Tarot

August
2008
N° 66
Newsletter

Thankyou for the positive response

and feedback for the printed issue 1 of our annual Taros
– The Journal for Tarot Studies. The content is of course wonder-
ful, as for the format, I have been far more critical than the feedback
received, for some pages are just too finely against the edge for my liking. I
have altered the settings for future issues, and expect to have issue 2 up and
completed by the month’s end – again, it has meant adjustments that I am
undoubtedly doing in a more roundabout manner than may be optimal.
http://association.tarotstudies.org/journal.html
Association for Tarot Studies

This month herein, I have included an older review with which many
amongst you may already be familiar. Mark Filipas originally wrote this
review of Egyptian styled decks in 2001, and it remains one of those out-
standing reads to which I frequently refer enquiries. I trust its inclusion with
this Newsletter broadens knowledge of his work in this area, as well as some
of his more general work in tarot. Mark Filipas also provided the content for
the fourth issue of this Newsletter back in 2002. How time flies! and again
many thanks to Mark for permission to reprint this work herein!
Due to the length of the content of this Newsletter, the regular back-page
features are omitted, and so take the opportunity to make mention the forth-
coming (Melbourne-based) Tarot Café topics and dates:

Melbourne
TAROT CAFe
Where: Dante’s Café, cnr Gertrude & Napier Sts, Fitzroy
2:00 - 5:00 pm. All welcome - entry by two gold coin donation
2nd Aug: Three tarot books discussed
6th Sept: Tarot history and deck variety
4th Oct: Melbourne-based courses
1st Nov: Death
6th Dec: Annual Panel - discussion & Questions & Answers
info: http://association.tarotstudies.org/cafe.html
This month are also two Australian-based events worth noting: a central
Australian trip with Rachel Pollack and Linda Marson; and the University of
Queensland Conference on ‘Alternative Expressions of the Numinous’. I look
A 0044941 T
forward to meeting participants in Brisbane for the latter, and will unfortu-
Association for nately be unable to attend the former.
Tarot Studies http://association.tarotstudies.org/events.html#august
PO Box 4013
Jean-Michel David
Croydon Hills jmd@tarotstudies.org
Vic. 3136
Australia http://association.tarotstudies.org
http://www.tarotpedia.com
 A History of Egyptian Tarot Decks manuscript(4). This manuscript described in detail seventy-
Mark Filipas eight symbolic houses or pictorial keys, corresponding to the
Tarot deck but using Egyptian names and imagery. Virtually
In 1781, the French author Court de Gébelin referred to the the same descriptions of the Arcana would reappear in Chris-
Tarot as a book preserving the pure wisdom of ancient Egypt. tian’s later work Histoire de la magie in 1870. Christian’s pres-
This is the first written suggestion that occult wisdom had entation of the Tarot is filled with fictitious history, but his
been encoded in the cards – in spite of the fact that they had stories were taking hold during this time of growing European
already been in use for over 300 years. interest in all things ancient and occult.
It was soon thereafter We might surmise
that Tarot decks claim- whether Christian
ing Egyptian origins conceived these
would be published. descriptions himself,
The first of many was or if he fabricated his
a 1789 deck(1) by the fictitious histories as
French astrologer and an excuse to document
cartomancier Etteilla, the ideas circulating
who called his cards in the occult circles
The Book of Thoth(2). of his time. There are
These early designs are SET A: From left to right, the Chariot cards shown above are from: 1. Etteilla I pattern, certainly some details
Egyptian Gypsies Tarot, modern reprint by Grimaud in 1982; 2. Etteilla III pattern, Grand
sometimes referred Jeu de Oracle des Dames, designed in 1865 by G. Regamey, reprinted as Tarot Egyptien by in his book which can
to as Etteilla I; one Éditions Dusserre in 1985; 3. 1843 Etteilla pattern, Jeu de la Princesse Tarot, reprinted as be found earlier in the
version of this pattern Cartomanzia Italiana by Edizioni del Solleone in 1983; 4. Lévi’s own illustration of Trump writings of his contem-
is still produced today VII, Dogme et rituel de la haute magie, 1856; 5. 78 Tarot designs by Jean-Gabriel Goulinat
from Papus’ 1909 work Le Tarot Divinatoire, reprinted as a deck titled Le Tarot Divinatoire porary: Éliphas Lévi.
by Grimaud under the by Éditions Dusserre in 1992. Lévi’s own drawing
name Grand Etteilla, (SET A) of The Chariot,
or Egyptian Gypsies Tarot (SET A). Subsequent designs which for example, was the first to replace the horses with sphinxes
altered the symbolism of certain Trumps are referred to as – a detail repeated by Christian. In any case, much of Chris-
Etteilla II. A third variation, referred to as Etteilla III (SET A), tian’s elaborate symbolism would find its way into the occult
was first produced in 1865 with larger, more ornate imagery. decks that were soon to follow, including those by Falconnier,
One early departure from the Etteilla decks was the jeu de Papus, Wirth, and even Waite.
