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Reading other decks
What changes between the Marseille, Waite–Smith and Thoth decks, how to read a numbered card with no scene, and where the Thoth deck's card titles come from.
In this lesson you will
- Name what changes between the Marseille, Waite–Smith and Thoth decks: numbers, names and how much the pictures show.
- Read a numbered card with no scene by its suit and number.
- Trace a Thoth card title back to its Golden Dawn source.
A friend lends you her Marseille deck. The Majors look familiar, if older, but the numbered cards show no people at all: just cups set out in a neat pattern, or batons crossing one another. How do you read a card with no scene?
Three families of decks
Most decks you will meet belong to one of three families. The Marseille pattern, printed in France from the seventeenth century on, shows figures on its Majors and courts only. The Waite–Smith deck of 1909, which the VeilSoul deck follows, gave every numbered card a scene. The Thoth deck, designed by Aleister Crowley and painted by Frieda Harris between 1938 and 1943, renamed several Majors and gave every card from Two to Ten a title, building on the Golden Dawn system.
You already read in a way that travels between all three: suit and number first, as in The numbers, Ace to Ten, as one story. What changes from deck to deck is mostly names and numbers, and how much the picture tells you.
Warm up
A quick look back before the new material. Recalling helps you remember.
Warm-up
Using the number arc and the suit, what would you expect the Five of Wands to be about?
Warm-up
In the Waite–Smith order that the VeilSoul deck follows, which numbers do Strength and Justice carry?
Warm-up
In the VeilSoul deck, the staff of the Ace of Wands carries the detail that marks the Wands suit. Which detail is it?
Look first
Imagine each of these three cards with its scene erased, leaving only the cups, swords or pentacles set out in a pattern, as on many older decks. What would you still know about each card, and what would you lose?
Remember
- The Marseille, Waite–Smith and Thoth decks share one structure; names, numbers and how much the pictures show are what change.
- Read a card with no scene by suit and number; where Smith's scene breaks the formula, that story belongs to the Waite–Smith deck.
- Strength and Justice swap numbers between traditions, and many Thoth titles shorten Book T's; read each deck in its own terms.
Sources: original VeilSoul text · Golden Dawn tradition · VeilSoul card pages · the 1909 Waite–Smith imagery (public domain)