Tarot of Marseilles - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Tarot de Marseilles
The Hermit or L'Hermite Major Arcana from the early 18th century Tarot of Jean Dodal
Style of Card :	Tarot
Origin:	Marseille
Designer:	Anonymous; traditional
Purpose:	Recreation and Divination
Structure:	22 Trumps or Major Arcana 56 Suits or Minor Arcana
Suits:	Bâtons (Rods, Sceptres, Rods, Wands) Épées (Swords) Coupes (Cups) Deniers (Coins)

The Tarot of Marseilles (or Tarot of Marseille), also widely known by the French designation Tarot de Marseille, is one of the standard patterns for the design of tarot

Tarot

The tarot |trionfi]] and later as tarocchi, tarock, and others) is a pack of cards , used from the mid-15th century in various parts of Europe to play a group of card games such as Italian tarocchini and French tarot...

cards. It is a pattern from which many subsequent tarot decks derive.

Origins

Michael Dummett

Sir Michael Anthony Eardley Dummett FBA D.Litt is a British philosopher. He was, until 1992, Wykeham Professor of Logic at the University of Oxford...

's research led him to conclude that - based on the lack of earlier documentary evidence - the Tarot deck was probably invented in northern Italy

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

in the 15th century and introduced into southern France when the French conquered Milan

Milan

Milan is the second-largest city in Italy and the capital city of the region of Lombardy and of the province of Milan. The city proper has a population of about 1.3 million, while its urban area, roughly coinciding with its administrative province and the bordering Province of Monza and Brianza ,...

and the Piedmont

Piedmont

Piedmont is one of the 20 regions of Italy. It has an area of 25,402 square kilometres and a population of about 4.4 million. The capital of Piedmont is Turin. The main local language is Piedmontese. Occitan is also spoken by a minority in the Occitan Valleys situated in the Provinces of...

in 1499. The antecedents of the Tarot de Marseille would then have been introduced into southern France at around that time. The game of tarot

Tarot (game)

The French game of tarot, also jeu de tarot, is a trick-taking card game for four players using the traditional 78-card tarot deck. The game is enjoyed throughout France and also known in French-speaking Canada. French tarot is one of the older forms of tarot and has remained popular for centuries...

died out in Italy but survived in France and Switzerland

Switzerland

Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....

. When the game was reintroduced into northern Italy, the Marseille designs of the cards were also reintroduced to that region.

Etymology

The name Tarot de Marseille is not of particularly ancient vintage; it was coined at least as early as 1889 by the French

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

occultist Papus (Gérard Encausse) in Chapter XI of his book le Tarot des bohémiens (Tarot of the Bohemians), and was popularized in the 1930s by the French

France

cartomancer Paul Marteau, who used this collective name to refer to a variety of closely related designs that were being made in the city of Marseille

Marseille

Marseille , known in antiquity as Massalia , is the second largest city in France, after Paris, with a population of 852,395 within its administrative limits on a land area of . The urban area of Marseille extends beyond the city limits with a population of over 1,420,000 on an area of...

in the south of France, a city that was a centre of playing card

Playing card

A playing card is a piece of specially prepared heavy paper, thin cardboard, plastic-coated paper, cotton-paper blend, or thin plastic, marked with distinguishing motifs and used as one of a set for playing card games...

manufacture, and were (in earlier, contemporaneous, and later times) also made in other cities in France. The Tarot de Marseille is one of the standards from which many tarot decks of the 19th century and later are derived.

Structure

Like other Tarot decks, the Tarot de Marseille contains fifty-six cards in the four standard Suits

Suit (cards)

In playing cards, a suit is one of several categories into which the cards of a deck are divided. Most often, each card bears one of several symbols showing to which suit it belongs; the suit may alternatively or in addition be indicated by the color printed on the card...

. In French language versions of the Tarot de Marseille, those suits are identified by their French

French language

French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...

names of Bâtons (Rods, Staves, Sceptres, or Wands), Épées (Swords), Coupes (Cups), and Deniers (Coins). These count from Ace to 10.