la Princesse Tarot(3) (SET A). First published as book illustra- Perhaps the watershed event for the Egyptian pattern was
tions in 1843, the designs attempted a more Egyptian setting the 1896 publication of the book Les XXII lames hermètiques
than previous decks to emphasize their supposed origins. The du tarot divinatoire by R. Falconnier. Here, for the first time,
cards were numbered consecutively from 1 to 78, following the could be seen designs which truly mimicked Egyptian art. The
system started by Etteilla to emphasize that the cards were images (SET B) were drawn by M.O.Wegener and based on the
pages of an ancient book. detailed descriptions by Christian. Readers were encouraged
But in spite of their titles, these early ‘Egyptian’ designs to cut the 22 designs out of the book for use with the divina-
were not passed down from ancient culture as their authors tory instructions provided. The 56 suit cards were not a part
claimed, nor did they even portray convincing Egyptian of this divination process, so they were not included in the
iconography. The science of Egyptology was very young: the book.
Rossetta stone would not be discovered until 1799. The early Tarot historians place the Etteilla decks within the Egyp-
Etteilla decks are nonetheless interesting, especially because tian Tarot tradition. But it is the designs of Falconnier and
they incorporated symbology from such sources as Genesis and Wegener – more authentically Egyptian and based squarely on
the Hermetic creation myths of The Divine Pymander. French occult theory – which mark the birth of the Egyptian
1863 marks the next Tarot as we think of it
major notch in the today. Although there
Egyptian Tarot time- is no historical basis
line: the publication of to claims of Egyptian
a book titled L’homme origin, there is some-
rouge des Tuileries (The thing compelling to
Red Man of the Tuiler- the symbolism of these
ies) by a French author decks.
writing under the pen In 1901, just five years
name of Paul Christian. after the Falconnier-
This work tells of an SET B: From left to right, the Chariot cards shown above are from: 1. Wegener publication,
encounter between Falconnier and Wegener, Les XXII lames hermètiques du tarot divinatoire, 1896;
Edgar de Valcourt-
Napoleon and a Ben- 2. Egyptian Tarot, 1978 deck by AGMüller based on the 1901 illustrations from
Practical Astrology; 3. The Brotherhood of Light Tarot, 1936 illustrations from The
Vermont published his
edictine monk who
Sacred Tarot; 4. The Zain designs were redrawn for the 1996 edition of The Sacred book Practical Astrology
possesses an occult under the pseudonym
Tarot; 5. The Ibis Tarot by Josef Machynka, published by AGMüller in 1991.
of Comte C. de Saint Germain. His book reproduced the ear- earliest of these was her 1996 Egyptian Tarots (SET C), featur-
lier illustrations of Wegener, and added designs for the Minor ing 78 designs hand painted onto parchment. Her Trumps
Arcana. The only difference between the Wegener designs follow the Wegener pattern, with the exception of cards XII,
and the Valcourt-Vermont reproductions is that Trump II XIII, XIX, and XX which are based on Egyptian art. In 1998
(The Gate of the Sanctuary) was slightly redesigned. These she created the Tarots of the Sphinx (SET C) which is primarily
78 images were later published as a deck in 1978 by AGMüller based upon actual Egyptian imagery. A deluxe version of the
under the name Egyptian Tarot. deck was simultaneously published as the Tarocchi di Nefertari
(SET C), using gold foil stamped onto the backgrounds and
The pattern was redrawn in 1936 by Gloria Beresford(5) to
text. The designs of the two decks are “mirror images” of each
illustrate C.C.Zain’s(6) book The Sacred Tarot. This version
other, but are otherwise identical.
(SET B) added numerous small details, such as the constel-
lations that appear throughout the deck and the miniature An interesting variation of the Wegener pattern was intro-
drawings added to many designs. The deck was
published by the Church of Light under the
name Egyptian Tarot Cards, also known as The
Brotherhood of Light Tarot which takes its name
from the organization which Zain founded.
