Tarot of Marseilles

The Marseille Tarot deck par excellence, the most famous and best known even to those unfamiliar with the history of these magical cards.

An essential but not trivial deck, indeed, strongly evocative, loved by all those who demand from the Tarot a symbolic immediacy capable of inspiring the simplest words to express deep and hidden truths.

When it comes to tarot decks, where do you start? You may have heard of the Marseille Tarot deck, but what is it? There are so many different varieties, styles and meanings behind every single card.

One such popular choice is the Marseille Tarot deck, one of the oldest tarot decks known to us at this time. But what is this deck like and why could it be valuable to you?

What are the Tarot of Marseilles?

The Tarot de Marseille is a tarot deck dating back to 1700, in France. In particular it originated in the French region of Marseille, hence the name of this special and reverent deck.
These cards were originally printed on wood and illustrated with characters lacking many colors. Since this deck was one of the first styles to exist, it would make sense that it was much simpler than others!

The Tarot of Marseille has a similar configuration to the other tarot decks: there is always a major and a minor arcane. There are figures in the form of an infantryman, knight, queen and king. There are still the traditional cups, pentacles, swords and sticks.

However, when you look at the minor arcana, you will only see the numbered suits, or symbols, all by themselves, without any kind of extra story or explanation. Why could this be? Does this really lend itself to deeper reading?

The reason there is no additional illustration or meaning is that the Marseille Tarot was originally designed as a deck of playing cards. Sure, it was also used as a tarot, but having the ability to play a round of cards was useful, especially in the 1700s.

This inherently means that the Marseille Tarot wants you to rely on numerology and your instincts to formulate an accurate card reading. Sounds complicated, right? You might be surprised with this deck!

78 cards, 66x120mm; Multilingual instructions including Italian