As well, there are four court card

Court card

Court card or court sized card was the name given to a size of picture postcard, mainly used in the United Kingdom, which were approximately 4.75 x 3.5 inches and predates the standard size of 5.5 x 3.5 inches....

s in each suit: a Valet (Knave or Page), Chevalier or Cavalier (Horse-rider or Knight), Dame (Queen) and Roi (King). Occultists (and many tarot readers nowadays, whether English- or French-speaking) call this series the Minor Arcana

Minor Arcana

|thumb|[[King of Swords]] card from a Minor Arcana deckThe Minor Arcana of occult or divinatory tarot refers to the portion of a Tarot deck that consists of 56 cards. The Minor Arcana are roughly similar to the cards found in a common deck of playing cards...

(or Arcanes Mineures, in French). The court cards are sometimes called Les Honneurs (The Honors) or Les Lames Mineures de Figures (The Minor Figure Cards) in French, and the "Royal Arcana" in English.

In the Tarot de Marseille, as is standard among Italian suited playing cards, the pip cards in the suit of swords

Suit of swords

The Suit of Swords is a suit found in playing cards using the Italian and Spanish suits. It is also found in Latin Suited Tarot Cards. It's equivalent to Spades in Anglo-American playing cards.The suit represents the Second Estate ....

are drawn as abstract symbols in curved lines, forming a shape reminiscent of a mandorla. On the even numbered cards, the abstract curved lines are all that is present. On the odd numbered cards, a single fully rendered sword is rendered inside the abstract designs. The suit of wands

Suit of wands

In tarot, the suit of wands or batons can be used like one of the suits of playing cards or as a divination tool. It corresponds to the suit of clubs in conventional playing cards....

is drawn as straight objects that cross to form a lattice

Lattice (group)

In mathematics, especially in geometry and group theory, a lattice in Rn is a discrete subgroup of Rn which spans the real vector space Rn. Every lattice in Rn can be generated from a basis for the vector space by forming all linear combinations with integer coefficients...

in the higher numbers; on odd numbered wands cards, a single vertical wand runs through the middle of the lattice. On the tens of both swords and batons, two fully rendered objects appear imposed on the abstract designs. The straight lined wands and the curved swords continue the tradition of Mamluk

Mamluk

A Mamluk was a soldier of slave origin, who were predominantly Cumans/Kipchaks The "mamluk phenomenon", as David Ayalon dubbed the creation of the specific warrior...

playing cards, in which the swords represented scimitar

Scimitar

A scimitar is a backsword or sabre with a curved blade, originating in Southwest Asia .The Arabic term saif translates to "sword" in general, but is normally taken to refer to the scimitar type of curved backsword in particular.The curved sword or "scimitar" was widespread throughout the Muslim...

s and the wands polo mallets.

In this abstraction, the Tarot, and the Italian playing card tradition, diverges from that of Spanish playing cards, in which swords and batons are drawn as distinct objects. Cups

Suit of cups

The suit of cups is one of the four suits of Latin-suited playing cards, such as tarot. The suit of hearts is derived from the suit of cups. These are sometimes referred to as chalices as well as cups. The element of cups is water, and the suit of cups pertains to situations and events of an...

and coins are drawn as distinct objects. Most decks fill up blank areas of the cards with floral decorations. The two of cups

Two of Cups

Two of Cups is a Minor Arcana tarot card.Tarot cards are used throughout much of Europe to play tarot card games.In English-speaking countries, where the games are largely unknown, Tarot cards came to be utilized primarily for divinatory purposes....

typically contains a floral caduceus

Caduceus

The caduceus is the staff carried by Hermes in Greek mythology. The same staff was also borne by heralds in general, for example by Iris, the messenger of Hera. It is a short staff entwined by two serpents, sometimes surmounted by wings...

