Tarot Favole Deck Review by Misha

By Victoria Frances
Published by Fournier 2007

ASIN: B00149UI3K

           When I opened the unexpected package and saw the new tarot deck I had just received I thought this was going to be added to my favorite’s list. The packaging itself is nothing more then a standard tarot deck box; nothing special there. The one flap has started to tear already after only opening it three times.  It was the image and design on it that attracted me instantly. The Victorian look instantly had me loving this deck even though it was also gothic with blood portrayed on the red headed female vampire.

           I seem to follow a routine whenever I have a new deck and am first going through it. I rush through each card fairly quickly seeing which cards grab my attention and make me pause for good or bad reasons. With Tarot Favole however, I seemed to get my attention grabbed instantly and I had no desire to hurry through. I love black and white; that color combination to me is rich and elegant looking; so The Magician, which is only the second card, caught my eye and made me pause. Yes, it’s black and white, a nighttime scene at a pond and she is dressed in a white gown; a very magical night portrayal indeed and in my favorite color combination.

     The next thing that had my attention and attraction for this deck was the delightful, gorgeous combination of Victorian and Goth. Besides black and white, I love anything Victorian and that is why the next card that took my breath away was The Empress; when you see it you will know why. Unbeknown to me, I had not even gotten to my most favorite major of this exquisite deck; The Hermit.

       The one that troubled me the most is The Hanged Man and immediately I would have associated with it as The Death card. Upon closer examination, rather than a hasty rush through you see why in fact it is The Hanged Man. It’s a woman dressed in black lying on her back with her eyes closed. There is a cord around the wrist of her outstretched arm looking as if it snapped or broke from the branch above. She is in crucifixion position, the biggest self sacrifice, at least for Christians. 

       I finish with the majors and my breath caught and my heart sunk, the minors have no depictions, it’s just the suits portrayed. After seeing all the gorgeous majors and then to see the plainness of only having the suits showing for the minors was a big disappointment. My clients and myself like to have more than this and unfortunately I probably will not be using this deck all that often.

       The suits have been changed to crosses, masks, flowers and butterflies which is a nice variation from the norm. It is easy to immediately determine that the crosses are in place of swords because of how they are depicted. The wands are obviously the sticks of the masquerade masks. Are the butterfly’s cups and the flowers pentacles or is it the reverse? Ok time to go to the little white book for the answers. The LWB is not helpful at all because not only does it not say in some sort of introduction; the suits and their individual explanations are listed as wands, swords, cups and pentacles. I am also wondering why flowers was given as a suit title and not roses for the simple fact that black roses is used and no other variety of flower.

           If you are someone that reads reversals, you also are unable to determine with the 2’s if they are upright or reversed. This is because the Roman numeral of 2 is the same in both positions and the suits are also portrayed symmetrically. This is definitely not recommended for a beginner or novice as there are too many things left to the imagination with this deck.

Filed under: All Articles, Deck Reviews by Misha