Italian made deck - Cagliostro

Thread originally posted on the Aeclectic Tarot Forum on 06 Apr 2002, and now archived in the Forum Library.

grailmaiden	06 Apr 2002
Hi there My partner was given an Italian deck which I can't find anything about. It's called the Cagliostro Tarot 184 and was made by Modiano. The Major and Minor Arcana seem like two different decks to me. The Major Arcana have an Egyptian theme, with the characters either in stylised costumes (Art Deco?) or nude. The Court Cards and Minor Arcana are like a traditional pack of cards, displaying both the suits diamonds, spades, hearts and clubs, as well as the symbolism of coins, cups, swords and wands. All the cards have a short description on them for both the normal and reversed readings. The Majors have planetary / astrological symbols and the Minors have a date range on them. It says on the box that the cards are explained by Doctor Marius who sounds interesting. I'm not sure whether this refers to the short commentary on the cards, or if there should have been a booklet in the box. I would appreciate any further information - does anyone have any links? My partner would like to trade these if possible, so will post this on the trades forum as well. Thanks, Grail

Strange2	06 Apr 2002
Here's a link to a review of the Cagliostro deck from Wicce's Tarot site: http://www.wicce.com/cagliostro.html I have the Cagliostro deck, and was primarily attracted to it by the Egyptian themed Major Arcana cards. The Minors are in a completely different style (flat colors, simple pips). Per the LWB from the deck, the Cagliostro deck was first published in 1912. The artwork was done by Bruno Sigon. He was inspired by the books of Papus (Gerald Encausse), "Le Tarot des Bohemians" and "Le Tarot Divinatoire". Thes books contained Egyptian styled tarot card designed by Gabriel Goulinat. As an aside, for a fascinating exploration of Egyptian themed decks, see Mark Fillipas' article at: http://www.spiritone.com/~filipas/Masquerade/Reviews/historye.html

grailmaiden	07 Apr 2002
Hi Strange Thanks for the info. Kissa found the same link for me too. It does seem like the Major and Minor are two different packs doesn't it. Do you use the deck for Major only spreads I wonder? Grail

Diana	07 Apr 2002
edited

grailmaiden	07 Apr 2002
I agree Diana The Tower and The Judgment have similar gruesome figures on them - horrible :(; yet some of the cards are really lovely and very unusual. Like The Stars for example - a statuesque nude "goddess" standing in a corn field, pouring water from two vessels, with stars forming a halo about her. Or The Empress - a beautifully dressed women, decked with jewels with a two-headed bull behind her. On the whole, I would say the Major Arcana are interesting and very unusual - heavily inscribed with symbolism (mainly from Egypt). Unfortunately, most of the symbols are lost on me as I am not well versed in that culture. The Minor Arcana do nothing for me at all as they are just like normal playing cards. Grail

The Italian made deck - Cagliostro thread was originally posted on 06 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.