-like symbol terminating in two heraldic

Heraldry

Heraldry is the profession, study, or art of creating, granting, and blazoning arms and ruling on questions of rank or protocol, as exercised by an officer of arms. Heraldry comes from Anglo-Norman herald, from the Germanic compound harja-waldaz, "army commander"...

dolphin

Dolphin

Dolphins are marine mammals that are closely related to whales and porpoises. There are almost forty species of dolphin in 17 genera. They vary in size from and , up to and . They are found worldwide, mostly in the shallower seas of the continental shelves, and are carnivores, mostly eating...

heads. The two of coins usually joins the two coins by a ribbon motif; the ribbon is a conventional place for the manufacturer to include his name and the date.

There are also the standard twenty-two trump

Trump

A trump is a type of card in some card games.Trump may also refer to:* Trump * Trump * Trumps * The Trump * HMS Trump , a British submarine* The Trump Organization, a business conglomerate...

cards. At times, the Fool, which is unnumbered in the Tarot de Marseille, is viewed as separate and additional to the other twenty-one numbered trumps. Occultists (and many tarotists nowadays) call these twenty-two cards the Atouts (trumps), Les Lames Majeures de Figures (The Major Figure Cards) or Arcanes Majeures (major arcana

Major Arcana

The Major Arcana or trumps are a suit of twenty-two cards in the tarot deck. They serve as a permanent trump suit in games played with the tarot deck, and are distinguished from the four standard suits collectively known as the Minor Arcana...

) in French.

I. Le Bateleur (The Mountebank, The Juggler, The Magician)

II. La Papesse (The Papess, or The Female Pope)

III. L'Impératrice (The Empress)

IV. L'Empereur (The Emperor)

V. Le Pape (The Pope, or The Hierophant)

VI. L'Amoureux (The Lovers)

VII. Le Chariot (The Chariot)

VIII. La Justice (Justice)

IX. L'Hermite (The Hermit)

X. La Roue de Fortune (The Wheel of Fortune)

XI. La Force (Strength, or Fortitude)

XII. Le Pendu (The Hanged Man)

XIII. [usually left un-named, but "called" L'Arcane sans nom, La Mort, or Death]

XIV. Tempérance (Temperance)

XV. Le Diable (The Devil)

XVI. La Maison Dieu (The House of God, or The Tower)

XVII. L'Étoile (The Star)

XVIII. La Lune (The Moon)

XIX. Le Soleil (The Sun)

XX. Le Jugement (Judgement)

XXI. Le Monde (The World)

no number. Le Mat (The Fool)

Variants

The use of obviously Christian traditional images (such as the Pope, the Devil, the Grim Reaper and the Last Judgement) and indeed controversial Christian images such as La Papesse — often thought to represent the legendary Pope Joan — have spawned controversies from the Renaissance to the present.

Papess controversy

The Papess card has sparked controversy because of its portrayal of a female pope. There is no solid historical evidence of a female pope, but this card may be based around the mythical Pope Joan

Pope Joan

Pope Joan is a legendary female Pope who, it is purported, reigned for a few years some time in the Middle Ages. The story first appeared in the writings of 13th-century chroniclers, and subsequently spread through Europe...

. Many variant names have been used to avoid such controversy, including Juno, The Spanish Captain and The High Priestess.

One variant of the Tarot de Marseille, now called the Swiss
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....

Tarot or the Tarot of Besançon
Besançon
Besançon , is the capital and principal city of the Franche-Comté region in eastern France. It had a population of about 237,000 inhabitants in the metropolitan area in 2008...

, removes the controversial Papess and Pope and, in their stead, puts Juno

Juno (mythology)

Juno is an ancient Roman goddess, the protector and special counselor of the state. She is a daughter of Saturn and sister of the chief god Jupiter and the mother of Mars and Vulcan. Juno also looked after the women of Rome. Her Greek equivalent is Hera...

with her peacock, and Jupiter with his eagle

Eagle

Eagles are members of the bird family Accipitridae, and belong to several genera which are not necessarily closely related to each other. Most of the more than 60 species occur in Eurasia and Africa. Outside this area, just two species can be found in the United States and Canada, nine more in...

. More recent decks, following a suggestion by Court de Gébelin, often rename the Papess as the "High Priestess", and the Pope as the "Hierophant" (Greek

Greek language

Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. Its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the majority of its history;...

