I welcomed a new deck recently to my ever-growing collection and wanted to do a Lo Scarabeo The Tarot Of Haunted House review as I was super excited to get my hands on it.
Now I had seen someone else use this in a Facebook group and instantly I fell in love before I even purchased this and knew I needed this in my life.
Alright so it may not be a deck for everyone as it does have a horror movie feel to it, but it also has a lot of occult themes running through like the ‘one of pentacles’ card.
Lo Scarabeo does some absolutely amazing tarot decks and my collection is growing larger. The first deck I got was the Lo Scarabeo RWS Pamela Colman Smith Tarot Cards and I like how they differ from the normal Rider Waite deck.
I like that Lo Scarabeo also does some strange types of cards moving away from your typical Rider Waite based format, like the Nicoletta Ceccoli deck.
Anyway, why not get into the review now?
Lo Scarabeo The Tarot Of Haunted House
About the deck
Now the website states that it is based on a Haunted Mansion with each room having a different theme or style. Which is actually true.
As you go through each card, you will see some more information come to light about the area of the mansion, but in a tarot format.
This deck does stick to a Rider Waite style and if you can read tarot through Rider Waite based decks already, there is minimal learning to be had.
Although some cards may differ slightly, for the most part though, they remain the same in the Tarot of Haunted House.
You can even flip through the cards and a story is told. Although you need to use your imagination.
I wanted to include here the size of the cards as they are a little smaller than a standard tarot card, which I like. Just under 11cm high x 6.5cm wide and a depth of 2.5cm.
It reminds me of cheesy Gothic romance novels centred around the 1800s.
A lot of the cards remind me of horror films such as The Shining with the 2 of pentacles, The Exorcist with V Hierophant and then a few cards with a typical vampire theme such as Knight of wands and 3 of swords.
The pentacle cards typically show dark occult matters such as a voodoo style doll with 4 and witchcraft with 8.
Each card tells it’s own story in the Tarot of Haunted House deck, but you can make a story with the cards and a lot of matters are common throughout the theme.
If you read the booklet, you go through the story from Major to Minor Arcana! It’s fun to read and flick through the cards. The main woman is Raven who is mentioned in a lot of the cards.
Packaging and quality
Sometimes I get decks that are just in a thin cardboard box and these are my favourite because I get to design myself a tarot bag to go with them.
I’ve made one out of some ‘Nevermore’ fabric that goes well with the theme of this deck.
You can find the bags over at Rhiannon Star and you can even custom order a bag if there is not something to your taste!
I found that a lot of the Lo Scarabo decks are the same, just a thin cardboard box with a small booklet for the tarot.
Although I love the big boxes, I find it hard to store every deck like this, so it is great that there are many that are not.
The booklet contains English, French, Spanish and Italian versions of the meanings of the cards and the descriptions and details are very short, more in a keyword style.
For example, Seven of wands says: “A crowd back Raven into a corner as she defends herself from higher ground. Opposition, nonconformity, battle, positioning” Raven is the lead female character in this story. She has a baton on fire and is battling 6 away from her as she is forced up the stairs. It’s very visual in what is happening and to be honest, the booklet isn’t needed as the cards speak for themselves throughout the deck.
The cards are quite flimsy which isn’t like the usual Lo Scarabo decks, but I like how they feel.
They have a matte finish so they don’t stick together or get caught as you are shuffling away. It does mean you get the odd flying card, which I feel is something I should know.
Not sure what your take is on cards that fly out.
Design of the cards
This is not your typical design, it’s certainly made in an old comic style format and has beautiful detail for each card. But some cards are a little shocking to some, but this is why I love this particular deck.
Some cards are colourful, some are dark. You can get the mood of the card just from the pictures within the Tarot Of Haunted House.
Although the positive cards are not depicted as such through the imagery!
You really need to read between the lines with this deck.
For example, the 9 of swords is a very similar style depicted with the RWS type decks but you can get the hint of the cards meaning throughout.
They’re dark but ever so beautiful and you can get feelings from the card which outlines the cards’ meanings.
They have styled the women as either a heroine or running away from something, even being attacked. On occasion, they are evil. Then the males are either fighting, saving or evil.
It has a great storyline that you can too follow as you read the booklet, or go through the cards.
The back of the cards is like a house on a haunted hill, yet another mention of a film and a big red/orange moon in the background. Very scenic and suits the dark, haunting aesthetic.
Review of The Tarot Of Haunted House
I love a deck that oozes being different and not your general tarot card. Just flick through my decks and you will see they are all very different than the traditional deck.
I’m not sure why, but they really speak to me so of course when I saw this, I had to buy it.
The Tarot of Haunted house pulled me in on the first 3 cards I saw and knew this was the one for me. Now a firm favourite in my readings, it relates to a lot going on in the world and surprisingly, many have asked for a reading with this deck.
Popularity on social media was brought on by other psychics and tarot readers using the Tarot Of Haunted House on videos or in groups.
With my tiny hands, I find shuffling of this deck fairly easy.
The thickness of the cards is literally like marmite. Some love a thin card, others hate it.
A card can be thin and still stand up to wear and tear, it’s more the quality of what is used, rather than the thickness. I have thicker decks that lasted a year of regular use. Yet have thinner ones still standing up to the test of time.
This deck is not papery thin, like good, thin cardboard.
Shuffling is easy as it is a matte deck. Great for any sized hands, even of the smaller size.
I keep my Tarot Of Haunted House safe in a specially made tarot bag and keeps them safe and secure, ready for the next use.
I liked that it came in a small cardboard box, rather than a big thing as I can pop them in a bag and store them closer to me, rather than on my shelving.
Final Thoughts
Everything about this deck is great, from the design, the storyline to the imagery. It ties in very well if you enjoy horror, but it is not gruesome that it is unusable. But remember, this is not for everyone.
It’s a really wonderful deck and wanted to ensure this was included in my Lo Scarabeo The Tarot Of Haunted House review.
If you are a fan of this kind of artwork, then this certainly is the deck for you.
Mine are becoming well worn as I use these cards quite often now for my readings!
What do you think about the Lo Scarabeo The Tarot Of Haunted House by Lo Scarabeo deck?
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This deck was not sent to me to review, rather I purchased this with my own money and the review is of my own wording.
