The Medieval Tarot
by Christian "Card-Shark" Schenk
The Effect
Just imagine! A Tarot deck that brings the past to life. Matching the look of the Gypsy Deck, the images were taken from the "Mittelalter Tarot" by Lo Scarabeo, Italy. The Tarot size of 60 x 110 mm can be handled very well and let you perform all your favourite moves (palming, DL, several counts).
The cards seem to have seen many years pass by as they look old and worn. But in fact they are absolutely new and printed on the best playing card stock available (3-layer paper, linen structure, high flexibility, the same that you know from your favourite Bicycle deck).
The backs are marked in a very subtle way so that - if you like - you can easily find out which card is selected. Only those in the know will notice the secret. All the above features make this deck perfect for magicians.
Increase the possibilities with this deck by adding the cards of the extension set.
Cost
£25 + £3 postage and packing
I purchased mine from The Card Collection but it is also available directly from Card-Shark for €27.50/US$29.50/about £24, plus postage and packing.
Difficulty
(1=easy to do, 2=No sleights, but not so easy, 3=Some sleights used,
4=Advanced sleights used, 5=Suitable for experienced magicians only)
Not applicable. Depends what you do with them.
Review
Included in the box:
A full 78-card, marked tarot deck
Advertisement card
22-page "little white book" (LWB) in English and German
Small leaflet explaining the marking system
Click here to see a PDF file with images of every card in the deck.
The Medieval Tarot deck is a very nice deck indeed. The quality is high and the cards have a "linen structure" feel to them, which remind me a little of Waddington's playing cards. The cards are smaller than your average tarot deck, being just 6x11cm in size; this is great if, like me, you don't have huge hands. They feel nice and are easy to handle and shuffle but bear in mind that the deck does not handle or spread quite as well as a USPCC deck (Bicycle, Tally-Ho, etc.) This is not an issue, however, as I have no intention of handling them like a magician with a deck of Bikes.
Each card features beautiful artwork taken from Lo Scarabeo's Mittelalter tarot deck. The Majors are very nicely illustrated with the main primary colours in muted tones; not garish at all. Christian has re-designed the card faces and they look fabulously atmospheric; the border of the illustration fades into the background giving it a nice, er...faded look, and helps to give the impression that the card is a lot older and worn than it looks. The cards have English and German titles. Personally, I would have preferred Latin instead of German, but that's just me. The borders (both front and back) are a faded light brown colour, which is a nice touch. The red back design is very nice indeed.
The good thing about the Medieval Tarot deck is that Christian has also produced various gaffed cards and forcing decks that can be purchased from his website. This is very useful for those of us who perform bizarre-style magic that incorporates tarot cards and opens up the possibilities in terms of what can be achieved. A very useful addition that I will no doubt be taking advantage of in the not-too-distant future.
The marking system
Christian states that the marking system is "virtually unnoticeable" and he ain't wrong! I must confess that it took me a good while to get used to reading the backs as the markings are so very subtle. Seriously, anyone who has less than perfect eyesight is going to have trouble with these markings; sometimes it can take me a good five seconds to read a card and I make the odd mistake on occasion. I'm sure I will improve with time. Given the elaborate nature of the back design, I can't help thinking that a different method for marking the cards would have been preferable; I think that the back design lends itself perfectly to Ted Lesley's marking system. Having said all that, I still like the marking system on the Medieval Tarot deck; but just be prepared to take your time learning the system and getting used to it, especially in the early days.
The LWB contains a short history of the deck, a couple of lines which give the meaning for each card and a very nice seven-card spread that will come in very handy for any palm readers out there.
Overall
This is easily the best tarot deck I own. Even though it hasn't been hand-aged, I still love the look and feel of the deck. I don't know how it compares to other marked tarot decks on the market (notably Outlaw's Carnie Tarot and the Black Hart's Telltale Tarot, which are both Majors-only decks) but Christian has done a great job with this and the only reason it doesn't score a perfect ten is because I found the markings to be difficult to read sometimes, especially in dim light. Apart from that relatively minor quibble, the Medieval Tarot is very highly recommended if you're in the market for a marked, 78-card tarot deck. Go get it.
Score: 9/10
