Tarot Texas Rotating Header Image

gypsies

Choosing a Tarot Card Deck. Things to Consider When Buying Tarot Cards

Jan 5th, 2011
by TarotTrumps.
No comments yet

Austrian-style 54-card Tarock hand: the Fool, ...

Image via Wikipedia

Originally, the story goes that only a Gypsy could read the Tarot Cards and only a Gypsy would pass down a set of Tarot Cards to another. Think about it, a few hundred years ago, all the cards were hand made, all the images hand drawn and coloured, cut and created by hand. These cards got very worn with use and would be used for many readings.

The Gypsy would only pass on their set of cards to someone in their family that had a gift or was going to be groomed to be the next reader.  Essentially, this was when they were ready to retire. They would teach, train and pass on their knowledge of reading the cards.  They would mentor the next generation, handing down their experience from generation to generation. (more…)


Different Tarot Decks Designs

Oct 14th, 2009
by TarotTrumps.
No comments yet

Le Bateleur (The Magician) from Tarot of the Bohemians by Oswald Wirth, 1896.

Le Bateleur (The Magician) from the Marseilles deck.

Author: Malc Moore

The first description of tarot decks appeared as early as the beginning of the 15th century when Martiano da Tortona mentioned some card games that resembled a lot to tarot. The symbols on these early illustrations were Greek deities while the suits matched four types of birds, a pattern totally different from the basic Italian decks.

These forefathers of the tarot deck counted only sixteen cards, but they surely enjoyed great popularity. Later, other decks are described by Italian documents throughout the 15th century. Given the heraldic, social, poetical and philosophical interpretations of the cards, modern researchers are surely impressed by the vividness of the symbolism and the ideology behind it.

The oldest tarot deck preserved to our times were designed according to the specifications of the Visconti family. The sixty-six cards are presently on public display at the Yale University Library in New Haven. (more…)