> "High Priest"). During the French Revolution

French Revolution

The French Revolution , sometimes distinguished as the 'Great French Revolution' , was a period of radical social and political upheaval in France and Europe. The absolute monarchy that had ruled France for centuries collapsed in three years...

, the Emperor and Empress cards became the subject of similar controversies and were displaced by Grandfather and Grandmother.

Just as to the east of the French centre is the Besançon/Swiss Junon-Jupiter (II-V) variant, so to the north are variants in the Flemish decks. The Papesse is replaced with Le 'Spagnol Capitano Eracasse (Italian > the 'Spanish Captain' Fracasso

Il Capitano

Il Capitano is a masked character from the commedia dell'arte. He is often an outside who can maintain his claims only by benefit of the fact that none of the locals know him. He is usually a Spaniard given the fact that for most of the late Renaissance to well into 17th century, Italy was under...

, a stock character from Commedia dell'arte

Commedia dell'arte

Commedia dell'arte is a form of theatre characterized by masked "types" which began in Italy in the 16th century, and was responsible for the advent of the actress and improvised performances based on sketches or scenarios. The closest translation of the name is "comedy of craft"; it is shortened...

). The Pope. often depicted holding an orb or a covered communion chalice, is replaced by Bacus (Bacchus

Dionysus

Dionysus was the god of the grape harvest, winemaking and wine, of ritual madness and ecstasy in Greek mythology. His name in Linear B tablets shows he was worshipped from c. 1500—1100 BC by Mycenean Greeks: other traces of Dionysian-type cult have been found in ancient Minoan Crete...

, the Greek god of wine) holding a wine cup or bottle and a fruited vine cane or bunch of grapes while astride a beer barrel or wine cask.

Thirteenth trump card

The XIII card is generally left unnamed in the various old and modern versions of the Tarot de Marseille, but it is worth noting that in the Noblet Tarot de Marseille (circa 1650), the card was named LAMORT (Death). In at least some printings of the French/English bilingual version of the Grimaud Tarot de Marseille, the XIII card is named "La Mort" in French and named "Death" in English. In many modern tarot decks (e.g., Rider-Waite-Smith), the XIII card is named Death. In at least one 19th century Italian tarot deck (e.g., the one photoreproduced by Italian publisher Lo Scarabeo as the "Ancient Italian Tarots" deck), the card is named "IL TREDICI" (Italian

Italian language

Italian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...

> "Thirteen").

Depictions

The Valet de Bâtons (French > "Page of Batons") is another card worth noting in this regard. In the Tarot de Marseille, the title of that card generally appears on the side of the card, while in some old versions of the Tarot de Marseille that card, along with either some or all others, is left unnamed.

In the Flemish decks there are certain peculiarities as well. The Hanged Man is shown still pendant but right-side up. Temperance bears the motto FAMA SOL (Latin > "The Rumored or Omened Day") in a scroll, probably counceling patience until the day of their deliverance from Spain. The Tower is renamed La Foudre (French > "The Lightning"), and shows a man sitting beneath a tree being struck by lightning. The Star is unnamed, but is often called "The Astronomer" or "The Navigator", and shows a man with compasses staring up at the sky next to a tower. The Moon shows a woman holding a distaff

Distaff

As a noun, a distaff is a tool used in spinning. It is designed to hold the unspun fibers, keeping them untangled and thus easing the spinning process. It is most commonly used to hold flax, and sometimes wool, but can be used for any type of fiber. Fiber is wrapped around the distaff, and tied in...

and The Sun shows a man on horseback bearing a banner. The World depicts a naked woman atop a globe parted into a moon in a starry sky and a sun in a blue sky over a tower on land.

Later history

Each card, whether in the major arcana or minor arcana, was originally printed from a woodcut

Woodcut

Woodcut—occasionally known as xylography—is a relief printing artistic technique in printmaking in which an image is carved into the surface of a block of wood, with the printing parts remaining level with the surface while the non-printing parts are removed, typically with gouges...

