Revised Ed. | Earlier editions had art by Jonathon A Pierce instead. This deck is not to be confused with the similarly named deck above! |
Computer Tarot Reading A smartphone-friendly (I hope) animated Tarot-reading program. With Waite and Mathers divinatory meanings.
Rider-Waite-Smith Tarot Divinatory Meanings (desktop version) App which gives meanings of RWS cards – saves messing with booklets! Also in mobile version or hardcopy/pdf version. See which you like.
Aleister Crowley Thoth Tarot Deck (AGM-Urania)
Ancient Italian Tarot / Tarocchino Milanese (Lo Scarabeo)
Golden Dawn Magical Tarot (Llewellyn Books)
The Golden Dawn Tarot (U.S. Games Systems)
Grand Etteilla (Tarots Egyptiens / Egyptian gypsies tarot) (Grimaud)
Grand Jeu De Mlle Lenormand (Grimaud)
(Petit) Lenormand / "Blue Owl" Lenormand (AGM-Urania)
The Hermetic Tarot (U.S. Games Systems)
Tarot Hiéroglyphique Egyptien (unknown, France)
Learning Tarot Cards (Witchy Cauldron)
Llewellyn's Classic Tarot (Llewellyn Books)
Tarot De Marseille (Yoav Ben-Dov restoration, U.S. Games Systems)
Minchiate Fiorentine (Baragioli)
Tarot Of The New Vision (Lo Scarabeo)
Nouveau Jeu De La Main (Grimaud)
Tarots Parisiens / Oracles Planetaires / Sorcier du XIXe Siècle (Viuda de Bouchard-Huzard)
Tarot Of The Renaissance (Lo Scarabeo)
Rider-Waite-Smith Tarot (Rider)
Sola-Busca Tarot (privately commissioned deck)
Le Tarot Astrologique / The Astrological Tarot (Grimaud)
Tarot De Marseille (Conver-Camoin)
Tarot: Spécial Cercle / Tarot Nouveau / Tarot A Jouer / Jeu De Tarot / Bourgeois Tarot (Grimaud)