Historical Tarot Decks

The Cary-Yale Visconti Tarot Deck

Perhaps the first Tarot deck, this hand painted deck from Italy has an unusual structure, containing 6 court cards per suit and the additional Virtues of Faith, Hope, and Charity.

The Visconti-Sforza Tarot Deck

The most complete 15th Century Tarot deck. The deck has 74 of the assumed original 78 cards, the missing cards are The Devil, The Tower, three of swords and knight of coins.

The Mysterious Cary Sheet

Housed in the Cary Collection at the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut, is a rare find... an uncut sheet of Tarot cards, probably produced in Milan, dating as far back as possibly the year 1500. This sheet has come to be known as the “Cary Sheet”. Is it the "missing link" between the hand-painted Italian decks and the Tarot of Marseilles?

Tarot Picture Page

The Archetypal Tarot

The Artwork of Modern Tarot Project

This site focuses on the artwork and symbolism found on modern tarot decks.

Gumpenberg Tarot, ca. 1810.

The Mind of the Magus ...The primary function of the magus in history, whether the exemplar is Hermes, Jesus Christ, Faust or Paracelsus, is to open a path between Heaven and Earth, and then lead worthy human souls along it, back to our origins in God...

History of Tarot

EGYPT & THE TAROT

There is no real sense in which we can call the Egyptian Tarot, Egyptian. Yet there is a lineage that can be followed, like the silver trail of a snail across a piece of black velvet. Besides this silver analogy, there is also the Golden Thread, or The Thread of Ariadne. Which can be traced through the ages, the millennia as an unbroken transmission, that still contains a message for us today, and most likely, a message for tomorrow. Why is the Tarot Egyptian, and how has it traced its lineage across time? Buried under the surfaces are other discourses. The outer form is exoteric . . .

For examples, Francis Yates writes:

"Giordano Bruno was to take the bolder course of maintaining that the magical Egyptian religion of the world was not only the most ancient but also the only true religion, which both Judaism and Christianity had obscured and corrupted."

Francis Yates, Giordano Bruno and the Hermetic Tradition, p.11

An important book, recently published is:

Erik Hornung, The Secret Lore of Egypt: Its Impact on the West, translated by David Lorton, Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 2001, 229 pp., hardcover. Read a review Lee Irwin, of Religious Studies, College of Charleston HERE.

Also important for following the thread:

Dannenfeldt, Karl H., Egypt and Egyptian Antiquities in the Renaissance, Studies in the Renaissance, Vol. 6, (1959), pp. 7-27

Griffiths, J. Gwyn, Allegory in Greece and Egypt, The Journal of Egyptian Archaeology, Vol. 53, (Dec., 1967), pp. 79-102.

al-Suyūṭī, Jalāl al-Dīn, and Leon Nemoy, The Treatise on the Egyptian Pyramids (Tuḥfat al-kirām fī khabar al-ahrām), Isis, Vol. 30, No. 1, (Feb., 1939), pp. 17-37.

Ibn 'Arabi and the Tarot

The Occult Tradition of the Tarot in Tangency with Ibn 'Arabi's Life and Teachings

Jereer El-Moor

Most researchers today would probably agree that playing cards were introduced to Christian Europe as an importation from the Arab world, however, the details of this are not well-established. In the first part of this long article, the author reviews the known facts of the history of playing cards (and the related history of the Tarot). He sets out to present "a credible case for regarding the Tarot as of Near Eastern provenance", and gives a personal view of its interpretation through the centuries. In the second part he goes on to interpret one of the trumps in the light of Ibn 'Arabi's 'Anqa' mughrib. Both parts of this article are big pdf files of about 480kb, and each will take some time to download.

Hermetica

1. Michael Sendivogius and Christian Rosenkreutz. The unexpected possibilities.
2. Hermetic heraldry
3. Mantegna's prints in tarot history
4. Hunting the Blacke Toade. Some aspects of alchemical symbolism
5. The Alchemical Tarot Deck
6. Early symbolism of the Rosy Cross
7. Great Work in the Theatre of the World
8. Lampado Trado
9. The Jagged Sword and Polish Rosicrucians
10. The Wroclaw Codex of the Magical Calendar

The Hermetic And ALCHEMICAL FIGURES Of CLAUDIUS De DOMINICO CELENTANO VALLIS NOVI
From A Manuscript Written And Illuminated At Naples A.D. 1606

Samson & The Lion in the Tarot

September 7, 2007:

I agree totally with MARK FILIPAS in this quote:

The name of the eleventh letter kaph (KP) means the power to subdue, corresponding to the allegory of Strength. It is also the root of the word KPP, meaning to force, to conquer.The letterform suggests the gaping mouth of a beast, and some of the earliest decks (such as the Jean Noblet Tarot c. 1660) depict the lion’s mouth facing in the same direction as the letterform.In most of the images the interpretation has been that the mouth of the lion is being opened and/or closed.

Michael Maier says in Phoenix Redivivo: [The Songs of the Resurrection of the Phoenix.]

“The poets say that some fierce animals fell from the moon to the earth. Of these was that furious Lion, rising from the congealed foam of Diana, put to death by Hercules. The fables hide great truths. In this lion’s mouth is hidden a thing highly esteemed by sages. Who will conquer this lion? The strength and club of Hercules are required. Try to know this Lion. He is fed with celestial dew.”

The full title, in French, is: CANTILENÆ INTELLECTUALES DE PHOENICE REDIVIVO. In his recension, J.B. Craven writes: “This singular treatise was first printed at Rome in 1622,” the year that Maier died,” reprinted at Rostock in 1623, and “since then became very rare.” The French edition, the only one I have seen, is issued from Paris, 1758, and is taken from the Rostock edition. “The Songs of the Resurrection of the Phoenix, is translated into English by Mike Dickman.

To paraphrase: It is not only the fables, but also the Tarot which hides great truths. And what is hidden in the Mouth of the Lion?There are some clues. . . .

ICONOLOGY OF THE FORTITUDE CARDS, by Dr. Robert O’Neill

Peacham, Henry, Minerva Britanna, 1612, London. English Emblem Books, No. 5. Selected and Edited by John Horden, Scholar Press, 1969.

H.S.Beham. Series on The Twelve Labours of Hercules. Byzantine silk, Sens Cathedral, France, 8^th Cent. Shroud of St. Victor, Lion strangler, Gilgamesh Translated into Samson. BATTISTA FRANCO, Fortitudo and Patientia, engraving 16^th century. From Wittkower… Wenzel Bible, Prague 1387 – 1400. Cod. 2579-2764, Austrian National Library, Unterkircher Samson and the Lion Boucicaut Master & Workshop. French, Paris, about 1415. Tempera colors, gold leaf, & gold paint on parchment. MS. 63, FOL. 26V Botticelli, Sandro Fortitude1470. Tempera on panel. 167 x 87 cm. Uffizi, Florence Philip Galle - (Dutch 1537-1612). Samson Fighting the Lion. Engraving The Bedford Book of Hours was probably executed to celebrate the marriage of John, Duke of Bedford, Regent of English rule in Paris, to Anne, daughter of the Duke of Burgundy, in 1423. This minature shows Samuel I, XVII, 34-36.British Museum, Add. MS. 18850.Werboczi-Kolozsvar codice, Hungary. 1571 Albrecht Durer: Samson Rending the Lion Strength ‘La Forza’ from the Tarot Mitelli.

GIOTTO 1 and GIOTTO 2 OTHER 1 and OTHER 2 Columns are obviously associated to the death of Samson: From Tarot of the Bohemians, 1896. Marseilles Deck: From Tarot of the Bohemians