Difference between Decks

Thread originally posted on the Aeclectic Tarot Forum on 25 Apr 2002, and now archived in the Forum Library.

Fairchild	25 Apr 2002
Hi, folks! Just a few questions and any feedback would be most helpful: I understand that most tarot decks contain 78 cards. What if a deck only contains 22 (Major Arcana) cards? Is it still considered tarot and could you still read it like tarot with spreads or do you just do the one card a day? and last but not least, would the cards still be able to answer questions? Just curious... Fairchild

cricket	25 Apr 2002
IMHO, the major arcana decks are tarot decks. It's actually worked out fairly well for me -personally- to use the minor arcana from one deck and a major arcana deck together if the majors from the 78 card deck weren't speaking to me. There are plenty of spreads for majors only, too. So you don't have to mix decks or anything. And yes, they sure do answer questions.... if they like you. ;)

jmd	25 Apr 2002
I think you have included the answer in the way the question was asked! If the 22 cards are the Major Arcana of the Tarot, then that is exactly what the deck is, only the Major arcana of the otherwise full 78 card deck. One of the major continental traditions splits the deck for reading purposes, and some forms of reading, as mentioned above, only use the major Arcana. From another perspective, actually learning from a partial deck which only includes the Major arcana may make the whole task seem less daunting. As a last quick point, there are quite a number of collector type decks which only have the Major Arcana completed or in print... and I definitely consider them Tarot - with part of the deck missing!

The Difference between Decks thread was originally posted on 25 Apr 2002 in the Tarot Decks board, and is now archived in the Forum Library. Read the active threads in Tarot Decks, or read more archived threads.