~18th century · The older French tradition
Tarot de Marseille
Tarot de Marseille predates Rider-Waite-Smith by centuries and follows a different visual logic: the Minor Arcana cards (the equivalent of our Wands, Cups, Swords, and Pentacles) show a repeated pattern of the suit symbol — five swords crossed, seven cups arranged in a row — rather than a small illustrated scene. There's no picture telling you a story; the number and suit are the whole message, and the reader supplies the interpretation from tradition and training rather than the artwork itself.
That makes Marseille genuinely harder to learn from than Rider-Waite-Smith for a beginner, which is exactly why RWS became the more common starting point once it was published — but Marseille readers often value it precisely because it doesn't pre-package a mood the way an illustrated scene does.
Frequently asked
Are Marseille tarot meanings the same as Rider-Waite-Smith?
The Major Arcana are largely similar in spirit, but not identical — the order and names of Strength and Justice are swapped between the two traditions in some editions. The Minor Arcana are read very differently, since Marseille pip cards give you numbers and suits, not a scene to read.
Is "Marseille" the city where this tarot pattern was actually invented?
Not necessarily — the name is a trade label more than a proven birthplace. The earliest documented deck of this pattern, by Jean Noblet, was made in Paris; Marseille became associated with the style later, as the city grew into a major printing and export hub for it.
How do I read the numbered Minor Arcana without illustrated scenes?
By combining the number and the suit's general theme — five of a suit tends to suggest tension or challenge, ten suggests completion, regardless of suit — rather than reading a pictured story the way Rider-Waite-Smith cards allow.
Is there one official way to read Marseille tarot?
No — several authored methods exist. Yoav Ben-Dov's Open Reading focuses on how the images in a spread visually interact and explicitly allows skipping reversals; Alejandro Jodorowsky's Tarology reads numbers, colors, and structure for self-knowledge. Neither is the single correct approach.
Do reversed cards work the same way in Marseille as in Rider-Waite-Smith?
Not necessarily. Some Marseille methods, including Ben-Dov's Open Reading, explicitly allow reading without reversals at all — it depends on the specific method or teacher, not a fixed rule of the tradition itself.
Which is older, Marseille or Rider-Waite-Smith?
Marseille, by centuries. Its earliest documented example dates to the second half of the 1600s, while Rider-Waite-Smith was published in 1909 — Marseille is a much older French printing tradition, not a stylistic variant of the newer deck.
Why do the Strength and Justice cards sit in different positions between traditions?
It's a longstanding structural difference with no single settled explanation — Rider-Waite-Smith places Strength at VIII and Justice at XI, while Marseille traditionally reverses them. Both orderings are historically documented, not an error in either deck.
Are all modern "Marseille" decks identical to each other?
No — it's a family of related historical prints and restorations (Noblet, Dodal, Conver, and modern reconstructions like CBD), not one fixed image set. Details vary between specific printers and editions.
Do I need special training in astrology or numerology to read Marseille tarot?
Not necessarily — some methods, like Open Reading, focus on visual composition rather than esoteric correspondences. Other approaches do lean more heavily on numerology, so it depends which method you choose to follow.
Can I use this site's card meanings for a Marseille deck?
Not directly — this site's meanings follow Rider-Waite-Smith's illustrated-scene approach, which doesn't map cleanly onto Marseille's pip-card Minor Arcana. Marseille needs its own dedicated method.