Historical Tarot

A collection of meanings and interpretations Sola Busca Tarot It is not easy to find different meanings and interpretations for the Sola Busca cards on the internet. I made a collection from various sources (Mentioned below). Various meanings and interpretations Sola Busca cards Triumphs, Majors, Court Cards, Minors and numbered cards. Major Arcana – Triumph cards 0. MATO a. 0: strangeness, infantilism, holiday, detachment from worries, madness. b. 0. MATO: upright: Foolishness. reversed: Insanity. c. 0. The Fool (Mato): It doesn't matter if you are misunderstood, as long as you are true to yourself. Ther…

I created this so that we may have an umbrella thread where we can discuss and post updates on the premium historical decks series by Lo Scarabeo. Separate threads on each offering in the line are listed here: Tarocchi Sola Busca Tarocchino Mitelli Minchiate Etruria Tarots Egyptiens

The Morgan Library & Museum is hosting an exhibition from June 26 through October 4, 2026. I just stumbled over this info in an article in The New Yorker. There was a fun illustration that is probably not part of the exhibition but was done by an illustrator for the magazine (Nicholas Stevenson). So, what do we have here? The 2 of Swords, the Hermit and the King of Wands (?), I suppose. And our psychotic psychic (Yayoi Kusama) is holding up the Sun. So mainly it's about us having fun, sharing and feeling free in our expression. But there is a lot of ambivalence, evaluation or perhaps even retreat preventing us…

Just to let you know that an exhibition about the history of tarot will take place in Bergamo in Italy, from 02/27/2026 to 06/02/2026. We can expect to see several cards from the Visconti-Sforza deck, and, hopefully some cards from other gilted decks from the XVth century. Link : https://lacarrara.it/en/mostra/tarocchi-2026/

Don't miss this video of the Victoria and Albert museum, presenting historical decks, including 4 gilded cards from the XVth century : Other links from the V&A museum : Bat for Lashes Explores the Cards A history of tarot cards

Strange Attractor Press and the Magic Circle Museum in London are currently running a Kickstarter to produce the first ever reproduction of Austin Osman Spare's long-lost Tarot deck. Spare was a legendary English artist, a one-time friend of Aleister Crowley, and an innovative occultist often considered the father of Chaos Magic. In 1906, Spare created a unique Tarot deck featuring marginal drawings which can link the cards together to form specific cartomantic meanings. His card designs drew from hundreds of years of both Tarot cartomancy and standard card-reading traditions. Lost for decades, the cards were recently rediscovered by Jonathan Allen in the archives of the …

I'm aware that the Tarot Deck was used for playing card games before it became the standard cartomancer's tool, but I don't have any in-depth information about it, or the kind of games that were played with it. I have an interest in historic board, card and dice games, so it would be nice to add some authentic historical Tarot-based games to my library.

I don't want to repeat a labour anyone else already has done, so I write this message. Has anyone analysed the place of "Adelgonde Perenna" (pseud. for Gabrielle Paban, 1826) and "Johannès Trismégiste" (1843) in the history of the evolution of French style cartomancy? Paban/Perenna wrote L'Art de tirer les cartes et les tarots, ou cartomancie Française, Égyptienne, Italienne et Allemande; moyen infallible de dire la bonne aventure, Expliqué d'après les découvertes profondes des Égyptiens, des Bohémiennes, des Sibylles et des Cabalistes célèbres de tous les pays (1823). "Trismégiste" wrote L'Art de tirer les cartes, révélations complètes…

Here is the question! Actually a few Tarot of Besançon decks (TdM) are very nice, but for those who don't know, there are 2 cards in them that are different from the other TdM decks: the Popess and Pope. From what I understood, because of the French Revolution, they didn't want to depict ecclesiastical people anymore, and so replaced the Popess by Junon, and the Pope by Jupiter. But how do you interpret these cards in the Tarot of Besançon? Do you just ignore these changes and apply the meanings of the Popess for the Junon card and the meanings of the Pope for the Jupiter card, or do you apply some particular meanings there, in relation to mythology …

I'm not sure if this blog has been shared on the forum before, but I found it a few days ago and thought it worth sharing for those interested in pythagorean number symbolism and Etteilla's deck: https://neopythagoreanisminthetrot.blogspot.com/2012/05/magician-and-aces.html?m=1 I've yet to read it all, but so far it's proven to be a really interesting blog that does a great job comparing pythagorean sources on the meaning of numbers and Etteilla's (and other decks) majors and pip card meanings. The author has a few other blogs too, all Etteilla related, which can be found on the homepage Hopefully new and experienced Etteilla fans can get some…

I've just had the idea to display several historical decks side by side. Click on the pictures to see a high resolution version. From top to bottom : Visconti di Modrone tarot (around 1445). The cards with a red cross are not originals. Rosenwald sheet (around 1500). The cards with a red cross are not originals. Minchiate Gaetano - All Aquila (1763, restored). Pierre Madenié tarot (1709). Marseille Vintage Tarot (2022, rebuilt from Conver, 1760). Tarot de Besançon, Grimaud (around 1895). The order presented here is a hybrid between order A1, with the three virtues, Te…

After @MuninnMissinHuginn did a reading for me using the Sola Busca, I dug up my 1995 Lo Scarabeo edition. The images appear tiny, have black borders, and are polished (I guess this seller just trimmed the black borders of the 1995 edition). So, I figured I'd treat myself to a new old version of this deck. There are several editions on the market. I watched some comparisons on YouTube and am almost set on the Il Meneghello. But before clicking the buy button, I wanted to ask you knowledgeable folks for your opinion. Which version do you own, and what do you like about it? Here are the ones I took into consideration. Are there others I didn't list (besides t…

I am delighted to present a translation of Robert Klein's seminal article "The Illuminated Tarot Cards of the 15th century", with an illuminating introduction and notes by Ross Caldwell. This is a landmark article on the history of the early Visconti tarot decks.