The material in Zain’s book was first published
by him in 1918 as a series of instructional cours-
es, and was at that time illustrated with the
reproductions from Practical Astrology. A new
edition of The Sacred Tarot was published in
1996 with significantly improved Tarot designs SET C: From left to right, the Chariot cards shown above are from: 1. Egyptian
which are beautifully redrawn (SET B). Tarots by Silvana Alasia, published in 1996 by Lo Scarabeo; 2. Tarots of the Sphinx
by Silvana Alasia, 1998 Lo Scarabeo; 3. Tarocchi di Nefertari by Silvana Alasia,
Zain’s book is especially noteworthy because 1998 Lo Scarabeo; 4. Egipcios Kier Tarot, published in the 1970s by Editorial Kier,
it included what is likely the first English trans- reprinted in 1984 by U.S.Games Systems; 5. Divinatory Egyptian Tarot, designed
lation of Christian’s original Arcana descrip- by Margarita Arnal Moscardo and published in 1988 by Naipes Comas.
tions. The passages were translated in 1901 by
Zain’s friend Genevieve Stebbins, to whom he gives credit. duced in the Egipcios Kier Tarot, published by Editorial Kier
of Buenos Aires in the 1970’s. The deck’s designer was an
John H. Dequer published a deck in 1949(7) with Trump employee of Editorial Kier but his identity is unknown. An
designs based on those by Zain. Dequer’s Egyptian version of English version of this deck (SET C) was printed by U.S.Games
The Empress appeared as the cover of Crowley’s The Book of Systems in 1984. Many of these Trumps follow the Wegener
Thoth in 1944(8). pattern while others are completely redesigned according to
Another early appearance of the Egyptian pattern is found authentic Egyptian sources.
in a 1931 book by Woldemar von Uxkull, titled Die Einwei- This was the first Egyptian deck to bring fully illustrated
hung im alten Ägypten. These designs were the basis of a 1949 scenes and characters into the Minor Arcana. These are
deck titled Schikowski Tarot(9) as well as a 1954 deck which inspired by Egyptian sources, and used by the deck designer
accompanied the book Tarot der Eingeweihten by Joachim to symbolize such concepts as Meditation, Cooperation and
Winkelmann. Rivalry. This was also the first Egyptian Tarot deck to com-
There are several modern decks which follow the Wegener pletely remove all suit delineations; all 78 cards are instead
pattern. The Ibis Tarot (SET B), published in 1991 by AGMüller, numbered in sequence, beginning with The Magician (1) and
is one of the most beautiful interpretations of the pattern. It ending with Rebirth (78).
is also one of the most faithful, even though it was painted The Egipcios Kier Tarot pattern spawned numerous decks,
almost 100 years after many of these pub-
the original designs lished in Spain and
were first published. South America. One
The artist Josef Mach- such deck is the Divin-
ynka actually based his atory Egyptian Tarot (SET
cards on the designs in C), designed by Mar-
Practical Astrology, una- garita Arnal Moscardo
ware that they were and published in 1988
taken directly from by Naipes Comas,
the earlier designs of Barcelona. Each card
Wegener. SET D: From left to right, the Chariot cards shown above are from: 1. Eulogy represents concepts
The Italian artist to the Book of Thoth, serigraphs published in 1980 by Editorial Barath, Madrid; that are analogous to
Silvana Alasia has cre- 2. I Tarocchi Egiziani, published in 1995 by De Vecchi Editore, Italy; 3. Le Tarot those of the Egipcios
des grands initiés de l’ancienne Égypte, Jean-Louis Victor and Geneviève Monat, Kier, but the artist has
ated several Egyptian
published in 1994 by Editions de Montagne; 4. Egyptian Tarot, designed by Esther
decks, all published used entirely different
Casla and published by Heraclio Fournier, Spain; 5. Il Destino Svelato dal Tarocco,
by Lo Scarabeo. The originally designed by Bruno Sigon in 1912, reprinted in the 1970s by Modiano.
designs to do so. The

SET E: From left to right, the cards shown above are from: 1. The Book of Doors,
designed in 1986 by Athon Veggi and Alison Davidson, published in 1995 by
Destiny Books; 2. Ishbel’s Temple of Isis Egyptian Tarot, designed by Ishbel and
published in 1989 by Llewellyn; 3. Tarot of Transition, published in 1983 by Carta and Lotus Flowers.
Mundi. 4. Tarot of the Ages, 5. The Ancient Egyptian Tarot, illustrated by Clive
Barrett and published in 1994 by Thorsons.
artwork is also taken from actual Egyptian sources.
The watercolor designs of the Egyptian Tarot (SET D) were
published by Heraclio Fournier. It’s designs reflect the same
concepts found in the Egipcios Kier pattern, yet like the
Divinatory Egyptian Tarot it reinterprets these ideas with slight
nuances. Card 35, for example, is Desolation in the Egipcios
Kier, Pain in the Divinatory Egyptian Tarot, and Sadness in the
Fournier Egyptian Tarot, Card 58 is Meditation, Prevention,
and Reflection respectively; Card 71 is Avarice, Conservation,
and Greed respectively.
The Spanish artist Suarez designed 22 beautiful Arcana
images (SET D) to accompany poetic verses written by Victori-
no del Pozo in 1980. The designs were silk-screened onto large
sheets and published by Editorial Barath as a limited edition
of 999 sets. The prints and poem are titled Eulogy to the Book
of Thoth, although it is sometimes referred to as the Barath
Egyptian Tarot.
