Description

Origin & Traditional Use

The Tarot of Marseille is the classic French tarot pattern of the 1600s and 1700s, with 78 cards and simple, bold woodcut-style imagery. It was used for card games before it became the foundation of European tarot divination.

Uses in the Work

In divination the Marseille deck is read through number, colour and pattern rather than illustrated scenes, which trains the reader’s intuition. Use the deck to ask a demon questions after evocation, drawing a card for each answer, and to confirm whether a spirit is willing to work with you before you begin. Draw a card each morning to record the influence of a patron spirit, and lay a spread before any major working to see what stands in the way. Individual cards make powerful focal images in spellwork: set The Devil, The Tower or Death on the altar as the symbol of the change you are calling in.

Pairs Well With

Divination Conjure Style by Starr Casas; Black Velveteen Tool Bag 5″ x 7″; Black Chime Candles – 20 Pack

Lore

The Marseille deck descends from the Italian tarocchi cards of the fifteenth century, made for the Visconti and Sforza courts. In 1781 Antoine Court de Gébelin claimed tarot was the lost Book of Thoth of the Egyptian priests, starting its occult reputation.

What You Receive

The family of Marseilles cards are the decks that first caught the attention of French occultists, thus beginning Tarot’s use as a divination tool. The Tarots of Marseille, a detailed reproduction of a classic Marseilles deck, maintains an integrity of Tarot symbolism and a connection with Tarot’s veiled past while incorporating added details that enhance usability and increase ease in reading.