72 or 54?

Thread originally posted on the Aeclectic Tarot Forum on 22 Apr 2003, and now archived in the Forum Library.

Sayonaran	22 Apr 2003
do tarot decks always have to have 72 cards? or 54? I found one set that had 13 to go with a sack of runes that was written in cherokee... what do you think?

Phoenix	22 Apr 2003
Tarot decks have 78 cards: 22 major arcana, and 56 minor arcana. A regular deck of playing cards has 54 cards.

HudsonGray	22 Apr 2003
Tarot generally sticks with the 78 card total, but I've seen two tarot decks with an extra suit which brings the total to 100. Tarot that's just a Majors only deck would have 22 cards only. Oracle cards can vary all over the board with total card count, which may be what you were thinking of. Then there's the Rune Cards (it totals what the rune count would total--depends on if you go with the Eldar Futhark type or not).

Rusty Neon	22 Apr 2003
Quote: Originally posted by Phoenix A regular deck of playing cards has 54 cards. Phoenix probably just made a typing error, but for the record, so as not to potentially confuse others: A standard American poker/bridge deck actually has only 52 cards, without counting the Joker(s). (10 pips + 3 court cards) x 4 = 52

Phoenix	22 Apr 2003
Oh damn, I was off by two. That's right..I remember now. Where did 54 come from?

Rusty Neon	22 Apr 2003
Quote: Originally posted by Phoenix Oh damn, I was off by two. That's right..I remember now. Where did 54 come from? The title of the thread? The 2 jokers typically found in an American playing card pack? The male significator card and female significator card found in the 54-card Grand Lenormand divination deck (52 + 2)?

The 72 or 54? thread was originally posted on 22 Apr 2003 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.