IJJ swiss and Ancient Italian Tarot?

Thread originally posted on the Aeclectic Tarot Forum on 24 Mar 2004, and now archived in the Forum Library.

Myrrha	24 Mar 2004
I am really enjoying the IJJ Swiss deck. The minors are really interesting because so many tiny, subtle details add to the meaning of the card. For example, the 5 of Cups has tears and dead leaves, the six of cups has merry bells, and on and on. The Ancient Italian Tarot seems much "prettier" and has more complete symbolism in the majors. What I am wondering about is the symbolism of the minor arcana in the Ancient Italian Tarot. Are there small details that really seem to add up to saying something about the card, rather than being simply decorative embelishments? I understand that the meaning of decorative elements in pips sort of "comes and goes" in intuitive moments with the cards, but is it there at all in the Ancient Italian? thanks! --Myrrha

Cerulean	01 Apr 2004
Your question on pips is a good one. A little look shows majors and court cards seem fairly close to the Soprafino Tarot by Di Gumppenberg. The 40 decorative pips have some interesting design elements and the only English language book that seems to be known about this deck (Ancient Italian), Jonathan Dee's Illustrated Guide to the Tarot, doesn't really describe the pip decorations with close symbolic meanings. The cards are suggestively decorated in a way that might help your imagination and creativity. Here's some more info on the Ancient Italian if you like: 1. First cards, review link here: http://www.aeclectic.net/tarot/cards/ancient-italian/ 2. Second, here's some links: An Amazon collection of reviews: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0738700266/ref=cm_rev_all_1/103-5296261-1281400?v=glance&s=books&vi=customer-reviews Lee's comparison between Dellarocca and Ancient Italian: http://www.tarotpassages.com/ancientclassicallb.htm 3. And if you are interested, a related thread: http://www.tarotforum.net/showthread.php?s=&threadid=24103&highlight=ancient+italian

The IJJ swiss and Ancient Italian Tarot? thread was originally posted on 24 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.