So, I decided to finally get my hands dirty with the Tarot de Marseille a while back. Heard folks talking about it, how it’s sort of the granddaddy of many tarot decks. Sounded interesting, you know? Not like the usual Rider-Waite-Smith deck everyone seems to start with.
First thing, I got myself a deck. Looked pretty old-school, the artwork felt kinda raw, not as polished or immediately obvious as other decks I’d seen. The colours were pretty basic too, mostly red, blue, yellow, green. Honestly, opening the box, I felt a bit lost. Especially the numbered cards, the pips. Just patterns of swords or cups or whatever. Not like the picture stories you see on RWS pips. My first thought was, “How the heck am I supposed to read these?”
Figuring Things Out
I didn’t jump straight into books. Wanted to just sit with the cards first. Spread them out, looked at the Major Arcana cards – The Fool, The Magician, The Popess (yeah, Popess, not High Priestess in my deck). The images felt… sturdy? Solid? Like they weren’t trying too hard to tell you one specific thing. It was weirdly freeing but also confusing.
Then came those darn pip cards again. Okay, I admitted defeat. Had to find some pointers. Not like deep occult stuff, just basic ideas on how people even approached reading Marseille pips. Found some simple guides online – no fancy websites, just forum chats and old blog posts people had written ages ago. The general idea seemed to be looking at the numbers, the arrangement of the symbols, the colours, how the cards maybe interact next to each other in a spread. Less about memorizing meanings, more about… looking. Really looking.
- Spent time just staring at the Four of Cups. Okay, four cups, arranged kinda stable. Felt different from the Five.
- Tried laying out three cards. Just three. A simple past-present-future thing, but without any set meanings in my head.
- Focused on the Court cards too. The Pages, Knights, Queens, Kings. Their postures, where they were looking. That seemed important.
Actually Using Them
Started doing simple readings just for myself. Like, “What’s the energy for today?” kinda stuff. Pulled maybe one or three cards. It was slow going. Really slow. I wasn’t getting instant “aha!” moments like you sometimes do with decks that have more illustrative minors. It felt more like piecing together a subtle hint.
It forced me to rely on my gut feeling way more. Because there wasn’t a picture of ‘ten swords in someone’s back’ telling me it’s rock bottom, I had to look at the Ten of Swords card – just ten swords arranged in a pattern – and feel what that pattern, that number, that suit suggested in the context of my question.
Sometimes it felt like I was just making stuff up. Other times, a surprisingly clear thought would pop into my head based purely on the visual arrangement. It was hit-and-miss, a lot of practice needed.
Where I’m At Now
I still use my Marseille deck. Not every day, but fairly often. I find it really straightforward, in a weird way. Less psychological, maybe more… direct? It doesn’t spoon-feed meanings. You gotta work for it a bit, engage with the cards directly.
It definitely changed how I look at tarot generally. Made me pay more attention to numbers, suits, directions, colours, even in other decks. It’s not my only deck, I use others too depending on my mood or the type of question. But the Marseille taught me a different way to look, a quieter way perhaps. Still feels like I’m just scratching the surface, though. It’s a journey, right?
