Tarot de Marseille

The Tarot de Marseille has 78 cards, including 22 major arcana, from the Fool to the World. Each card bears symbols that are interpreted according to its position in the spread.

It is used to ask a question and shed light on a situation: past, present and future in the three-card spread, or the Celtic Cross for a longer reading.

Where it comes from

The first tarot decks appeared in northern Italy in the 15th century, in princely courts. They were used for a trick-taking game, tarocchi, and not for divination. The game then spread to France, Switzerland and the German-speaking world, and tarot is still played today as a card game.

The so-called "Marseille" pattern became established in the 17th and 18th centuries among French card makers; the tarot by Nicolas Conver, engraved in Marseille in 1760, is one of the most famous. The name "Tarot de Marseille" only became widespread in the 19th century, because of the number of makers based in that city.

Divinatory use came later. At the end of the 18th century, Antoine Court de Gébelin presented tarot as the heir to the knowledge of ancient Egypt, a thesis with no historical basis but very influential. The cartomancer Etteilla published methods of laying out the cards shortly afterwards, and then the occultists of the 19th century, including Éliphas Lévi, linked the arcana to the Kabbalah.

What it is based on

Besides the major arcana, the deck has 56 minor arcana in four suits: Coins, Cups, Swords and Batons. Each suit contains ten numbered cards and four court cards, Page, Knight, Queen and King. According to a widespread correspondence, Coins evoke the material, Cups the emotional, Swords thought and Batons action.

The major arcana are read as stages or symbolic forces: the Magician evokes beginnings, the Hermit inner searching, the Wheel of Fortune change. Arcanum XIII, often unnamed on Marseille decks, is read as a transformation rather than a literal death. Some tarot readers use only the major arcana.

The meaning of a card depends on its position in the spread, on the neighbouring cards and on the question asked. Some schools take reversed cards into account, others do not. Contemporary readings also look at details of the image, such as the direction of the gazes or the colours, to link the cards together and build a narrative.

How it is practised

You frame a question, draw the cards face down, then read them in the order of the spread's positions.

A consultation begins with the wording of the question, which the tarot reader often helps to refine: an open question, such as "what should I understand about this situation?", lends itself better to a reading than a closed one. The client sometimes cuts the deck personally, then the cards are laid out according to the chosen spread. A session lasts from twenty minutes to an hour.

Tarot can be consulted in a practice, in wellbeing centres, by telephone or online, where the reader draws the cards and describes what they see. It is also very much practised alone: drawing a card of the day and reflecting on what it evokes is a common exercise for learning the symbolism.

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What to expect

Tarot can help you to formulate a question, to look at a situation from another angle or to put words to a hesitation. The images serve as a basis for a symbolic narrative that the client then interprets in turn. It is not a verified prediction, and the same layout can give rise to several readings.

A tarot session is no substitute for medical, legal or financial advice, or for psychological support. A few signs should put you on your guard: a reader who announces an event as certain, who frightens you with a card, who offers to "lift" a curse for payment or who presses you to buy more consultation minutes.

Glossary

Arcanum

The name given to tarot cards, from the Latin arcanum, meaning secret. A distinction is made between the major arcana, numbered and illustrated, and the minor arcana, organised into four suits.

The Fool

An unnumbered card of the Tarot de Marseille, showing a traveller on the move, often read as a departure, freedom or the unexpected.

Cross spread

A layout of five cards in the shape of a cross, widely used in France. The positions represent, for example, what is favourable, what opposes, the development, the outcome and the synthesis.

Reversed card

A card drawn upside down. Depending on the school, it qualifies the card's meaning, indicates an excess or a blockage, or is disregarded.

Tarot reader

A person who reads tarot. The French term is more precise than cartomancer, which refers to anyone who reads cards, whatever the deck.