The Tarot of Ideals
An Introduction to the Tarot Deck
| A Tarot deck has four conventional “minor” suits (cups, rods, coins, and swords) which each include numbered cards from ace to ten, and four court cards (the Page, Knight, Queen, and King). | |||||||||
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| Rods: | |||||||||
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| Coins: | |||||||||
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| Swords: | |||||||||
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| Besides the minor suits, a Tarot deck includes a trump suit consisting of twenty-one cards based on allegorical figures. This is a special feature of the Tarot, and likely accounts for much of its popularity in cartomancy: | |||||||||
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| And there is one wild card: | |||||||||
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See the following pages for detalied descriptions of each element:
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The Suits Earth, air, water, fire; above, below, inner, outer; heaven, earth, yin, yang. |
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The Numbers What do a fulcrum and a star have in common? What is special about the number seven? |
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The Court Cards Meet the Page, Knight, Queen, and King. |
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The Trump Cards Watch the pageant of the Dance of Death. |
| Card images based on Jeu de tarot à enseignes italiennes, dit “de Marseille” by B. P. Grimaud (Paris), 1930. | |