From Italian courts to the present

Early surviving tarot cards come from fifteenth-century Italy. They were used for play, with imagery familiar to the Renaissance world: rulers, virtues, celestial bodies and the turning points of human life.

In late eighteenth-century France, tarot developed a divinatory and esoteric interpretation tradition. Published in 1909, the Rider–Waite–Smith deck gave the minor arcana narrative scenes through the work of artist Pamela Colman Smith. Her visual language continues to influence deck design.

The classical deck

A classical tarot deck contains 78 cards: 22 major arcana and 56 minor arcana. The minor arcana comprises wands, cups, swords and coins or pentacles. Each suit has ten numbered cards and a page, knight, queen and king. In contemporary readings, these suits are often associated respectively with action, feelings, thought and material life.

Cleopatra Tarot · A 39-card system

Cleopatra is a separate original 39-card deck in development at Mystic Rose. Its introductory framework gives each card a symbol, light, shadow and a ‘Queen’s Step’: a small practical action. The deck has three houses of 13 cards: Gold focuses on action, Nile on feeling and timing, and Veil on taking a closer look.

Mystic Rose Oracle Taro Deck 22

Our first interactive 22-card deck is a distinct work, available to explore in the Mystic Rose Oracle room.