Tarot decks: types, classification and features

2024 Author: Miguel Ramacey | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 06:11

Tarot is an effective tool for self-knowledge, a guide to the unusual world of inner transformation. Various decks allow you to reveal the secret messages of the Universe and expand a person's vision of himself and the world around him. These cards can be used as a plan drawn on the Arcana with the help of symbols, a kind of road signs on the path of the individual. If you read their meaning correctly, you can get an in-depth look and reveal new perspectives in any incomprehensible situation.

Rider-Waite Tarot

The Rider-Waite deck is one of the most popular types of Tarot. It is formed from the Major and Minor Arcana. The latter are divided into the following types of suits: Swords, Cups, Pentacles and Wands.

This deck was created in 1910 by Arthur Waite, who was fond of Freemasonry, Kabbalah and other types of magical knowledge. The illustrations for the cards were drawn by an English artist named Pamela Colman-Smith. For the first time this deck was published by William Rider, as a result of which the Tarot received a double name: Rider-Waite.

Distinguishing Features

The main feature of this type of Tarot is the change of places of the 11th and 8th Arcana. The card "Justice" took 11th position, and "Strength" - 8th. Waite himself did not explain this reformation in any way. There has also been some renewal of the symbolism of the 6th Arcanum, known as "The Lovers". In the Marseille Tarot deck and in the vast majority of old decks, this Arcana depicted a young man making a choice between two ladies. In some decks, this card was called “Choice”. But in Waite's deck, the young man was replaced by a biblical picture depicting naked progenitors - Adam and Eve. Another important point is that it was in the Waite deck that, for the first time in the history of the Tarot, illustrations began to be used, endowed with a certain semantic load. Prior to this, images were characteristic only of the Major Arcana. On the Juniors, there was only a schematic representation of the suit sign.

Tarot Thoth

This type of Tarot cards, like other typical decks, consists of cards of two main groups. These are the Minor and Major Arcana. Tarot is named after Thoth, the Egyptian patron of wisdom.

Junior in this deck include Wands, Swords, Cups and Disks. Each suit starts with an Ace, followed by a Two, a Three, and so on. This is followed by curly Minor Arcana - Princess, Prince, Queen and Knight.

A distinctive feature of the Tarot Thoth deck is its three-dimensional drawings. The images are drawn with sharp lines, they do not have penumbra. It's not always possible the first timeunderstand the meaning of the images on the Arcana. They are full of rich symbolism, including those taken from Egyptian mythology. The color scheme makes this set one of the most unique types of tarot decks. The cards make the questioner think about many things - in terms of semantic load, no one has yet surpassed Aleister Crowley's deck.

Crowley renamed some Major Arcana:

• Arkan "World" became "Universe";
• "Power" - "Lust";
• "Wheel of Fortune" - just "Fortune";
• Arkan "Justice" became "Regulation";
• "Moderation" - "Art";
• "Judgment" - "Eonom".

Thoth Tarot was published after the death of Crowley himself and their artist, Lady Harris.

Tarot Lenormand

Madame Lenormand has become famous throughout the world since the 17th century thanks to her gift as a soothsayer. Lenormand made predictions to Napoleon himself. Two types of decks were named after her - astromythological and gypsy. The latter includes 36 Arcana, which allows you to replace it with simple playing cards to simplify divination. The interpretation of the cards is quite simple due to the clear images of the Arcana.

Tarot Age of Aquarius

Considered one of the most attractive and responsive types of tarot cards (a photo of the deck is shown below). The cards were created by an artist named Marina Bolgarchuk, and they were printed in one of the oldest printing houses in St. Petersburg, which issued cards even for the royal court.

Name of thisdeck is due to the fact that human civilization in the third millennium should enter the so-called Age of Aquarius. In the deck, the Major and Minor Arcana are depicted in a very original way. They have differences from the traditional tarot plots proposed by Waite. In the Major Arcana, the motifs of Russian and French classicism of divination cards are traced, which are complemented by the artist's imagination. At first glance, the Arcana may seem simple, but upon closer inspection, they become more and more mesmerizing.

Marseille Tarot

One of the most famous and popular types of Tarot. Tarot researchers consider François Chausson to be the author of the deck. The modern version was created on the basis of maps that appeared in Marseille as early as 1672

For this reason, the deck got its name. Currently, several more decks have arisen based on this type of Tarot, but there are no significant differences between them. The main features relate to the Minor Arcana.

The Mysteries of Avalon Deck

Some researchers believe that once it was England that bore the name "Avalon", or the island where mysterious people lived - Hyperborea. They were carriers of a visionary gift, they were magicians. One of the druid priests named Merlin became Prince Arthur's teacher.

The Mystery of Avalon cards introduce us to the reign of King Arthur, a world of mystical legends that connect the secrets of the island of Avalon, the courage of the Knights of the Round Table and the symbolism of the Holy Grail. tarotThe Mysteries of Avalon consists of 78 cards. Each of them refers to a specific mythical element.

Types of layouts of Tarot cards

The listed decks can be used for various layouts. Let's take a look at some of them.

• "Three cards". The classic layout, in which three Arcana are taken out of the deck. The first of them means the past, lying in the middle - the present, the far right - the future.
• "One card". Used when you need a clear answer to a specific question. The deck is shuffled, while the questioner should focus on things that interest him. Then one card is drawn, which will be the answer of the Tarot deck.
• "Pyramid of Lovers". It is used to clarify the situation of the relationship between a man and a woman. For the layout, you need to get four cards. The first three cards are laid out in one row, the fourth is placed on top. The resulting figure looks like a pyramid with a wide base. In the first row, a card is placed in the center, it symbolizes the querent and his state in terms of existing relationships. The second card is placed on the left, it symbolizes the partner. The third is on the right, she talks about the relationship that has developed at the moment. The fourth Arcana, which is the "top" of this pyramid, will tell about the possible future, due to today's actions of the participants in the love affair.

If an upside-down card fell out

When performing the alignment, you must remember: the meaning of the Tarot inverted often has an independentmeaning. Many authors are convinced that the Arcana in their reverse position carry a negative meaning. If in general the layout is full of inverted cards, this may indicate difficulties, problems, obstacles, emotional stress. Each of the cards, one way or another, must be considered in the context of the entire layout. And therefore, the meaning of the Arcana in an inverted position can be softened by other cards that fell out in divination.

At the same time, not every time the cards turned over have a negative meaning. Each of them carries an archetypal meaning, and often the Arcanum, which fell out in the opposite position, only changes its perception.