Les Tarot Noirs - The Black Tarot
Created by Franco Coletti
Published by il Meneghello in 2011
A Very Limited Major Arcana Edition of Only Twelve Sets
Signed & Numbered by the Artist
A Text Card in Italian (translated to English below)
Card Dimensions: 5.5 inches by 3.5 inches, approximately (14 x 9 cm.)
Cards are Numbered with Text in Italian
Card Backs: Have an Image (Not Reversible)
Price: € 60. Euro

Franco Coletti has created several intriguing and potent Tarot decks dedicated to his beloved muse; the object of his desires; a mysterious Ms. 'D', who it can be surmised has cast quite the spell over him. She inspires him in many creative ways and puts his heart to task. He experiences the meanings of the cards in all their depth; the anguish and jubilation with great passion and keen insight. This deck evokes those complicated feelings of being ruled by a heart that understands its true power over another; that can be both kind and cruel. A couple of the images are sexually explicit but hopefully would not offend anyone (but it is perhaps worth noting).

Franco Coletti shares of himself that he was born in Milan on the 23rd of November, 1949 and that he continues to live there; nowadays with two cats and a lot of memories. He has a degree in philosophy but did not find it useful for understanding life, so has decided just to live. In the 1980's and '90's he had exhibits in Rome and Lomellina, got married and had an interest in shamanism, creative dance and Eastern culture. Four years ago he came to know a woman and this incident rekindled his heart to dream. She inspires paintings, drawings and nowadays is the inspiration to whom he dedicates the greater part of the Tarot mystery series of "D"; black, red and green. In 2011 he met Osvaldo Menegazzi and thanks to him, these decks have come to be. He is not in a hurry to die.

A humble attempt at a translation of Mr. Coletti's text card which is found in the set of Les Tarot Noirs:

This set in mysterious black; the third in the series dedicated to 'D', speaks to the heart with symbols and not by the color: Dreams are in black and white, like white skin and hair of black inspires. Color can bring your own personal meanings.
In this Arcana only the Magician card has a history of its own. It depicts Osvaldo Menegazzi, for thanks to him these cards have been realized. So you can say that may well represent the soul as there are no wizard spells cast.

The cards are black and white sketches which contrast sharply on the semi-gloss cardstock. Ms. 'D' is featured on the backs of the cards (shown below) and therefore this deck is not reversible. The cards are numbered and the titles are written in Italian. The deck includes a short biography card in 4 languages including English and the description card (translated above) as well as the numbered, signed Title card.

The Les Tarot Noirs set, comes in a decorated cardboard box with a B&W sketch of Franco Coletti (not featured in the deck) on thick cardstock mounted on the cover, giving it an added dimensional appeal. The box includes the il Meneghello hot wax seal. It is a powerful and rare collectable which became available in late 2011.

More Tarot Decks by Franco Coletti reviewed here:
Un Grande Amore
Emi Tarot's (Emi's Tarot)
Divina Commedia's Tarots (The Divine Comedy’s Tarot)
I Tarocchi dell'amore Sacro e profano
i nuovi Tarocchi dell'amor Sacro e Profano

Also, a book of Coletti's poetry, called Evil Does Not Exist, Poems for D
beautifully translated into English

Cards shown on this page are 0 - Fool Card, 1 - Magician, 3 - Empress - top row
4 - Emperor, 6 - Lovers and 8 - Justice - 2nd row
9 - Hermit, 16 - Tower, and 19 - Sun - 3rd row
221 - World, Title Card and the Card Back - bottom row

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