Abracadabra

This one comes from Maria Rita Frazzoni by way of the small Italian press Hermatena, and the catalog frames it plainly: a modern deck offering an alternative angle on tarot's traditional material rather than a straight reproduction of it. The archive's own account, though, spends its opening on a different deck, the reviewer's memory of buying a copy of Streghe two years earlier and mangling its pronunciation, an anecdote setting a mood before, presumably, turning to Abracadabra itself. That leaves less to go on than most entries in this catalog, atmosphere and pedigree rather than a description of the cards themselves, though modern and alternative are worth taking at face value from a publisher willing to put out something other than another Waite Smith clone. Frazzoni's Italian origin and Hermatena's small footprint point toward a deck aimed first at a regional audience, second at a wider one. Collectors of Italian esoteric decks, and readers who enjoy the alternative wing of tarot publishing, get the most from this one.