Overview History & symbols Deck systems All 78 cards Understanding tarot
Why decks tell the same card differently Marseille, Rider–Waite–Smith and Thoth share a basic structure but use different images, names, sequences and emphases. Every deck is also an interpretation.
Gaist editorial team · Updated 15 October 2026
XV
Visconti–Sforza Northern Italy, fifteenth century
Structure Early surviving trionfi families; no surviving pack is complete today.
Visual language Hand-painted courtly figures, gold grounds and emblems of powerful families.
Strength & Justice No modern standardisation; sequence and naming remained regionally fluid.
Court cards King, Queen, Knight and Page reflect a courtly order.
Especially suited to History and imagery before later occult systems. XI
Tarot de Marseille France/Switzerland, especially seventeenth–eighteenth century
Structure 22 trumps and 56 suit cards. Number cards usually arrange suit signs instead of showing narrative scenes.
Visual language Strong woodcut lines, flat colour, frontal figures and open, ambiguous imagery.
Strength & Justice Justice VIII, Strength XI.
Court cards Valet, Cavalier, Reine and Roi in French traditions.
Especially suited to Reading number, rhythm, gaze and traditional iconography. VIII
Rider–Waite–Smith London, 1909
Structure A. E. Waite devised the system and Pamela Colman Smith illustrated all 78 cards. Even the number cards tell concrete stories.
Visual language Clear figures, landscapes and recurring symbols make it approachable through visual narrative.
Strength & Justice Strength VIII, Justice XI.
Court cards Page, Knight, Queen and King.
Especially suited to Beginners, narrative readings and the many modern decks derived from its scenes. ✦
Thoth Tarot Painted 1938–1943 and published as a deck later
Structure Aleister Crowley’s system painted by Frieda Harris, closely tied to Thelema, Kabbalah, astrology and alchemy.
Visual language Abstract geometry, intense colour and layered correspondences rather than everyday scenes.
Strength & Justice Adjustment VIII and Lust XI, with both cards conceptually reframed.
Court cards Princess, Prince, Queen and Knight instead of Page, Knight, Queen and King.
Especially suited to Dense occult correspondences and readers who enjoy several symbolic systems at once. The same card, three narratives Three of Swords Tarot de Marseille Three swords form an ornamental structure. Number, symmetry and interruption carry the message.
Rider–Waite–Smith A heart pierced by three swords makes pain and cutting truth immediately visible.
Thoth Tarot “Sorrow” links the Three with Saturn in Libra; dark geometry condenses emotional pressure.
What this shows: The familiar heartbreak meaning is especially shaped by the Rider–Waite–Smith image.
The Fool Tarot de Marseille A traveller moves on while an animal catches at the clothing. The card may be unnumbered or marked 0.
Rider–Waite–Smith The figure stands brightly at a cliff with rose, bundle and dog. Openness and risk share one step.
Thoth Tarot Several myths and symbols overlap in a spiral composition. The Fool becomes a creative zero.
What this shows: The core of entering the unknown remains, but warning, innocence and cosmic energy receive different weight.
Death Tarot de Marseille A skeleton mows through body parts and crowns. Some historical cards carry no printed title.
Rider–Waite–Smith An armoured skeleton rides beneath a black flag while the sun rises between towers.
Thoth Tarot A dancing skeleton moves through webs and bubbles: dissolution becomes continuous transformation.
What this shows: All three systems speak more readily of endings and change than of predicting literal death.
Tarot is not the same as an oracle deck A tarot normally follows the structure of 22 Major and 56 Minor Arcana in four suits. Oracle decks may choose any number, sequence or theme. Both can be useful, but their terms and reading methods are not automatically interchangeable.
Sources and context Historical dates follow museum collections and primary texts. The short meanings are editorial summaries; there is no single binding school of tarot.
This translation was produced with AI and editorially checked for tarot terminology.