I decided this might be the best place for this topic and my apologies if it hasn't been. Are there any good books or other resources that have been published the trace the historiography of modern tarot, especially from the 1930s to 2000+ ? So much is out there on the timeline until the 1930s and then it seems to stop and get summarized as "and then the tarot got popular again during counter-culture and we have Stuart Kaplan to thank for making modern tarot a Big Thing." XD I'm looking for things that go a lot more in-depth than that.

What is the earliest deck dating back in or before the 14th/15th century with original illustration?

I open this discussion to share some paintings and depictions of Strength, Justice and Temperance across history, that I found on the web. It is interesting to compare them with the pictures that we can see in tarot. These three arcana are part of the seven christian virtues, that include four cardinal vitues: Fortitude (Strength), Justice, Temperance and Patience, and three theological virtues: Faith, Hope and Charity. But only three of them made their way into the tarot. The topic will be divided into several posts, as only three pictures are allowed by post. All pictures are from free sources, and all links to the originals are included. Let's first…

A few months ago, at a fair, I bought a vintage copy of the Richard Gardner Tarot https://www.abriefhistoryvintage.com/sold1/1970-richard-gardner-rare-tarot-card-set-2005-tarot-book-78-cards-england (I paid much less than the price quoted here!). I have the corresponding book too (The Tarot Speaks). The Gardner Tarot is a brighter version of the Insight Institute Tarot, apparently https://www.wopc.co.uk/tarot/insight-institute. The latter is rather lovely with its muted colours. Both decks seem a curious mix of different Tarot traditions. Has anyone worked with either of these decks?

I can't find any thread about the timeline of tarot, so I begin a new thread about that subject matter. I invite you to add more information, preferably well-attested information using critical methods ('Channeled' matter does certainly not count as critical methods). TAROT TIMELINE 1351-1374. Petrarca writes the collection of poems, known as Trionfi. This title will later be used about the non-suite cards of the tarot, and the English word trumps is derived from this. 1371. Ordinary playing cards attested in Spain. 1376. Ordinary playing cards attested in the Italian peninsula. 1377. Ordinary playing cards attested in Switzerl…

When did, and why did, the pictures for the minor arcana change from simple depictions of the suits? Meaning a picture of two swords change to two people with swords, etc. Also, prior to the more illustrative minor arcana were the cards interpreted solely with numerology (and what flavor) mixed with the suit meaning? If this has already been discussed elsewhere, all apologies, and could a link be placed? Thank you.

Every seen that one hermetic deck by Dobson that looks so cool? Probably everybody...ever wonder what make it so Hermetic? Gosh i sure did…. Chances are most of us are using hermetic decks and don’t know it, the most of the rest of us just know they are. A quick search of the internet about hermetic orders reads like a cool medieval story. Brotherhood of this, Brotherhood of that, Rosy roses, knights, and freemasons…. The beginning of the end is between Austria and France around 1800….by 1870 the old orders were collapsing just like the rest of the world around them. Fun stuff for sure. But what makes a deck Hermetic? Not so apparent...Hermeticism is in gene…

Do you use decks that are not of the Golden Dawn heritage? What are they? I use the Egyptian Tarot by the Brotherhood of Light. This deck is structurally built to the guidelines of the Hermetic Brotherhood of Luxor. The last surviving members of the Luxor chapter had someone in america take on their teachings, and this is that deck. The art for the major arcana was taken from a sort of mysterious Astrology book written in 1901 written by someone claiming to be Count saint Germain. The hermetic brotherhood of Luxor and it's two or three sister chapters ironically(?) are the origins of the handful that would initiate the Golden Dawn itself but in the end Alister …

i decided to take a break from my studies for a bit and just read something.... So I grabbed The Doctrine of Transcendental Magic by Eliphas Levi off the shelf for a second read. This was my first Tarot book and I have to wonder, has anyone else here read this one? It is really an amazing book to me. At times I want to fall out laughing at the preposterous things, at others, I am enamored with the possibility of gleaning something unknown. Somehow in between all the errors and claims truth and nonsense, this work really does embody all that is tarot to us in the west. Each chapter describes the essence of each card. It is as simple as that. He did it first. Peopl…

Ok the first thing I'd like to say is just @Rose Lalonde I was so happy to learn all you said in your first response about how the Golden Dawn influenced the RWS. I didn't even realize that Christian Mysticism was a huge interest of Waite but that is amazing to know and makes so much sense now with all the biblical imagery especially in cards like Judgement and The World. Secondly, I don't feel I am knowledgable enough about the Tarot to really add much to this conversation but I am learning a ton by reading through it so I will definitely be following the progression. @sixdegrees I will be looking forward to these posts now 🙂

Hey everyone, So I've had this deck for a while now, though it's never been read with. More because of a huge lack of information around it. I did find one site which is now on the wayback machine that took a stab at making an attempt to understand this deck, but the webpage ended up being taken down due to lack of interest. My main question is, who in the world are on these court cards? I've tried to take as good a picture as possible, please let me know if I should take others. I'll probably be ignorantly blending Greek and Roman mythology together, so I apologise in advance. This whole deck has existed in a va…

Hello, I recently read about the symbolism of the Column is some of the older Italian Strength cards (Tarot and Minchiate) that show a woman holding a column. Sometimes broken, sometimes whole. According to the source I read … it is a specific column with a specific meaning … NOT intuitive “a pillar symbolizes xyz”. I want to say it references a biblical story or Solomon’s temple …? Anyway I can’t find my source now and didn’t take very good notes. Anyone know the specific symbolism of this column? Thanks if you do!