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New Tarot reading · Grand Etteilla 1857

Grand Etteilla Tarot 1857: draw three cards from a nearly forgotten tradition

TarotCards24 now makes our complete modern reconstruction of the German Grand Etteilla edition of 1857 available as a free three-card reading. Draw three cards and read them within the historical Etteilla system.

· TarotCards24 editorial team

Your three-card Grand Etteilla reading

Think of one clear question. The three cards are drawn independently. The printed German title pairs are preserved because they belong to the historical 1857 edition.

First card
Second card
Third card

What is Grand Etteilla 1857?

Etteilla is an independent French divination tradition systematised by Jean-Baptiste Alliette in the late eighteenth century. Grand Etteilla names a family of decks designed for that method. Our reconstruction follows the German Stuttgart edition Theoretischer und praktischer Unterricht über das Buch Thot of 1857.

The edition preserves 78 numbered cards, German inscriptions and two printed terms on every card. It is a distinct historical structure, not a translation of modern RWS meanings.

Key differences from Rider–Waite–Smith Tarot

FeatureGrand Etteilla 1857Rider–Waite–Smith
OrderIts own sequence from 1 to 78; “Thorheit” comes last.Major and Minor Arcana; The Fool usually bears 0.
Text on the cardTwo specific printed reading terms.Primarily the card name; meanings appear in the guidebook.
Visual languageDesigned for Etteilla cosmology and cartomancy.Narrative symbolic scenes by Waite and Pamela Colman Smith.
Reading methodPrinted terms are combined according to position and sequence.Image, position, question and card relationships are synthesised.
CorrespondenceNo complete one-to-one correspondence with RWS.An independent early twentieth-century system.

Why this reading is unusual

Many online readings change the artwork while keeping the same RWS text. Here the selection and interpretation stay within the Grand Etteilla sequence. A card is not replaced with an RWS card merely because the number looks similar.

Historical boundary: The Egyptian origin story belongs to the Etteilla tradition’s own account. Current scholarship first documents Tarot cards in fifteenth-century Italy. TarotCards24 distinguishes the historical tradition from the modern state of research.

Five interesting facts

  1. The name Etteilla reverses the family name Alliette.
  2. Etteilla was among the first authors to explain Tarot systematically for cartomancy.
  3. The German 1857 edition prints two reading terms directly on every card.
  4. The card “Thorheit” is number 78 in this sequence and comes at the end.
  5. Handwritten notes in the digitised copy are not treated automatically as part of the printed doctrine.

How to read the three drawn cards

  1. Formulate one specific, open question.
  2. Draw the three cards once.
  3. Read the printed term for each position first.
  4. Then connect the cards in sequence into one statement.
  5. Only then compare with RWS if you want to study both systems.
Explore the 78-card editionUnderstand the Etteilla system

Sources

Digitised German edition of 1857 · The Metropolitan Museum of Art: Tarot history