; the cards were later coloured either by hand or by the use of stencil

Stencil

A stencil is a thin sheet of material, such as paper, plastic, or metal, with letters or a design cut from it, used to produce the letters or design on an underlying surface by applying pigment through the cut-out holes in the material. The key advantage of a stencil is that it can be reused to...

s. One well-known artisan producing tarot cards in the Tarot de Marseille style was Nicolas Conver, who produced one early attested deck in 1760. Other early attested decks in the Tarot de Marseille family of decks include Noblet's (circa 1650) and Dodal's (circa 1701). The chief use of the deck originally was to play the game of tarot, also known as tarock [German] or tarocco [Italian]; the use of tarot in divination

Divination

Divination is the attempt to gain insight into a question or situation by way of an occultic standardized process or ritual...

is first attested in the 18th century in the journals of Giacomo Casanova

Giacomo Casanova

Giacomo Girolamo Casanova de Seingalt was an Italian adventurer and author from the Republic of Venice. His autobiography, Histoire de ma vie , is regarded as one of the most authentic sources of the customs and norms of European social life during the 18th century...

.

It was the Conver deck, or a deck very similar to it, that came to the attention of Antoine Court de Gébelin

Antoine Court de Gebelin

Antoine Court who named himself Antoine Court de Gébelin was a former Protestant pastor, born at Nîmes, who initiated the interpretation of the Tarot as an arcane repository of timeless esoteric wisdom in 1781.-Early life:...

in the late 18th century. Court de Gébelin's writings, which contained much by way of speculation as to the supposed Egypt

Egypt

Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...

ian origin of the cards and their symbols, called the attention of occultists to tarot decks. As such, Conver's deck became the model for most subsequent esoteric decks, starting with the deck designed by Etteilla

Etteilla

"Etteilla," the pseudonym of Jean-Baptiste Alliette , was the French occultist who was the first to popularise tarot divination to a wide audience , and therefore the first professional tarot occultist known to history who made his living by card divination...

forward. Cartomancy

Cartomancy

Cartomancy is fortune-telling or divination using a deck of cards. Forms of cartomancy appeared soon after playing cards were first introduced into Europe in the 14th century...

with the Tarot was definitely being practised throughout France by the end of the 18th century; Alexis-Vincent-Charles Berbiguier

Alexis-Vincent-Charles Berbiguier de Terre-Neuve du Thym

Alexis-Vincent-Charles Berbiguier de Terre-Neuve du Thym was a French author and demonologist who may have been suffering from psychosis. He was born, and died, in Carpentras in the south of France, and was the heir to an estate, which he used to finance the publication of his unusual memoirs...

reported an encounter with two "sibyls" who divined with Tarot cards in the last decade of the century at Avignon

Avignon

Avignon is a French commune in southeastern France in the départment of the Vaucluse bordered by the left bank of the Rhône river. Of the 94,787 inhabitants of the city on 1 January 2010, 12 000 live in the ancient town centre surrounded by its medieval ramparts.Often referred to as the...

Influence on French and English tarot design and usage

In the English-speaking world, where there is little or no tradition of using tarots as playing cards, tarot decks only became known through the efforts of occultists influenced by French tarotists such as Etteilla, and later, Eliphas Lévi

Eliphas Levi

Eliphas Lévi, born Alphonse Louis Constant , was a French occult author and purported magician."Eliphas Lévi," the name under which he published his books, was his attempt to translate or transliterate his given names "Alphonse Louis" into Hebrew although he was not Jewish.His second wife was...

. These occultists later produced esoteric decks that reflected their own ideas, and these decks were widely circulated in the anglophone world. Various esoteric decks such as the Rider-Waite-Colman Smith deck (conceived by A. E. Waite and rendered by Pamela Colman Smith

Pamela Colman Smith

Pamela Colman Smith , also nicknamed Pixie, was an artist, illustrator, and writer. She is best known for designing the Waite-Smith deck of divinatory tarot cards for Arthur Edward Waite.-Biography:Smith was born in Pimlico, Middlesex , England the only child of an...

