Oh what a wonderful opportunity you are giving here! Me at least, I am totally in awe before the Tarot de Marseille and other historical decks, maybe because I am still quite fresh and new to Tarot in general
Before I get into decks and which ones I love and why, some general points that make the Tarot de Marseille (I'll just continue to use this for "historic decks with non scening pip cards and their modern reproductions or recreations" for now) so appealing to me:
With the TdM you have centuries of (mostly European) culture in a nutshell.
I love that you have this incredibly rich cultural and historical background, in an everyday, "working class" product as simple and banal as playing cards. A mass market product of the time, but infused with images and symbols from the Italian renaissance, a period in which antique greek philosophy and art, christian art and influences from the Arab world and Asia were coming together. The same images can be seen on the great cathedrals of the time, in paintings, read about in literature. To me it is just fascinating to follow these images back to their roots, to try and understand what it could have ment to people of the time, and what of these meanings still make sense to me.
Of course the Tdm also comes from a certain context, but there is an absence of an occult or whatsoever agenda of one single person or one organisation in them. I don't want to say that any of the agendas of, let's say Waite or Crowley are bad or not right, but I feel it is still one person or one organization who came to an understanding of the Tarot and kind of imposed it on their decks and systems, while with the Tdm I can come to my own understanding in a more direct way. Maybe that's why it works really well as an instrument for personal insight.
(I have no experience whatsoever with RWS or Toth or any decks inspired by them, so please already excuse me, everybody, if I am saying something stupid about the "other" tarot systems, it's only how I understand or imagine them to be.)
The non scenic pips (they are really not "plain" or "unillustrated"...) give you a great freedom. You can look at the cards and depending on the context of other cards and the situation, the visual elements alone can give you great insight and let your intuition run free. Then there is of course numerology. You can have elemental corellations with the four suits. You can relate them to the Majors. There are many systems and none can say it is the one and only, so you can find your own way around and try different things. I enjoy this freedom, and it is the main reason for me why I am not drawn to the RWS at all, the scenes seem very limiting and kind of patronizing to me.
As much as with the Artistic tarot as Yves calls them you have an amazingly wide range of styles and looks within the historic tarots (who were created by great artists, too, we just don't know much about the artists...). I love the woodcut look of the early Tarot de Marseille, the Dodal, the Noblet, etc, what some people call "crude", I think it is archetypical, but in a way also very modern, like a very minimalistic comic or graphic novel. The people, especially the courts, have very different characters in different decks, and they seem to be able to change, depending on who they are looking at, or away from.
There is grace and beauty here, in the Majors, the Court and Pip Cards! The five cups from the new Conver by Yoav Ben-Dov:
The cups, the symetry, the foliage, the flowers... life springing from the central cup, heart shapes, fruits... i'ts an X, it's an hourglass, it's a guy standing between two couples, it's a double marriage, it's a kid with divorced parents who remarried! So much to see and think about!
The Hermit in the Dodal!:
http://www.tarot-history.com/Jean-Dodal/pages/09.html Shining his light, showing the way, and how wise and friendly he looks! If I have more time and feel like ranting some more, I will scan you the page of Cups, my favourite Court card from the Dodal...
There is so much to discover in these seemingly "simple" images. The Star, Dodal:
http://www.tarot-history.com/Jean-Dodal/pages/17.html There is the little bird on the tree. The same little bird is on the Ace of Cups. And there is this tree, looking like a candle, behind her. And her belly buttom looks like an eye! And she is pregnant, no? And isn't the Sword Queen pregnant, too? And isn't this maybe Temperance who kicked her clothes off and stopped pouring from one cup to the other, but giving her stuff freely into the collective pond now?
http://www.tarot-history.com/Jean-Dodal/pages/14.html She sure looks a bit repressed, Temperance... I could go on and on and on...
Then there is also a lot of humour in these decks! Look at the Dodal devil for exemple:
http://www.tarot-history.com/Jean-Dodal/pages/15.html His two little side kicks looking at each other, rolling their eyes and thinking: What's the old far up to NOW... Or the horses in The Chariot:
http://www.tarot-history.com/Jean-Dodal/pages/07.html the left one says: Don't mess with me, friendo, we're going to the right! and the other one: Yeah well, I don't think so....
Ok, now I lost all structure whatsover, but you asked for a rant! And i linked so many images that you might have gotten the hint that I love the Flornoy restoration of the Dodal deck very very much. It was my entry point into the historic decks, and I think it wil stay with me for a long time. Lots of people like the Noblet. I don't feel it yet, but I am sure it wil come to me. I don't like the Grimauds etc, when people added or changed stuff, claiming to have the "real" or "true" Tarot de Marseille. But that is personal taste, all that.
Should I even mention the Minchiate? And tell you about the Tarot de Bologna that I have in the mail, waiting impatiently for it? Oh, maybe I will, some other time...
I don't have any Visconti decks, and I quite agree with what was said before, they are more luxury versions and not the rough stuff from the streets, to me. I think you need the rough stuff, not some gold glitter beautiful painting thing. I think I need it at some time. And there is one with female and male pages!
The Vieville, as people said, is something totally else and beautiful. It still hasn't opened up to me fully, because I spent more time with my Dodal, but I can see the promises of wonders to come already when I look through it.
Do you feel the older decks are an advantage for the querant?
I only read for myself and here in the exchange, so I haven't much to say about this, but I think it depends on how you present the deck and the pips. With a more creative approach (look at Enrique Enriquez who can spin off a whole story out of a "simple" coin card...) I think it gives you more freedom as a reader?
One last thing I want to add to this rant: As a queer guy, I feel very comfortable with the historic decks. These cards to me have a richness of representations that allows me, easily and without having to adapt to a straight norm whatsoever, to look at the images and use them for me. Lots of powerful male and female figures. The Popess before she was made into a "High Priestess" (of what?) The Empress. The Virtues. There is a certain ambiguity in these images (the androgynous main figure in The World is the best known example...), nearly a universality in their simplicity, that make them accessible to me. I don't find this in the other tarot systems (I only looked at scans online, but I wasn't attracted to anything I saw) - only in untraditional, "postmodern" decks I find the same quality, but in a personal, fragmented version, while the Tdm is whole, rich, mysterious and very rewarding.
Ok. One day I will maybe really think about this and structure it and get my arguments together, but not today... I hope there was something interesting in it for you! I think we would all be very happy to welcome you in the next Tdm Exchange, and maybe you can just give it a fresh try and see if it is for you?
