Mantegna Tarot

Thread originally posted on the Aeclectic Tarot Forum on 30 May 2004, and now archived in the Forum Library.

FoxFire50	30 May 2004
Although I purchased this gorgeous Tarot ancestor deck last year, I'm only just now beginning to take a close look at it and am fascinated by the way it's structured in terms of the different medieval social classes, intellectual studies and the like (see the review on this website for an indepth analysis) - not to mention the utter sumptuous and textural feel of the cards. Even though the LWB doesn't offer much information and it's only a 50-card deck, I feel I could actually do some good readings with this deck because of the energies inherent in each card. Does anyone else own this historical deck and, if so, have you done any readings with it? Ciao, Nancy in Texas

jmd	30 May 2004
The Mantegna deck is indeed a beautiful set of imagery, of 50 cards divided into five sets. Though many do relate iconographically to Tarot, I personally do not consider this set a Tarot deck. It may be worth mentioning that Dürer (or an apprentice) also carved a sequence from the set. A beautiful addition to anyone's collection - but not Tarot...

Rusty Neon	30 May 2004
Quote: Originally posted by jmd Though many do relate iconographically to Tarot, I personally do not consider this set a Tarot deck. jmd ... I agree.

Myrrha	30 May 2004
Hi Nancy I have this deck and use it once in a while to read for myself. The LWB explains how to play a kind of solitaire game with the cards, and at the end your reading is done from the cards that are left over. It is a wonderful meditative way to read. The one time I read with this deck for another person I went pretty much by the pictures and my intuitive response to the concepts and forces they express rather than using the LWB meanings. The divinitory meanings given are short like fortune cookies but there is something poetic about them and they are all stated in terms of advice. It is also fun to blow the cards up on a color xerox machine, the silver comes out black so it is very dramatic. --Myrrha

The Mantegna Tarot thread was originally posted on 30 May 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.