Dante Tarot

Creator(s): Giordano Berti, Andrea Serio
Date: 2001
Country: Italy
Publisher: Lo Scarabeo
Number of Cards: 78
ISBN: 978-3933-939951  
Type: other
Reference: Encyclopedia of Tarot, vol.IV, pp. 305, 305






Notes:
This Deck is named after the Italian philosopher and poet  Dante Aligheri (1265-1321). The Dante Tarot is a themed art deck, not a standard tarot deck. The 22 major arcana cards combine ethical, philosophical, and spiritual concepts, as expressed by Dante in his Convivio, with the traditional tarot images.

The Major Arcana is almost entirely renamed, reflecting the Renaissance list of virtues and ranks of celestial authority:

0 - Need  (Fool)                          I - Intellect  (Magician)
II - Philosophy (Priestess)           III - Wisdom (Empress)
IV - Government (Emperor )         V - Hope (Hierophant)
VI - Love (Lovers)                        VII - Direction (Chariot)
VIII - Justice (Justice)                  IX - Prudence (Hermit)
X - Luck (Fortune)                       XI - Strength (Strength)
XII - Charity (Hanged Man)           XIII - Death (Death)
XIV - Moderation (Temperance)     XV - Authority (Devil)
XVI - Virtue (Tower)                      XVII - Thrones (Star)
XVIII - Angels (Moon)                   XIX - Domination (Sun)
XX - Archangels (Last Judgement) XXI - Principalities (World)

The suit of Bricks (Pentacles) traces Dante's life, depicting influential characters, his work, and his marriage. The other three suits correspond to the sections of the Divine Comedy.

 Flames (Swords) depict the main events shown in Dante's Inferno. The cards feature Charon, Cerberus, the suicides, and the King of Flames -Dante’s meeting with the Devil, which is the culminating event in the Inferno.


The suit of Clouds (Pentacles) shows slices of Purgatorio, the place where souls come to reflect their earthly sins. Lights (Cups) representing Paradiso-the ascension into heaven.

The backs are not reversible, and depict Dante seated at his desk, writing the Divine Comedy with a feathered pen. The LWB gives background information on Dante and explains how the works of Dante were integrated into the framework of the tarot. The artwork is surrealistic and created in pastels.

Liber T Tarot of Stars Enternal

Creator(s): Roberto Negrini, Andrea Serio
Date: 2004
Country: Italy
Publisher: Lo Scarabeo
Number of Cards: 78
ISBN: 978-0738705651     
Type: Thoth
Reference:  aeclectic





 

Notes:
The deck creator, Roberto Negrini, is an Italian Crowley expert. The artist, Andrea Serio, is widely known for his work on the Dante Tarot. The Liber T is a modern redendering of the images from the Crowley-Harris-Thoth but do not contain the emphasis on projective geometry that characterizes the Harris paintings.

Serio’s artistic reinterpretation has lost some of the symbolism in the Thoth images, especially the Golden Dawn color scale correspondences. 

The Minor Arcana are also illustrated, using imagery compiled by Negrini (a  member of the Italian O.T.O.) based on his study of the Decanates.

The booklet attributes these Decans to the Egyptian Star Cult and gives them the name of SIBU SEPESU, or Eternal Stars -- hence the deck’s title. They are primarily derived from the Decan descriptions provided in the Liber Hermetis with a strong overlay of Thelemic-influenced Egyptian mythology and hints of the Ars Memoria. The minor arcana have four suits: Cups, Spheres (Disks), Scepters (Wands) and Swords.