How to read the Marseille tarot: start with how the pips are arranged

The first time most people see the Marseille minor cards, their reaction is: how am I supposed to read this?

Four cups in a row. Five staves crossed. No people, no story.

What kind of deck it is

In seventeenth and eighteenth-century France, card makers printed the outlines from woodblocks, then brushed on red, blue, yellow and green through stencils. Flat blocks of colour, thick lines.

Many of the Rider-Waite Major Arcana designs were adapted from here.

Three differences to remember first

• 8 and 11 are swapped: in the Marseille tarot, 8 is Justice and 11 is Strength. The Rider-Waite deck has them the other way round.
• Card 13 has no name: the card usually doesn't say "Death".
• The minor cards have no scenes: just numbers and suits.

Three things to look at in the minor cards

Number: the same as Rider-Waite. 1 is the beginning, 5 is imbalance, 10 is full.

Suit: batons are action, cups are feeling, swords are judgement, coins are tangible things.

Arrangement: this is the Marseille deck's own language. On the Two of Coins, a curving ribbon runs between the two coins, linking them like two matters that affect each other. The swords form a ring of curved blades; on odd numbers there's an extra straight sword in the middle, like a decision about to break through.

Make a sentence

Lay three cards in a row. Treat the first as the subject, the second as the verb and the third as the result.

The Emperor, the Hanged Man, the Three of Coins: someone who wants control is forced to stop and see things differently, and the result is a practical outcome that grows slowly.

Then look at which way the faces turn. Many Marseille figures are shown in profile, so you can treat the card a figure faces as a possibly related clue.

Why learn it

Without scenes, you pay more attention to lines, spacing and how the symbols are arranged. It's a different kind of observation practice.

When you go back to Rider-Waite, try looking for details you never noticed before.

The full five lessons and the French names of the 22 Major Arcana are in the tarot study room: Marseille series.

Common questions