THE DARK GRIMOIRE TAROT - PRODUCED BY LO SCARABEO
images reproduced with permission
The Dark Grimoire ( pronounced Grimwah !) Tarot produced by Lo Scarabeo is a creation
of Tarot artist Michele Penco. In this fascinating opus magnus she utilises a
muted palette of colours counterpoised against strange and forbidding highlights
of light and darkness.
Here, gone are most of the pretty-pretty associations so painstakingly built up
since the 1960s by the New Age hippy community, and we find ourselves thrust into
a world of stark realities and awful choices.
Here is the true tarot, back in all its ancient grandeur and awe-inspiring majesty!
What a relief to come across a fellow True Believer - I had begun to think I was
truly alone in a world of Darkness!
It was getting to the point where it was actually becoming difficult to come across
anything AT ALL scary or inspiring in the tarot. The Death card has long been
neutralised, out of His old role of plague bearer into ‘A clearing of negative
conditions’! The Tower card similarly turned into a weak ‘The need
to build on solid foundations’- sounding more like something out of a middle
class counselling session that LE TAROT of Ancient Mysteries!!
I must confess to having played a part in this, especially with ‘Step by
Step Tarot’, in which the meanings given to each card now sound like something
out of a Women’s Institute guidance session!
This deck is based upon traditional tarot structure- i.e. coins, swords wands
and cups- earth , air, fire and water, numbering from 1 to 10 and then page, knight,
queen, king.
But the imagery is strange and disturbing, and takes us on a journey into the
deepest recesses of the mind - an exploration into that realm where - so legend
has it - dwell the ancient gods and demons who rule over our deepest and most
troubling hopes and fears.
This deck takes its name from the ancient books on magic real and imaginary- that
were written hundreds of years ago and which promise wealth and power to those
that were able to discern their true secrets.
Similarly the tarot itself is also revealed as a grimoire, which, if placed together
in the correct order, and deciphered properly, can also take one on a Journey
of unimaginable aspect and lead the Initiate into the True Discovery of magic
and life !
Many of the images in this deck are extremely unsettling - figures step out of
doorways; demons inhabit shadowy pathways; scholars hang themselves from horror
of what their studies have revealed to them; young women encounter terrifying
creatures on lonely windswept moors; a man finds himself strait-jacketed and in
a lunatic asylum and in front of the devil.
This is not a deck for the faint of heart - only for those brave enough to confront
their own inner darkness and demons.
Much of the inspiration of this deck draws from an actual grimoire - the Lesser
Key of Solomon - but it is not necessary to know this ancient volume. The images
themselves are universal and speak directly to the soul, where they touch a universal
fear of the dark, and of the awful beings that inhabit that realm.
The minor arcana is shown as four separate grimoires - one for each suit-four
volumes of secret lore each shown by the Ace. As we go through each suit, we are
guided as to how to access that suit’s own especial powers- the dangers,
the opportunities and the means by which each level can be learned and absorbed
into one’s persona.
The suit of Chalices or Cups now becomes the Grimoire of Dreams - here we find
knowledge concerning our deepest loves, hopes, fears!
The suit of Coins is now the Grimoire of Shadows - this guides us re the material
world, our fortunes, our health and strength!
The suit of Wands is now the Grimoire of Lights - in this we are taught about
the creative ability, the inspiration, the courage, and how Light is made manifest
from Darkness in the First Place.
The suit of Swords is now the Grimoire of Demons in which reside all our phobias,
fears, fanaticisms, obsessions that drive us, and, which --if left unchecked--
will most assuredly lead us to madness and evil!!
The major arcana follows traditional tarot sequencing, restoring the Justice card
as the 7th Arcanum and the Strength to the 11th - the original sequencing before
AE Waite came along and tried to make everything conform to his astrological theory
of the tarot.
The images here are stark and extremely unsettling, and definitely not recommended
for anyone whose grip on the world is slender or who may be likely to become unsettled
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In The Fool, we see a young man, bound in a straight jacket, surrounded
by mocking demons that have all played a part in leading him down the road
to madness, perhaps through drug or alcohol abuse, to bring him to the point
where he now finds himself.
In front of him, mostly out of sight to the viewer but with ears or horns
just within sight, is what seems to be the devil, or at least a demon of
some kind, about to interrogate him.
Above shines a lamp like that seen in interrogation scenes from second world
war films. |
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In The Lovers we see two people holding hands - holding onto each other,
on a windswept hill, trying to reassure each other that they will be there
for each other.
While slightly apart stands a woman in red, face out of focus, who seems
to have some power over one of them, perhaps both.
We can only wonder what her strange power may be!! |
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The Hanged Man shows a man having just committed suicide, driven to this
act of extreme desperation out of something he has learned, perhaps from
the strange, sinister-looking tome which rests upon his desk.
We wonder what might be so awful that it could drive a man to this. Then
we find ourselves thinking about all those people that do attempt suicide,
either quickly, or maybe more slowly from drugs etc..
Could it be memory of some awful trauma, or fear of something that might
happen in the future? Could it be something about our selves, or about the
world in which we are live? |
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The Seven of Swords - which normally shows the dangers of getting ripped
off, and therefore ‘The Need to protect your own boundaries’
in this deck shows a hideous demon getting into a sleeping man’s lodging
room, intent on stealing his book of secrets.
He sleeps, and on the top of his book rests a pistol. Will he wake up in
time?
Will we, if, as in some sense we are surely meant to be, represented by
this sleeping man?! |
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The Five of Coins shows a scene in which a homeless man in an alley, with
empty bottles of drink around him, is looking down at the throng of people
moving along down an adjacent road.
Behind them lurks some kind of monster, its tentacled shadow thrown into
silhouette against a far wall.
Is this crowd surely insane, to allow amongst its company something so monstrous?
Do they even know what is moving amongst them? If so, why are they under
the thrall of this Being? In this case, the homeless man is probably the
only one left sane, perhaps. |
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The Eight of Swords shows a woman being held captive in a glass jar, by a monster
which gloats upon her. Traditional tarot for this card normally shows a woman
tied and blindfolded to a stack of swords- here we are brought to mind of all
those held captive in the power of vice, addiction, need, weakness- by those driven
by desire for profit or just plain desire to deal out pain and suffering to others.
What recourse, what salvation would anyone have who is trapped in the reality
of which this card alludes? Probably none at all, is the sobering thought!
All in all, this deck is probably the most powerful impetus to tarot thought and
practice that I have come across for a long time. The book which is set to accompany
this deck is due out in a couple of month’s time - the deck has only been
released since last month.
I have already placed my order with Amazon - click the link below to get your
copy.