), and the Thoth Tarot deck (conceived by Aleister Crowley

Aleister Crowley

Aleister Crowley , born Edward Alexander Crowley, and also known as both Frater Perdurabo and The Great Beast, was an influential English occultist, astrologer, mystic and ceremonial magician, responsible for founding the religious philosophy of Thelema. He was also successful in various other...

and rendered by Lady Frieda Harris

Frieda Harris

[Marguerite] Frieda Harris was an artist, an occult magician, and, after she met him at age 60, an associate and friend of the author and occultist Aleister Crowley...

) -- and tarot decks inspired by those two decks—are most typically used. Waite, Colman Smith, Crowley and Harris were all former members of the influential, Victorian-era Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn

Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn

The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn was a magical order active in Great Britain during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, which practiced theurgy and spiritual development...

at different respective points in time; and the Golden Dawn, in turn, was influenced by Lévi and other French occult revivalists. Although there were various other respective influences (e.g., Etteilla's pip card meanings in the case of Waite/Colman Smith), Waite/Colman Smith's and Crowley/Harris' decks were greatly inspired by the Golden Dawn's member-use tarot deck and the Golden Dawn's tarot curriculum.

The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn was essentially the first in the Anglophone world to venture into esoteric tarot. Francophone occultists such as Court de Gebelin, Etteilla

Etteilla

, Eliphas Lévi

Eliphas Levi

, Oswald Wirth

Oswald Wirth

Oswald Wirth was a Swiss occultist, artist and author. He studied esotericism and symbolism with Stanislas de Guaita, and in 1889 he created a set of Tarot trumps based on the Marseilles deck. His interests also included Freemasonry and astrology.-External links:* * *...

and Papus were influential in fashioning esoteric tarot in the French-speaking world; the influence of these Francophone occultists has come to bear even on interpretation of the Tarot de Marseille cards themselves. Even though the Tarot de Marseille decks are not 'occult' "per se", the imagery of the Tarot de Marseille decks arguably shows Hermetic

Hermeticism

Hermeticism or the Western Hermetic Tradition is a set of philosophical and religious beliefs based primarily upon the pseudepigraphical writings attributed to Hermes Trismegistus...

influences (e.g., alchemy

Alchemy

Alchemy is an influential philosophical tradition whose early practitioners’ claims to profound powers were known from antiquity. The defining objectives of alchemy are varied; these include the creation of the fabled philosopher's stone possessing powers including the capability of turning base...

, astronomy

Astronomy

Astronomy is a natural science that deals with the study of celestial objects and phenomena that originate outside the atmosphere of Earth...

, etc.). Referring to the Tarot of the Bohemians, Eliphas Levi declares: "This book, which may be older than that of Enoch

Book of Enoch

The Book of Enoch is an ancient Jewish religious work, traditionally ascribed to Enoch, the great-grandfather of Noah. It is not part of the biblical canon as used by Jews, apart from Beta Israel...

, has never been translated, but is still preserved unmutilated in primeval characters, on detached leaves, like the tablets of the ancients... It is, in truth, a monumental and extraordinary work, strong and simple as the architecture

Architecture

Architecture is both the process and product of planning, designing and construction. Architectural works, in the material form of buildings, are often perceived as cultural and political symbols and as works of art...

of the pyramids, and consequently enduring like those - a book which is the summary of all science

Science

Science is a systematic enterprise that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe...

s, which can resolve all problem

Problem

A problem is an obstacle, impediment, difficulty or challenge, or any situation that invites resolution; the resolution of which is recognized as a solution or contribution toward a known purpose or goal...

s by its infinite combinations, which speaks by evoking thought, is the inspirer and moderator of all possible conceptions, and the masterpiece perhaps of the human mind. It is to be counted unquestionably among the very gret gifts bequeathed to us by antiquity

Ancient history

Ancient history is the study of the written past from the beginning of recorded human history to the Early Middle Ages. The span of recorded history is roughly 5,000 years, with Cuneiform script, the oldest discovered form of coherent writing, from the protoliterate period around the 30th century BC...

..."

