Cards - Viceversa Tarot (Lo Scarabeo)

Viceversa Tarot. Lo Scarabeo, Italy. Full divinatory tarot deck, Mediterranean suited, 78 double-sided cards + divinatory-meanings booklet. Size: 65mm x 120mm.

Deck make-up:
Trumps: 0-21.
Pentacles (i.e. coins), wands (i.e. clubs), chalices (i.e. cups), swords: A, 2-10, foot jack ("page"), mounted jack ("knight"), queen, king.

Like the earlier Tarot Of The New Vision, this pleasing deck is an attempt to show the classic Rider-Waite-Smith images but from a 180° change of viewpoint. The deck is the idea of Massimilliano Filadoro and Lunaea Weatherstone with the artwork competently executed by David E Corsi. It was released in 2017.

The blurb explains: "Most tarot decks have 78 card images. The Viceversa Tarot has 156! Each Arcana is an archetype, captured and frozen by the tarot artist as a moment in time and space, and then portrayed symbolically on the card. The Viceversa Tarot adds yet another dimension to the familiar cards. Rather than one image for each card, this deck offers two. As each card slowly reveals an alternate point of view, additional elements comes [sic] into play as the symbols morph and blend and contrast. The reading reachs [sic] to an unexpected depth that defies logical interpretation." Hmm. Tarot... logical? The booklet then starts rattling on about Macrobius, Janus and Pythagorus, and I lost track at that point. There is apparently a full book included in the "kit" version of the deck, so maybe this explains things a bit better?

Basically, you have a redrawing (with some added extras) of the original RWS pictures on the front of each card (although some, e.g. 4 swords, 9 swords and 5 clubs, move quite far away from the traditional imagery), and an imagined view from the reverse direction on the back. The back image usually also features a switch between daytime and night-time. The double-headed nature of the cards necessitates a different way from normal of doing a reading, but luckily how to do this is explained in the Little White Booklet that comes with the standalone deck (i.e. you don't need the big book from the kit version for this).

Click on any card to explore the design. The galleries show the front of each card followed by the reverse. You can optionally choose to also display the original Rider-Waite-Smith cards alongside, for comparison purposes.

Comparative images shown (before each front/back pair, show the Rider-Waite-Smith original): No Yes

Trumps

For some reason, I don't really like the trend of putting buxom maidens on tarot cards that – as exemplified by The Empress card here – has become fashionable in recent years; I much prefer androgynous figures. I just don't get an "Empress" vibe from this depiction.
I'm a bit stumped how the back of card X is supposed to be a reversal from the front.
The reverse of The Death card is interesting, but I've no idea what it is supposed to represent!

Pentacles (i.e. coins)

Wands (i.e. clubs)

Chalices (i.e. cups)

Aren't the two sides of the 3 of cups/chalices the wrong way around? (Note that you can tell which are supposed to be the front images as the cards have the suit symbols on the left for the front, right for the back. This doesn't work for the trumps, though.)

Swords

In the same way that I don't like busty maidens adorning tarot cards, I'm also not keen on male figures looking like they've just stepped off the TV show Gladiators, as per the page of swords here.

Extras

Documents

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!

Links to other Rider-Waite-Smith tarot pages