Little bits of ( NOT ) Mantegna's ( NOT ) tarot designs are re-cycled in subject matter and in imagery in writer Evrard de Conty's and illuminator Robinet Testard's LIVRES DES ECHECS MORALISES ... Wikipedia suggests they both derive from the same sources of chivalric folklore and pseudo-aristotlean ethics that were being spoon-fed to the writer's and artist's patrons ...

https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tarots_de_Mantegna

https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Le_livre_des_%C3%A9checs_amoureux_moralis%C3%A9s#:~:text=Le%20Livre%20des%20%C3%A9checs%20amoureux%20moralis%C3%A9s%20est%20l'un%20des,dans%20les%20ann%C3%A9es%201496%2D1498.

... to be rounded out and continued ...

TAROT

 

TAROT

I’ve only just learned, ‘cos it really didn’t interest me before, that there are TWO sets of tarot cards … usually called THE MAJOR ARCANA and THE MINOR ARCANA.  

If I understand it roughly, the Minor arcana were a standard pack of playing cards as used by Italians in the 1400s.  The Major arcana was an extra set “bolted-on” to make the game more interesting ... but the idea of using these cards for an occult purpose didn’t surface until 1781.

All humans are afflicted with uncertainty and anxiety to a greater or lesser degree, and it is only natural for us to seek clues about whatever FATE may hold “in store” for us.

It seems to me, tarot was developed by people willing to shroud themselves in a fortune-teller’s mantle of fake knowledge and fake wisdom, thus acquiring undeserved status amongst the ignorant and gullible who would have traditionally revered alchemists and necromancers and were content to acknowledge a traditional social hierarchy of dominance and subjection. 

In France, Tarot was made fashionable by this interesting man … Antoine Court de Gébelin - Wikipedia

The false medievalism of the modern scheme satisfies the conservative impulses of those who feel adrift in our modern world.  But, of course, the vivid imagery of the cards combined with the accumulating sophistication of their designs and their invented meanings are irresistible to artists, and to anyone with even a slightly romantic or fatalistic view of life and death.

The Met Museum wrote a coherent intro to the tarot for an exhibition in 2016 …

https://www.metmuseum.org/blogs/in-season/2016/tarot

The schemes below are borrowed from Wikipedia.  NB. There has been nothing like Wikipedia in the history of the World.  I’m always hard up but always send them money once a year.

 

THE MAJOR ARCANA … just twenty-two cards.

Major Arcana - Wikipedia

 

THE MINOR ARCANA … usually four “suits” of thirteen.

The “suits” are usually arranged in this kind of scheme  …

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minor_Arcana

DESIGNS FROM THE MAJOR ARCANA

The currently “conventional” scheme …

 

Some sub-sets from older schemes …

THE VISCONTI-SFORZA cards at the MORGAN LIBRARY

Visconti-Sforza Tarot Cards | The Morgan Library & Museum Online Exhibitions

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NRGuIs89NqE

THE SOLA-BUSCA TAROT DECK

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sola_Busca_tarot

A MODERN TAROT SCHEME … with some explanatory text

Psychic Tarot Card Meanings Significance (refinery29.com)

THE FOOL

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fool_(tarot_card)

THE MAGICIAN

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Magician_(tarot_card)

THE HIGH PRIESTESS

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_High_Priestess

THE EMPRESS

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Empress_(tarot_card)

THE EMPEROR

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Emperor_(tarot_card)#:~:text=THE%20EMPEROR.,to%20enemies%2C%20obstruction%2C%20immaturity.

THE HEIROPHANT

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hierophant

THE LOVERS

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lovers

THE CHARIOT  sometimes The Centurion, or Victory

The Chariot (tarot card) - Wikipedia

STRENGTH

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strength_(tarot_card)

THE HERMIT

The Hermit (tarot card) - Wikipedia

WHEEL OF FORTUNE

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wheel_of_Fortune_(tarot_card)

JUSTICE

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Justice_(tarot_card)

THE HANGED MAN

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hanged_Man_(tarot_card)

DEATH

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_(tarot_card)

TEMPERANCE

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Temperance_(tarot_card)

THE DEVIL

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Devil_(tarot_card)

THE TOWER

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Tower_(tarot_card)

THE STAR

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Star_(tarot_card)

THE MOON

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Moon_(tarot_card)

THE SUN

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sun_(tarot_card)

JUDGEMENT

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judgement_(tarot_card)

THE WORLD

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_World_(tarot_card)

EXTRAS 

Photography …

Tarot of the Drowning World — KAHN & SELESNICK (kahnselesnick.biz)

 

About Dummet’s Tarot

Michael Dummett's "Il Mondo e l'Angelo": translations and commentary: chapter 1 (pp. 12-47) & part of 4 (146) (dummettsmondo.blogspot.com)

 

Dummett’s Defence of his book …

https://www.nybooks.com/articles/1981/05/14/origins-of-tarot/

 

The Sola-Busca Tarot Deck, 1491 ¡

https://publicdomainreview.org/collection/sola-busca

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sola_Busca_tarot

 

Etteilla’s Livre de Thot Tarot (ca. 1789)

https://publicdomainreview.org/collection/etteilla-thot

https://wellcomecollection.org/works/kj5hdaaw/items?canvas=1

AND FINALLY ... PICK A CARD, ANY CARD ...