Wide World of Tarot

There are two types of Tarot deck. The Italian suited Tarot The traditional Italian suited deck of coins, cups, swords, and batons is currently favored by those using Tarot for divination, although in some countries such as Italy and Switzerland such decks are still used for game playing. Those practicing Tarot divination often call the coins "pentacles" and the batons "wands." With few exceptions, the trump scenes of Italian suited Tarots differ little from deck to deck and are often seen by Tarot readers as containing symbolic meaning. The depictions of a Popess (II) and Pope (V) on Italian suited Tarots have been controversial in some areas. In Switzerland, these images were replaced by depictions of Juno (II) and Jupiter (V). In Bologna Italy, the papal figures along with the Empress (III) and the Emperor (IV) were replaced by four Moorish figures which are unnumbered and act as trumps of equal rank in the Bolognese variety of Tarocchi. The Italian or Spanish suit system is not confined to Tarot cards. This suit system is a common regional pattern of conventional playing cards in Southern Europe and in Latin America. The French suited Tarot The more modern deck using the French or international suits of diamonds, hearts, spades, and clubs is now used in such countries as France and Austria for game playing. In France and in southern Germany, the Roman numerals have been abandoned in favor of Arabic numbers, while in some countries such as Austria, the Roman numerals are still used. The trump images of French suited Tarots often depict arbitrary scenes of people at work and at play, animals both actual and mythological, and landscapes of regional locales. In some regions, such as Austria and southern Germany, the deck is shortened to 54 cards by the removal of the lowest ranking pip cards. Unlike the Italian suited decks, there is a great variety of imagery on the trump cards of French suited Tarots. On French suited Tarot decks, the Fool is often depicted as a musician, a harlequin, or some other kind of entertainer. French suited Tarots are seldom used for divination. Contrary to popular belief, Tarot cards were not originally intended for predicting the future. Tarot was made for card games which are enjoyed today in places such as France, Italy, Switzerland, and central Europe. For more info on the Tarot family of card games: http://www.tarocchino.com http://www.pagat.com/tarot/ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tarot_games http://www.tarotgame.org/