Structure of the Tarot

http://www.byzant.com/tarot/structure.html

Structure of a Standard Deck

The precise origins of the Tarot (http://www.byzant.com/tarot/history.html) remain a mystery, but over time a fairly consistent standard has evolved for the structure of a Tarot deck. The components of this structure include not only the number of cards and their symbols, but also their order in relation to each other and their groupings.

The standard Tarot deck follows the structure of the Venetian or Piedmontese Tarot from medieval Europe. This consists of 78 cards containing two groups: the Major Arcana (http://www.byzant.com/tarot/major.html) and the Minor Arcana (http://www.byzant.com/tarot/minor.html), having 22 and 56 cards respectively. In the Major Arcana are found the archetypal Tarot cards, like the Fool, the Devil and the Moon; while the Minor Arcana is comprised of four suits of fourteen cards, each containing cards numbered from one to ten as well as four 'court' cards. An example of a card from each of the Arcana is shown below, as depicted in the influential Marseilles deck from medieval Europe. Click on the card for a more detailed discussion of the Arcana to which it belongs.

Variant Decks

While the 78 card structure described above is the standard for a deck to be a true Tarot deck, not all decks that claim to be Tarot adhere to this structure. Early decks were of several types with varying numbers of cards, and some contemporary decks vary the system to accommodate the underlying non-Tarot philosophies on which they are based. Examples of early European decks related to the Tarot include:

• Tarocchi of Mantegna, consisting of five series of ten cards each
• Tarocchino of Bologna, which differs from the standard structure in having no court cards in the Minor Arcana (so 62 cards in total), and is thought, probably erroneously, to have been invented by Francois Fibbia, Prince of Pisa
• Minchiate of Florence, a 98-card deck consisting of the standard 78 cards augmented by cards representing the twelve signs of the zodiac (http://www.byzant.com/astrology/zodiac.html), the four elements and four cardinal virtues.

An example of a modern deck that eschews the historical Tarot structure is the Enochian Tarot: an augmented deck containing eight extra cards in the Major Arcana to support the system of Enochian Magic on which the deck is based. Although they contain elements of standard structure, whether such decks are really Tarot decks at all is debatable. Even those modern decks constructed on traditional lines often replace cards in the Major Arcana with inappropriate alternatives or ignore important aspects of established symbolism.

The Kabbalistic Structure of the Tarot

The most influential model in the development and interpretation of the Tarot from the 19^th century on has been the consideration of the Tarot as an expression of the esoteric system known as the Kabbalah (http://www.byzant.com/kabbalah/). The most important decks of the 20^th century have been based on Kabbalistic ideas, in terms of their structure, their symbology and their interpretation. Two major examples are the Rider-Waite deck and the Thoth deck, designed by Arthur Edward Waite (http://www.byzant.com/biography/_showbiography.asp?ID=24) and Aleister Crowley (http://www.byzant.com/biography/_showbiography.asp?ID=2) respectively.

More details of the Kabbalistic structure of the Tarot can be found in The Tarot and the Kabbalah (http://www.byzant.com/tarot/kabbalah.html).