Laura Tuan designed a 78-card deck called I Tarocchi Egiziani
or The Egyptian Tarot (SET D), published in 1995 by De Vecchi
Editore. The Major Arcana are based exclusively on Egyptian
imagery generally corresponding to the Trumps. The deck
retains the traditional Tarot structure of 22 Major and 56 suit
cards, although the Trumps do not follow their traditional
sequence. The Minor cards show arrangements of the suit
symbols, which take the form of djed staves, lotus chalices,
Egyptian daggers, and scarab coins. This is a nice example of a
deck which uses true Egyptian iconography without abandon-
ing a Tarot structure.
Il Destino Svelato dal Tarocco (SET D) is a stylized Egyptian
Tarot deck originally painted by Bruno Sigon in 1912. Its 56
suit cards are distinct from the Trumps – they are not by
Sigon but were taken straight from a Milanese pattern.
Modiano, the original publisher, reprinted this deck in the
1970s under the title Cartomanzia 184, as well as an English
version in 1981 under the title Cagliostro Tarot. Interpretive
keywords are printed at the top and bottom of every card.
Those for the 22 Trumps are noteworthy because they come
from the work of Éliphas Lévi and Paul Christian(10).
Some decks explore the Egyptian mythos by abandoning the
Tarot structure altogether. The Book of Doors (SET E) does this
with 64 beautifully painted cards depicting Egyptian deities.
The designs were created in 1986 by Athon Veggi and Alison
Davidson, and published by Destiny Books in 1995. The Book
of Doors is truly representative of the mythol-
ogy and iconography of ancient Egypt.
Ishbel’s Temple of Isis Egyptian Tarot (SET E) was
designed by Ishbel and published in 1989 by
Llewellyn. It retains a traditional Tarot struc-
ture, but the Major Arcana designs are replaced
with various Egyptian deities. The artwork is
colorful but simplistic, with each deity placed
against a golden yellow background with no
other symbols or scenery. The Minor Arcana
cards show arrangements of the suit symbols:
Shepherds Crooks, Flail, Sebas (Solar cross),
The Tarot of Transition (SET E) also replaces
the traditional Trumps with Egyptian deities
and symbolism, but these selections are rather
idiosyncratic. The Minor Arcana cards display arrangements
of the suit symbols. The deck was published in 1983 by Carta
Mundi.
Several multi-cultural decks incorporated Egyptian mythol-
ogy. The Ancestral Path Tarot and the Kazanlar Tarot, for exam-
ple, both devote one suit to Egyptian scenes. The Tarot of the
Ages (SET E) incorporates several ancient cultures into its art,
but its Major Arcana is primarily Egyptian.
Unlike the two-dimensional designs of most Egyptian decks,
the beautiful paintings by Clive Barrett stand out because of
their realistic style. The Ancient Egyptian Tarot (SET E) is a tra-
ditional 78-card deck with fully illustrated Major and Minor
Arcana. Barrett’s designs have an underlying connection
with the teachings of the Order of the Golden Dawn, but his
images have little similarity to the Waite-Smith and Crowley-
Harris decks. Barrett’s symbolism is also well-researched; he
even authored a separate study of the Egyptian pantheon
titled The Egyptian Gods & Goddesses: The Mythology & Beliefs
of Ancient Egypt. The Ancient Egyptian Tarot was published in
1994 by Thorsons as a book and deck set.
Tracing the evolution of the Egyptian decks helps us under-
stand the origins of the occult Tarot. But this overview is
by no means exhaustive; hundreds of such decks have been
published, and hundreds more have been influenced by this
lineage.
Footnotes:
(1) Decker, Depaulis and Dummettt, A Wicked Pack of Cards, pp.91–92
(2) This pseudonym for the Tarot first appeared in an earlier essay by
comte de Mellet, which was included in Gébelin’s book of 1781.
(3) Also known as the grand jeu de tarots égyptien; see also Decker,
Depaulis and Dummettt, A Wicked Pack of Cards, p.150.
(4) A fuller summary can be found in A Wicked Pack of Cards,
p.197–202.
(5) See front of the 1987 edition of The Sacred Tarot.
(6) Pseudonym of Elbert Benjamine.
(7) See Kaplan’s Encyclopedia of Tarot vol. I, p.219
(8) This cover is shown in Kaplan’s Encyclopedia of Tarot vol. I, p.354
(9) This deck can be seen in Kaplan’s Encyclopedia of Tarot vol. I, p.220
(10) See Levi’s Dogma and Ritual of High Magic (Transcendental Magic)
and Splendor of Lights; Christian’s The History and Practice of Magic.
Images Copyright © their respective publishers,
Review Copyright © 2001 Mark Filipas.