Mayan

The record

As 2012 approaches, there is an increasing public interest in the lost civilisation of the Maya. Lo Scarabeo have recognised this and created the Mayan Tarot. The artwork in Lo Scarabeo’s deck is faithful to the rough, cartoonish images that characterise Mayan art, and within the majors there are some aesthetically pleasing images – for example a meditative magician holding a ceremonial wand while symbols of the suits of Swords (Lances), Wands (Torches), Pentacles (Suns) and Chalices (Terracotta Plates) hover in the air around him. Many of the majors are cartoon/Mayan versions of the usual characters, including the usual objects – the Hermit with a lantern, the woman and the lion on Strength. Throughout the deck the background has the texture of pitted stone, giving the images an ancient feel. Perhaps the Mayan letters, symbols and glyphs that hover around the protagonists within the major arcana are relevant to the cards on which they appear, revealing in a quiet, mystical way something deeper than we can comprehend. On the other hand, maybe they are simply randomly chosen from existing Mayan codexes simply to give the images an authentic Mayan flavour, or maybe they’re simply bor

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