In the French-speaking world, users of the tarot for divination and other esoteric purposes such as Alejandro Jodorowsky

Alejandro Jodorowsky

Alejandro Jodorowsky Prullansky, known as Alejandro Jodorowsky, is a Chilean filmmaker, playwright, actor, author, comic book writer and spiritual guru...

, Kris Hadar, and many others, continue to use the Tarot de Marseille, although Oswald Wirth's Atouts-only (major-arcana) tarot deck has enjoyed such popularity in the 20th century (albeit less so than the Tarot de Marseille). In the mid-1990's Jodorowsky contacted a late descendent of the Camoin family, who has printed the Tarot of Marseilles since the 19th century. They worked together for almost a decade to put together a 78-card deck, including the original detail and 11 color printing. Tarot decks from the English-speaking tradition (such as Rider-Waite-Colman Smith and decks based on it) are also gaining some popularity in French-speaking countries.

Paul Marteau pioneered the number-plus-suit-plus-design approach to interpreting the numbered minor arcana cards ['pip cards'] of the Tarot de Marseille. Prior to Marteau's book Le Tarot de Marseille (which was first published "circa" 1930s), cartomantic meanings (such as Etteilla's) were generally the only ones published for interpreting Marseille pip cards. Even nowadays, as evidenced by tarot readings of members of French-language tarot lists and forums on the Internet, many French tarotists employ only the major arcana cards for divination. In fact, in recognition of this, many French-language Tarot de Marseille tarot books (even good ones, such as Picard's) discuss the symbolism and interpretation of only the major arcana. Many fortune-tellers in France who use the "Tarot de Marseille" for readings will use only the major arcana and will use an Etteilla deck if they are to use all 78 cards for the reading.

Many of the images of the Rider-Waite-Colman Smith (RWS or WCS) deck are derived from the "Tarot de Marseille". However, the influence of other decks is also apparent in the RWCS deck, e.g., the 17th century Jacques Viéville deck for the Sun card and the 16th century Sola Busca deck for certain pip cards, notably the 3 of Swords and 7 of Swords. The 19th century deck of Swiss-French occultist Oswald Wirth was also influential for certain of the iconographic features of the Atouts or major arcana cards of the RWCS deck.

English translation and usage of the term 'Tarot de Marseille'

The term "Tarot de Marseille" has, in the past, most often been translated into English as "Tarot of Marseilles" because of the English spelling "Marseilles" for the city whose name in French is spelled "Marseille" (traditional English spellings for many famous geographical locations differ from the foreign spelling, e.g. 'Moscow' for 'Moskva' in Russia, 'Cologne' for 'Köln' in Germany; see Exonym). The spelling 'Marseille' is gradually enjoying greater, concurrent usage in the English language to describe the city generally; likewise, the alternate English translation "Tarot of Marseille" for the French term "Tarot de Marseille" is gradually increasing in usage.

Others have also tended to use the initials '"TdM"', allowing for ambiguity as to whether the 'M' stands for 'Marseille' or 'Milan', a region claimed for the origins of the image design.

In deference to the common appellation 'Marseille' for the style and in recognition that the deck appears in other places, the term '"Marseille-style"' is at times also used.

Major Arcana

The Major Arcana includes the Trumps and The Fool.

The above Major Arcana images are from Jean Dodal's early 18th century version of the Tarot de Marseille.

Tarot decks

Various facsimiles of Conver's deck and other old decks are available. The Italian firm Lo Scarabeo prints a reproduction of an 18th century deck by Nicholas Conver (with a re-constructed card missing from their original), mentioned above ISBN 0-7387-0014-2. The French firm Héron also publishes a photoreproduction of the complete Conver held in the Bibliothèque Nationale.

