Your Opinions: The Marseilles Deck
Thread originally posted on the Aeclectic Tarot Forum on 26 May 2005, and now archived in the Forum Library.
| KiNoRonin |
26 May 2005 |
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Konnichi Wa to All:
Last Christmas, a old friend of mine gave me a Deck of Tarot Cards. The Box and the Deck itself did not identify the Deck in question. The Front Cover of the Book says "The Illustrated Book of Tarot - Discover The Mysteries".
I finally found the Book the came with the Deck (I lost it for a while) and read it through. On page #117, there was pictures of Cards from the Deck I got for Yule, and at the bottom, it said that the Deck is the Marseilles Deck.
The Book that came with the Deck is written by Jane Lyle
Here is the information from the inside cover of the Book:
"This edition published in 2003 by Bounty Books,
a division of Octopus Publishing Group Ltd.
2-4 Heron Quays, London E14 4JP, England
Copyright c Octopus Publishing Group 1990, 1994, 2003
So what do you guys think of Jane Lyle and the Marseilles Deck??? I would like to know.
I, unfortunately, can not read or write French. So for now, my Marseilles Tarot Deck is presently preserved on the Altar that I have set up in my Underground Parking Watching Post. I have it there on that Altar in order to keep it Powered Up for the day that I may need to do a Three Deck Wheel of Life Spread.
Ki No Ronin
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| Lillie |
27 May 2005 |
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Is this the purple one, with the cloth?
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| KiNoRonin |
28 May 2005 |
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Is this the purple one, with the cloth?
Hai, Mochiron ni Tadashii Desu! :)
Yup, Thats it exactly!
Ki No Ronin
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| shaveling |
28 May 2005 |
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You can find lots of opinions on this deck (and its book) if you do a search for "Thunder Bay." Rusty Neon's link is a good reference. [thread=34635]This thread[/thread] has some interesting comments, too.
As for my own experience:
I keep surprising myself by how much I like this deck. I just keep going back to it again and again. I'll pick it up to see if some iconographic detail from some other deck is on the Conver (this is a Conver deck). And then I'll think, "let's do a reading with this while it's out." And then I'm using it for the next several days. The colors are always a little bit brighter than I remember them being, the linework a little clearer than I expected. And I'm really fond of the design on the back, too.
My copy is at a point where sometimes two cards stick together when I try to shift a single card off the top of the deck. But that seems to happen less and less as I use the cards.
There's lots of good information for learning to work with the Marseille decks in the Marseilles & Other Early Decks forum. If the old style pips are a problem for now, you can always dive in and do some majors-only readings, using what you already know, and what the pictures tell you. And the Marseille court cards are really quite wonderful, once you spend some time with them. Whatever you do with the cards, I hope you enjoy them. I certainly do.
-shaveling
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| stella01904 |
28 May 2005 |
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MM ~ I have the book by Jane Lyle that came with the Fortune Teller's Deck (regular playing cards) - she's very good. It looks deceptively like an easy little book with no substance but she's done a good study of Victorian cartomancy and weeded out all the silliness. I'd be happy to read anything she wrote about TdM. BB, Stella
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| shaveling |
28 May 2005 |
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I'd be happy to read anything she wrote about TdM. Alas! The book itself is basically for the RWS. That is, Ms. Lyle speaks of the meanings of the cards in terms the pictures on that particular deck (although the line drawing illustrations in the book itself include both the TdM and the RWS for the majors).
As a newbie, I found the book good as general background. And I use it for her simple approach to elemental dignities, and for multiples of a single rank of card in a spread. I also use the color illustrations for correspondences for the suits and may someday use her astrological correspondences. There is also a bit of information on meanings of numbers, and of the suits. But The Illustrated Book of Tarot isn't at all Marseilles specific, which distressed many Marseilles enthusiasts when they first came across the book-and-deck set. But at the price, even the deck alone is quite a bargain.
-shaveling
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| KiNoRonin |
29 May 2005 |
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Konnichi Wa to All:
One thing I find a bit confusing about the Marseilles Deck is in the Minor Arcanas.
The thing is that I found that the design for the suite of Wands and Swords from cards 2 to 10 are almost exactly identicle and that I have trouble figuring out which is a Sword Card or a Wand Card. I even have trouble telling if a card of those suites are a 6 card or a 10 card.
I have no trouble divining out the Cups suite or the Pentacles suite.
Of course, even though the names of the Major Arcanas are in French, I am able to divine out which card it is by the picture on the card.
KNR
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| Moonbow* |
29 May 2005 |
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In a Marseilles deck the Swords are always curved and the Batons are straight, so that's how you tell them apart.
If you look closely all the cards are different in a meaningful way. A flower in one sword card may turn into a sword in the consecutive sword card. Notice how the foliage sometimes encircles a central cup or coin. There is heart shaped foliage, and kissing flower buds and the imagination can be opened in the interpretation of what is seen and noticed. I love the minors in a Marseilles deck.
Edited.. have a long look through the Marseilles forum, there you will find many threads on the minors.
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| Centaur |
29 May 2005 |
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I was never very fond of the TdM until I was given a link to images of the Fournier, a version of the Marseilles in attractive, vibrant colours. Part of my problem with the TdM lay in my aversion to the pip cards, and ultimately in the fact that the deck did not hit my tarot g-spot.
Anyway, along came the Fournier and changed my opinion of the TdM. When I received it, I was amazed at how drawn I was to it. I too would like to have some understanding in French so I could read some of the published works on the TdM. BUT... this does not mean that my experience of reading with the TdM is dulled. I just trust my intuition spurred on by the patterns, images, or colours on the cards.
You should try some readings with it. It might surprise you!
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| stella01904 |
31 May 2005 |
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Alas! The book itself is basically for the RWS. That is, Ms. Lyle speaks of the meanings of the cards in terms the pictures on that particular deck (although the line drawing illustrations in the book itself include both the TdM and the RWS for the majors). MM ~ There's a good chance of finding more relevant information in the playing card book! :D But you're right about the price, and I'm eventually going to have to get that one...BB, Stella
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| Little Baron |
31 May 2005 |
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This is a very good deck and very cheap to buy as well ... I would definitely recommed it. Jmd started some excellent threads called 'How may it be read?' which may help you with the minors.
Best,
LB
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| tao51 |
03 Jun 2005 |
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The first deck that I purchased over thirty years ago was called "Tarot Deck"! It was not until long after that I realized that it was of the Marseilles group. I used it for many years before buying a Rider-Waite deck.
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| stella01904 |
03 Jun 2005 |
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MM ~ It wasn't with mostly brown-colored inks, was it? I had a Marseilles-type deck in the 1970's called the "Tarot Classic" that is NOT the deck called "Tarot Classic" today, and no one here seems to remember it, we've been going nuts in another thread...BB, Stella
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| tao51 |
03 Jun 2005 |
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Mine is beautifully colored but subdued. It was not mainly brown hues. I have seen the now Tarot Classic and it does not appear to be the same. I kept mine in a leather pouch and do not have any other information about it. I just remember it being called "Tarot Deck".
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The Your Opinions: The Marseilles Deck thread was originally posted on 26 May 2005 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.
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