Help with my tarot deck

Thread originally posted on the Aeclectic Tarot Forum on 26 Feb 2004, and now archived in the Forum Library.

moonfaery	26 Feb 2004
Hi I just recently purchased the Tarot of Marseilles deck and I need some help understanding my deck. You see, the minor arcana cards, like the wands, pentacles, and swords. I can't tell if its reversed or not, could someone please help me. Thanx

Mimers	26 Feb 2004
Quote: Originally posted by moonfaery Hi I just recently purchased the Tarot of Marseilles deck and I need some help understanding my deck. You see, the minor arcana cards, like the wands, pentacles, and swords. I can't tell if its reversed or not, could someone please help me. Thanx Hi Moonfaery, Welcome to Aeclectic! Unfortunately, with most Marseille decks you can't tell. Like mine, the Camoin :) I just read all the minors as if they were upright. There are many others here that use Marseilles as their main reading deck and may have some better suggestions for you. Sorry I could not be of more help. Mimi

Rusty Neon	26 Feb 2004
hi moonfaery ... Here are links to scans of all 56 minor arcana cards of a Tarot de Marseilles deck (Camoin Bicentennial). From looking at those scans, you'll be able to tell which direction is up and which direction is reversed. Batons suit http://byzant.com/tarot/structuresuit.asp?wands Cups suit http://byzant.com/tarot/structuresuit.asp?cups Swords suit http://byzant.com/tarot/structuresuit.asp?swords Coins suit http://byzant.com/tarot/structuresuit.asp?pentacles This should help. And welcome! Regards, Rusty Neon P.S. Check out the History and Iconography board at our forum, where a number of us are working with and studying the Tarot de Marseille decks: http://www.tarotforum.net/forumdisplay.php?s=&forumid=38 including the Help Desk (Frequently Asked Questions) thread: http://www.tarotforum.net/showthread.php?s=&threadid=22826

Jewel-ry	27 Feb 2004
Hi moonfaery, I have the Hadar and when I first got it I went through the deck noting any differences in my journal, for instance most of my swords have a blue tipped leaf on the left. There were actually only a couple of cards in the end for which I couldn't find a difference. Now, I mostly know which is up and which is not although I am still fairly new to the Marseille and so dont use reversals yet anyway. There is some really good stuff going on in the History and Iconography forum which you may find interesting. I think Rusty has already pointed you in that direction. Please join in, there is so much for us to learn and the more the merrier! J :)

The Help with my tarot deck thread was originally posted on 26 Feb 2004 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.