Others offer redrawn decks based on the old models. Grimaud is perhaps the best known such maker; their deck was designed by Paul Marteau, mentioned above. The Spanish firm Fournier

Naipes Heraclio Fournier

Naipes Heraclio Fournier S.A. is a playing card manufacturer that was founded in 1868 and is based in Vitoria, Spain. Though it has been owned by The United States Playing Card Company since 1986, not only does it continue to maintain separate manufacturing operations, but it also manufactures...

prints an edition. Lo Scarabeo prints a version based on a 1751 Swiss deck by Claude Burdel, with an unwarranted alteration that sees a 'zero' added upon the Fou ISBN 0-7387-0011-8 (But see Stuart Kaplan, Encyclopedia of Tarot Vol. II, page 327, which shows a 1750 Swiss deck by Rochus Schär. The Schär deck's Le Mat card is numbered with a zero). U.S. Games / Cartamundi

Cartamundi

Cartamundi, also called Carta Mundi, is a Belgian company, based in Turnhout, that produces and sells board games, card games, collectible card games, packages and playing cards through its manufacturing and sales subsidiaries...

also printed a version based on the 1701 Dodal Tarot de Marseille, but that version has gone out of print.

Jean-Claude and Roxanne Flornoy http://www.tarot-history.com have also published a careful rendition of the Noblet and the Dodal decks.
Also, Daniel Rodes and Encarna Sanchez have published a new edition to called The anciens icons of tarot reconstructed about Marseille's Tarot.http://www.tarotmarsella.com

The Dodal deck held in the Bibliothèque Nationale has been photographically published by Dussere, but is now out of print.

Other publications

The Game of Tarot by Michael Dummett ISBN 0-7156-1014-7 – a history of the Tarot, and a compilation of Tarot card games. (out of print)
A Wicked Pack of Cards: The Origins of the Occult Tarot by Ronald Decker, Thierry Depaulis, and Michael Dummett ISBN 0-312-16294-4 – a history of the French origin of the occult Tarot, focusing on Etteilla, Le Normand, and Lévi.
La voie du Tarot by Alexandro Jodorowsky with Marianne Costa ISBN 2-226-15191-5 – Provides Jodorowsky's personal take on Tarot de Marseille card interpretation and on the 20th century French tradition of esoteric tarot (Note: This book is also available in Spanish under the title La Via Del Tarot, ISBN 84-7844-893-4)
Mystical Origins of the Tarot by Paul Huson
Paul Huson
Paul Huson is a British-born author and artist currently living in the United States. In addition to writing several books about occultism and witchcraft he has worked extensively in the film and television industries.-Family:...

ISBN 0-89281-190-0 – a historically based introduction to tarot reading and divination
Divination
Divination is the attempt to gain insight into a question or situation by way of an occultic standardized process or ritual...

.
Ombres et lumières du Tarot by Carole Sédillot ISBN 2-7107-0609-1 – Sédillot's personal take on Tarot de Marseille card interpretation and on the 20th century French tradition of esoteric tarot. Sédillot's approach to the minor arcana cards is inspired in many respects by the circa 1930s classic French language book Le Tarot de Marseille by Paul Marteau.
Tarot Symbolism by Robert O'Neill ISBN 0-9757122-0-9 (2004 reprint of 1986 original) - an investigation into tarot's symbolism and historical development.
Méditations sûr les 22 arcanes majeurs du Tarot (a study of the Tarot of Marseilles) ISBN 1-58542-161-8 - published anonymously in French in 1984 (with a foreword by a Catholic theologian and priest Hans Urs von Balthasar
Hans Urs von Balthasar
Hans Urs von Balthasar was a Swiss theologian and priest who was nominated to be a cardinal of the Catholic Church...

), and in English as Meditations on the Tarot
Meditations on the Tarot
Meditations on the Tarot: A Journey into Christian Hermeticism is a book published posthumuously and anonymously in 1985. It was originally written in French and translated into English by Robert A. Powell of the Sophia Foundation....

in 1985.

External links

The Dodal Marseille deck by Jean-Michel David at the Association for Tarot Studies site
www.tarotmarsella.com Reconstruction old symbols of Tarot by Daniel Rodes and Encarna Sanchez. Tarot of Marseilles
The Marseilles Family at Tom Tadfor Little's Tarot Hermitage
History of the Tarot de Marseille by Philip Camoin
Tarot History by James W. Revak
Tarot History by Robert Mealing (pages on Marseille deck comparisons)

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