The Ceccoli Tarot deck has been on my wishlist for a long, long time. I love the style of the artwork, and I love how the images are so pretty and whimsical, and yet also dark and haunting. I finally bought the mini Ceccoli Tarot deck a few weeks ago and I have to say that I am loving the readings I am getting with it so far.
One of the reasons it took me so long to acquire this deck is because I initially read a few reviews that mentioned potential problems with fitting the images to their tarot meanings.
Apparently, these images were existing artwork from the artist, Nicoletta Ceccoli, that were chosen to match the 78 cards in tarot, and not images that were purposefully created for the tarot. So while I loved the artwork, I wasn’t sure that it was a practical buy, except for the sole purpose of collecting it.
Now that I’ve worked with it a little bit, I actually think that many of the images suit their assigned tarot meanings very well, and in fact, have given me a lot of different and interesting perspectives into the cards and their meanings. Admittedly, I probably haven’t had the deck long enough, or have done enough readings with it, to come across every potential problem with it, but I’ve done enough to know that I don’t regret this purchase at all.
To give you an idea of how the images work for me, I’ve included a few of the cards below and the insights I’ve gotten from them.
Card Imagery
The Fool – 0: I love how the Fool is depicted here as a drum. The first thought that came to mind is “She marches to the beat of her own drum”, and honestly, I don’t know if there is any other description that I love more than this for the Fool.
That phrase is often used for those who do not conform or fit into the ways of society, someone who is a little different from the norm, who others may think of foolish. But the Fool doesn’t need anyone’s validation; they do what they want, the way they want to do it. I feel like this image for the Fool is perfect.
This 8 of Swords imagery is very different from your standard RWS-inspired tarot deck, but the feeling comes across the same to me.
The 8 of Swords in most decks usually shows a person who is blindfolded and tied up, trapped and surrounded by swords, seemingly unable to move. But their bindings are loose and there is always a way out of their predicament, if they would only find the courage to loosen their bindings, open their eyes, and look for a way out. It is a symbolic representation of when a person feels afraid and unable to move away from the situation they find themselves in.
The Ceccoli Tarot’s representation of the 8 of Swords, while having a completely different imagery, shows the same situation. A little girl who is scared and curled up into a ball, cuddling her rabbit for comfort, brings to mind the inner child within us when we feel scared and unable to find a way out of difficult situations.
It is exactly what I am mentally doing on the inside when things go spectacularly wrong for me, while on the outside, I’m pretending that everything is okay.
Traditionally, the 7 of Cups represent having too many choices and having to prioritize. The Ceccoli Tarot’s depiction of the 7 of Cups is a wonderful and hilarious look at the importance of being able to focus and prioritize. The vibe is very much Alice-in-Wonderland-y, especially with the little girl in the pinafore, all those white rabbits running around, and plenty of rabbit holes to fall into.
It’s like that saying goes, a rabbit in hand is worth two in the hole. Or something like that. Lol.
The point is, if you try to catch all the rabbits, you’ll probably lose them all. If you allow yourself to be distracted by all the other rabbits (ideas, projects, potential opportunities) out there, while losing track of the one you are working on, you may end up with nothing getting done at all. Focus on one rabbit at a time. Prioritize, focus, ignore all those other distractions. And when you are done, prioritize and focus on the next rabbit.
These are just a few of the cards I wanted to highlight. You can find more of my thoughts on the individual cards in the deck under the hashtag #mmceccolistudy on Instagram.
Standouts
There are a few other things that stand out to me about this deck. Most notably, the almost non-existant representation of the masculine gender. Only one card features a boy as the main subject; The Emperor – 4, while two others feature masculine non-human characters as the main subjects; The Hierophant – 5, and the Devil – 15.
There are other cards that feature masculine characters, and while some of them may seem to be the main subject because they appear bigger in proportion to everything else, I don’t necessarily see them so. I still see the girls as the main subjects of the cards below, or at least sharing equal importance with the masculine characters.
This means, of course, that one of the biggest standouts of this deck is that all the court cards are represented by little girls. Yes, even the Knights and Kings.
I really love the thematic representation of the court cards. The innocence of the Pages, the movement of the Knights, the Queens and their sweet dessert food babies – with the exception of the Queen of Cups (although technically, a fish is also a food), the Kings and the creatures coming out of their skirts – with the King of Swords’ horse having already gone some distance away.
The lack of male representation in the court cards doesn’t bother me much because I tend to read the court cards as masculine/feminine energies rather than actual males or females, and I actually really like how female-centered and feminine this deck is.
Other Things to Note
Handling the Ceccoli
As I mentioned earlier, the deck I bought is the mini Ceccoli deck, not the regular sized one. The imagery of the cards are the same, but the sizes are considerably different. The regular deck measures at 2.8 x 1.2 x 5 inches, while the mini one measures 1.9 x 1.2 x 3.3 inches. For comparison, in the picture below; the regular-sized Radiant Rider-Waite on the left, and a pen on the right.
I cannot speak for the handling of the regular sized deck, but I love how the mini Ceccoli deck feels. It take a little adjustment to get used to the small size, but after having used it for a while, I feel a little clumsy going back to regular sized decks. The card stock is really thin and flexible, but it doesn’t feel or look fragile in any way. I also love how smooth the cards are and how well they shuffle.
Reading with the Ceccoli
I find that the Ceccoli Tarot deck works best for introspective readings and working with the subconscious. It would probably do well in shadow work and mystical readings, but not so much for straightforward or to-the-point readings. Depending on the individual tarot reader and the kind of readings you specialize in, or clients that frequent your business, it may not be the best deck for universal readings.
However, considering that I bought the mini version of this deck specifically so I’d have a smaller deck I could easily bring around with me for impromptu readings, it is probably something I will have to work around and adapt to. I believe that as long as you get very familiar with the deck, it is possible to do anything and everything with it, so here’s to working more with it!
Further Study
I post my studies with this deck on Instagram under the hashtag #mmceccolistudy. You can find more of my thoughts on working with this deck and the individual cards there, and if you are so inclined, I’d love it if you would post your own insights into working with this deck as well.
If you don’t currently have the deck, you can purchase a copy here from Amazon.com – full disclosure; I get a small referral fee if you use this link for your purchase.
I look forward to hearing your thoughts! Enjoy the Ceccoli Tarot!
Hazellie Wong
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