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Sabio Tarot · Decks and systems

By Sabio Tarot

Do all 78-card tarot decks read the same way?

Two books can each have 78 chapters and tell different stories. Decks are similar: 78 card positions provide a shared map, but do not guarantee identical pictures, names or methods. The count helps you find a card; the edition tells you what you are looking at.

The familiar structure of 56 suit cards, 21 trumps and the Fool is described by the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The V&A shows how Pamela Colman Smith's Rider–Waite–Smith design changed the visual experience of the Minor Arcana. A Marseille deck and that deck may have the same number of cards but invite very different approaches to interpretation.

Same place, different surface

The Eight of Pentacles occupies a recognisable position in both decks. In many Marseille decks, it shows eight coins arranged ornamentally; in Rider–Waite–Smith, a person works on the discs. An explanation based on that craftsperson's gesture is not an observation of the Marseille card. You may borrow it as a metaphor, provided you know that you are doing so and do not attribute a detail to an image in which it is absent.

The BnF holds many Marseille tarots and variants. Even within one family, colours, linework, names and restorations may differ. “My deck is Marseille” helps orient you, but when studying a detail it does not replace the name of your particular edition.

Same names, different numbers

Justice and Strength offer a quick check. In many Marseille editions, Justice is VIII and Strength XI; Rider–Waite–Smith usually reverses them. If a book refers only to VIII, without a title, you may end up reading about the other card. An index by name and a personal record of correspondences solve the problem.

Some contemporary decks also rename court cards, suits or trumps. A “Guardian” might occupy the structural place of a Queen, but do not guess this from a gender resemblance. Look for the publisher's correspondence table. Without one, compatibility with an external manual is a hypothesis, not a fact.

A comparison table to use before reading

Question If the answer differs Useful action
Does it keep four suits of 14 cards? The Minor Arcana map changes Start with the deck's own booklet
Do the numbered cards have scenes? The visual basis changes Do not copy descriptions from another deck
Are Justice and Strength numbered VIII/XI? The index changes Search by name and check the number
Are there extra cards? The spread's scope changes Decide their role before shuffling
Does the book identify its edition? The example becomes less precise Compare four control cards

Complete the table for your deck and the book you wish to use. A broad “yes” to “they are both tarot” answers none of these practical questions.

One question, two decks

Question: “How do I want to learn a new skill?” One position: “resource I can develop”. You draw the Eight of Pentacles. In Rider–Waite–Smith, the scene of repeated work supports a visual hypothesis about deliberate practice. In a Marseille deck with eight coins, you could begin with their number, symmetry and the suit's convention of material resources; perhaps you would ask how much time and which tools you can devote to learning. Both readings may lead to a study plan, but they start from different observations.

Neither deck, on its own, determines how long the skill will take to master or replaces the practice itself. The example shows how to form a useful question from two visual surfaces, not that either image predicts the result.

When a manual can transfer

General principles—defining a position before drawing, separating observation from hypothesis, checking the summary against the question—can travel between decks. Precise scenes, esoteric correspondences and numbering need checking. If a book says “for all decks” and then describes a landscape that your card does not have, keep the method and reject the false visual observation.

To practise comparison, use how to identify Marseille or Rider and what to check before using an older book with a modern deck.

One structure can serve different questions

The first decision before a reading is not “What does this card mean?”, but “What am I trying to explore?” A question about communicating a boundary needs a different spread and summary from a question about learning a deck. The 78-position map can be used in both cases; it does not turn each card into a ready-made answer.

Suppose the Queen of Swords appears in a position called “way of acting”. In a Rider–Waite–Smith edition you can describe posture, objects and surroundings. In a Marseille edition you will find another composition of figure and suit. In both cases, you might suggest a way of expressing a criterion. That convergence does not prove the pictures are equivalent; it shows that the reader has related different cards to the same function in the spread. They should be able to explain the steps.

The difference becomes clearer with a deck that replaces Queens with another title. If the publisher declares a structural equivalence, the card retains its place among the 78. If not, assigning that place from outside may erase the work's intention. A general manual can teach comparison techniques; the modern deck's own guide is needed to understand its particular changes.

A ten-minute compatibility test

Choose a book and two 78-card decks. Look up one Major Arcana card, two numbered cards and one court card. For each combination, mark “name matches”, “number matches”, “scene matches” and “the book explains this image”. You do not need a numerical score; you need to locate the kind of disagreement. If only Justice's number differs, you can make a correspondence note. If nearly every scene differs, the book should not be presented as a visual guide to that deck.

Then take an explanation from the manual and underline what it literally describes: a figure, object, direction or quantity. Check each item against the actual card. Something absent from the image may still be a transferable interpretive convention, but it must be labelled as such. “You can see a person carving coins” cannot be rescued as a visual description if the deck shows only eight discs.

This exercise avoids two extremes: believing that all 78-card tarots are identical and concluding that a book about another edition can teach you nothing. Structure and method can travel; images and attributed details need checking. Knowing which is which allows you to study freely and carefully at the same time.

Sources consulted