Talk about jumping on the da Vinci band wagon! But this was to be expected. Some one was going to do it eventually. And for a tarot deck, of course it would be Lo Scarabeo.

So I decided to give it a looking at and work with it a bit. Right off the top I had issues with the images.

I always respected da Vinci as a master of the art medium. His work was revolutionary for the time. His designs were ahead of his time, working on such unheard items as flying machines and all sorts of early mechanical devices.

But the main image, Mona Lisa with a pontifical miter, in my opinion, is an insult to his art. The use in the deck is supposed to be The High Priestess. I could actually see Mona as The High Priestess, but why put the hat on. It is comical and in poor taste in my opinion.

But that is how many of the images are in this deck. Take something very da Vinci or da Vinci in appearance, add something that is supposed to be tarot related and you have a card. Many of the images are "adapted" from da Vinci's work, meaning the artist gave it a completely different aspect from the original work.

As typical for Lo Scarabeo decks, the colors are muted. Actually, da Vinci's work, as in the Mona Lisa, is not all that colorful, but there are some works that are very colorful. So, while I could argue the point, I let it stand as the artist was looking to give a general feeling of Renaissance style in muted tones. There are some subtle coloring to some of the works, but nothing brilliant or garish. The artist keeps to the theme.

The works are not just da Vinci works. The artist incorporates elements of da Vinci's work into his own compositions. The mechanical bat flies over a fortified city in The Fool. The Chariot is a collection of pieces from various da Vinci works woven together by the artist. The Devil is derived from a caricature of an old woman, several anatomical studies and a dragon from one of his sketchbooks.

But maybe I know da Vinci's works too well to see what the artist was getting at. The artist was looking for "impact" here, not the origins of the works. And while the idea was interesting, it didn't seem to carry it through for me.

But for a working deck, I find it does not blend in with the kind of atmosphere I want to suggest when working with a client. While it did spark some curiosity from a few clients and most wanted to look at the deck, they chose another for me to do their reading.

If you must have all things da Vinci, or if you collect decks and are looking for something a bit off the beaten track, this deck will please. But for a working deck, you may want to look at some others. boudica

"Did Leonardo Da Vinci encounter the Tarot while working for the Sforza family? No one knows. It is intriguing, though, to imagine his reactions to the cards...and to envision the sort of deck Da Vinci, a Renaissance Master, might have produced." - From the companion booklet to the Da Vinci Tarot

Books by Margaret Starbird and Elaine Pagels, coupled with the popular novel and movie The Da Vinci Code, has re-awakened an interest in the Mary Magdalene mythos as well as the Renaissance Master himself. Was Da Vinci connected to forbidden sects and secret societies that preserved and protected the history and lineage of Mary Magdalene and Jesus? No one knows for sure, but there is little evidence to support these theories.

Nevertheless, the enigmatic smiles of Da Vinci's subjects as well as his futuristic inventions intrigue us to this day. Renowned for both The Mona Lisa and The Last Supper, Da Vinci created drawings of fantastic flying machines, detailed anatomical sketches, and a myriad of inventions-including advanced weaponry.

Commissioned in 1992 to create a series of 22 paintings for a Majors only deck, Iassen Ghuiselev culled images from Da Vinci's notebooks, diagrams, and artwork. Art historian Marco Bussagli hailed the artistic works, which featured Da Vinci's mirror-script for the card titles and tiny glyphs adapted from the Master's designs. Over a decade later, a new artist was recruited to replicate the subtle shading techniques of Ghiuselev for the Minor Arcana. Atanas Atanassov completed the Minors in 2002, but Lo Scarabeo decided to expand the Da Vinci Tarot with a new kit, which includes a 63-companion guide written by Mark McElroy.

The card images in the Da Vinci Tarot depict androgynous characters, fantastical beasts, and enigmatic expressions depicted in muted shades of brown, gray, and green. Six languages announce each card title and the construction is consistent with traditional decks. The suits are Chalices, Pentacles, Swords and Wands and the Court attributions are Knave, Knight, Queen, and King. Wands are associated with element Fire and Swords with element Air. The card backings are fully reversible, depicting doubled images of the Queen of Wands. Measuring approximately 4 ??? inches by 2 ??? inches, the sturdy but flexible card stock has a slick, matte finish and shuffles easily.

In the companion booklet, McElroy admits that some card meaning stray from traditional meanings, making the Da Vinci Tarot an unwise choice as a beginner's deck. For example, the provided meanings for the Two of Pentacles are "clarity, untainted love, honest friendship, unconditional love and acceptance, engaging in love for the simple pleasure of doing so." Traditionally, relationships, love, and emotions are the realm of the Cups/Chalices/Water suit, not Pentacles. The meaning for the Ace of Chalices is "growth, eating well, fostering a sense of well-being, tending to the healthy advancement of body and spirit, taking advantage of opportunities to be nurtured." Apart from the latter meaning, this description sounds much more like the traditional realm of the Pentacles/Earth suit, which governs health and the physical body.

For each card in the Da Vinci Tarot, McElroy gives a brief commentary and three exploration questions, as well as what they encourage and caution against. For some cards, the author offers illustration notes, highlighting the source of card images. It's my understanding that the artist didn't keep track of which sketch or painting went with each card image, but McElroy's curiosity and tenacity spurred him to resolve the derivations.

There are some omissions and mistakes in the booklet, including duplicating the card meaning of the Empress for the Emperor and a typo for The World, which says "The figure on The Sun..." To be honest, I'm not sure if there are other mistakes because I couldn't get past the Majors with a mere cursory reading of the booklet. Surprisingly, the companion booklet is a dry read. Surprising, because McElroy is usually an engaging author. Granted, hints of his cleverness and inventiveness peek through, but the booklet bored me to tears. I was going to push through the entire 63 pages, but I figured "why bother?"

While the mirror-script and icons in the background of the Majors add a hint of mystery and additional intuitive information, I found most of the card images uninspiring. The artists are very talented, especially with shading techniques, but most of the image selections aren't conducive to symbolic interpretation and intuitive association for those who don't memorize meanings to apply to every deck. I performed a reading and found the Da Vinci Tarot wanting. It just doesn't "speak" to me and, for the first time as a reader, I actually found myself thinking of the Rider-Waite correlations in the attempt to glean *some* information from the spread.

This deck would be great for rabid fans of Da Vinci and art deck collectors. However, I found the deck and companion booklet quite bland, despite the care taken with its execution.

(To see 9 card images from the Da Vinci Tarot, visit the Reviews--Decks section at JanetBoyer.com)