Hierachy of Card

Thread originally posted on the Aeclectic Tarot Forum on 01 Mar 2004, and now archived in the Forum Library.

Lucks	01 Mar 2004
An Iranian who is a friend of my friend said tarot card can be ranked in 6 classes ; class 1 is the less influence and class 6 is the highest influence on people life. She used to carry Tarot book in French. So, I beleive that this kind of study should be in France. She said she used to use tarot card in class 6 and her life is in disaster like the card told her. Therefore, she chaged to a Tarot of Marsielle which ranked in class 5 instead. Rider-Waite was ranked in class 3. That's all I and my friend know and my friend did not have a change to see her till now. Does any one know anything about this ? I would like to know what deck is in each class. How come tarot can have a tremendous on people life. Thank you in advance for your information.

Lee	01 Mar 2004
Hello, Lucks, welcome to Aeclectic! :) I have never read about the classification system of categorizing decks which you mention. It sounds interesting, but generally, most Western tarot authors and also most members of this forum consider one's choice of tarot decks to be a purely subjective, personal decision, so that different decks will have different effects on different people. In other words, which deck would be assigned which number in your classification would differ depending on the person. For myself, the Rider-Waite might be a 6 and the Marseille a 3, but for someone else, the Marseille could be a 6 and the Rider-Waite a 1. It sounds like an interesting idea, though, to assign decks to ranks. But, as I say, I think it would have to done on an individual basis. -- Lee Edited to add: Moderators, perhaps this thread might be more suited to a different forum? Lucks, don't worry, you didn't do anything wrong, but the Aeclectic forum classifications can be a bit more confusing than the classification system you have discussed for decks! :D

Phoenyx*	01 Mar 2004
If the decks all communicate the same basic things, for instance, XIII Death in each deck, pretty much always represents great change in someone's life, then, how can one deck be more "influential" than another? Wouldn't the influence be determined by the reader? I've never heard of "classes" of Tarot decks. Now I admit, there are some pretty....shall we say...silly decks out there, one with teddy bears comes to mind particularly (nothing against the teddy bears! that's just not my cuppa tea, for all you teddy bear tarot fans out there), but if an experienced Tarot reader can determine the message the cards are trying to say, what makes it less influential than say, the Thoth, or RW, or Marseilles?

Imagemaker	01 Mar 2004
Someone from the Phillippines posted several months ago, asking this same question. No one knew the answer then, either. Both seem to refer to an innate "power" of the decks in a class, not style or form or anything subjective. Sounds like either a myth or something that's been lost in the secret archives of Tarot Alchemy. Perhaps someone in the history thread, our tarot scholars, could tell us if they've ever heard of deck rankings like this.

Dark_angel	01 Mar 2004
I've just done a web search and can't find anything on this system. Do you know the name of the book your friend has, or where she learned this?

Lucks	02 Mar 2004
It is ashamed that my friend saw her so many times but never asked her. My friend tells me that she carried tarot book with her all the time. He believed the book is in French. This lady can tell your future from what coffee you have left in your cup. It sounds pretty cool. I tried to serch other website but nothing come up yet.

Diana	02 Mar 2004
There was another thread about this some time back. I seem to recall it was a Singaporean member who posted it. Or maybe someone from Malaysia. But I can't find it with a search.

The Hierachy of Card thread was originally posted on 01 Mar 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.