The Tarot of Marseilles is like the cartoony (court jester art?) roots of the tarot, and very simple; if the classic deck is simple (compared to Thoth, or just in general), the pre-classic deck is very, very simple. I’m starting on the Major Arcana now, a couple a day to look at, (although I flipped through initially, before ‘reading’ this ‘book’ proper, you know), and I have to say that although I think that the bright colors are entertaining, I think that the images are a little simple for trump cards, and mostly poor in symbolism, although I do like the different, kinda obvious take on the Lovers card (which of these two girls), before Arthur came along and made it much more strange and wonderful, you know. (And I like the classic Lovers card, too.) As for the pip cards, when I read in books before that before 1909 there weren’t illustrations on the minor cards, I thought that sounded too minimalist, but from flipping through, I have to say that I think it will be a journey, to get kinda thrown back on your own knowledge of numerology, Kabbalah, and symbolism, and also occasionally the 1909 pictures are a little strange, you know. (Numerology etc. is especially helpful for say the seven of swords, as I never knew what guy was supposed to be doing, you know.) Also, although they are pip cards and not modern minor arcana in Marseille, they are very intricate abstract designs, and say depicting a nine as three groups of three or a five as two plus two plus one, is a seed of numerological suggestions, you know.

So, although it’s not as though there’s no reason why the Marseille patterns were mostly displaced by 1909, I think for a Tarot nerd it’s kinda a cool thing to have, you know. I guess I got it because all those weird old snobs like Papus, who came before Arthur and Pam, used it. So, it’s an interesting curiosity, you know.

…. I’m not sure I can actually use these to read with—I think I’ll give them away—since I can’t easily distinguish the swords from the batons (wands), at least for two through ten, you know, at least in this edition—the swords are curved swords and the batons are straight swords, basically, which I find incredibly frustrating and confusing. But it’s mostly a historical curiosity anyway, and as I’m not a snob, and as the decks have grown rather more intricate and also more popular with time—sometimes mostly one or the other, sometimes both, so I don’t have any reason not to ‘discard’ this deck once I’m done meditating through the cards, basically. (I do kinda use Tarot cards as a ‘prayer word’ now, but obviously that can work with any deck.)

…. Some of the cards also can’t be reversed/are the same upright and reversed. Which cards are like that also depends upon the suit, which I find very weird. 😾

…. And I so do not get how everyone is either a blond or a grey head, and everyone dresses in the same color scheme. Like, really? Is this the best that the art department could do in the 1600s? Unless you were some baroque Pope spritzing glitter over Rome or something, lol. But for the peasants, it seems like it could be a little…. Different.