Tarot de Marseille: The Meaning of the 22 Major Arcana

The Tarot de Marseille is without doubt the most iconic and most studied tarot deck in the world. Its origins trace back to fifteenth-century northern Italy, where illustrated card games circulated among aristocratic courts. These early tarots, called 'tarocchi', were initially used for playing — long before they were adopted as a divinatory tool.

It was in the seventeenth century that Marseille became the principal centre for producing these cards in France. The Marseille cardmakers — most famously the Dodal, Conver, and Payen families — developed a codified iconography that would be reproduced and imitated for centuries. The deck engraved by Nicolas Conver in 1760 remains the definitive reference to this day. It is no coincidence that it was craftsmen, ordinary people, who crystallised this visual codex. The sacred does not always pass through palaces.

The spread of tarot as a divinatory tool gained momentum in the eighteenth century, largely through the work of occultist Antoine Court de Gébelin, who published in 1781 a theory — now historically refuted — claiming that tarot was a sacred book of ancient Egypt. Despite its historical inaccuracy, this hypothesis cloaked the tarot in a lasting esoteric prestige. I understand the appeal of that theory: when you hold these cards in your hands, something ancient and deep vibrates.

In the nineteenth century, major figures of French occultism such as Etteilla, Éliphas Lévi, and Papus deepened the correspondences between tarot, Kabbalah, astrology, and numerology. These associations considerably enriched card reading and established an interpretive tradition that still influences every serious tarot practitioner today.

The Tarot de Marseille stands apart from other traditions through its spare, symbolic graphic style. Unlike the Rider-Waite-Smith deck, the geometric figures, primary colours, and floral motifs are not incidental: each detail encodes a precise meaning, transmitted from generation to generation. Learning to read the Tarot de Marseille is learning to decipher a visual language of extraordinary symbolic density. After years of working with pendulums and exploring other oracles, this is the tradition I always return to — because it demands genuine presence, a genuine gaze.

The 22 Major Arcana of the Tarot de Marseille form an initiatory journey that esotericists call the 'Fool's path'. The Fool (or the Mat), numbered 0 or placed outside the numbering depending on the tradition, represents the naïve soul embarking on the great adventure of life. He is the traveller without baggage, the innocent who does not yet know what awaits him. I see him as the moment before — before consciousness settles, before the path takes shape.

The first series, from the Magician (I) to the Wheel of Fortune (X), concerns the material world and visible forces. The Magician symbolises self-mastery and creative will. The High Priestess evokes intuition, secret knowledge, and mysterious femininity. The Empress represents fertility, abundance, and concrete manifestation. The Emperor is the archetype of the father, authority, and structure. The Hierophant embodies tradition, transmission, and institutional wisdom. The Lovers speaks of crucial decisions and heartfelt commitments. The Chariot signifies the mastery of opposites, the triumphant will. Justice calls for balance and the consequences of our actions. The Hermit is the solitary sage in search of inner truth. The Wheel of Fortune closes this first series by reminding us that everything is cyclical — a truth I have seen take form in every fragment of life.

The second series, from Strength (XI) to the Moon (XVIII), explores the psychological world and the trials of the soul. Strength invites us to tame our instincts through gentleness rather than force. The Hanged Man reveals the value of willing sacrifice and a shift in perspective. The Nameless Arcana (XIII, often called 'Death') signifies radical transformation — not an ending, but a passage. Temperance advocates balance, moderation, and healing. The Devil confronts us with our shadows, addictions, and chains — I always read this card with great respect. The Tower (XVI) is the sudden rupture that liberates. The Star brings hope and regeneration after the storm. The Moon plunges into the depths of the unconscious.

The third series, from the Sun (XIX) to the World (XXI), represents fulfilment and restored light. The Sun radiates joy, clarity, and success. Judgement announces spiritual awakening and rebirth. The World, the final arcana, celebrates total accomplishment, the union of opposites, and the integration of all the journey's lessons. It is the card I most love to draw at the close of a reading — it says that something has reached its natural conclusion, in fullness.

The richness of the Tarot de Marseille lies in the precision of its iconography. Every visual element — colour, gesture, position, object — carries meaning. Unlike modern tarots that illustrate narrative scenes, the Tarot de Marseille uses a more abstract and universal symbolic language. That is what I love about this oracle: it does not tell you a story, it invites you to read in the ether.

Colours play a fundamental role. Red evokes vital energy, action, fire, and passion. Blue represents the spirit, thought, communication, and celestial aspirations. Yellow and gold symbolise divine light, consciousness, and wisdom. Green speaks of growth, nature, and fertility. White embodies purity, innocence, and unmanifested potential.

The gestures and postures of the figures are equally charged with meaning. A raised hand indicates authority or blessing; a hand extended downward suggests action in the material world. Gazes directed to the left (the past) or to the right (the future) indicate the temporality of the card's energy. Figures facing forward address the querent directly, inviting them to look themselves in the eye.

The numbers associated with the arcana correspond to numerological traditions. Odd-numbered arcana are generally active, dynamic, Yang in nature. Even-numbered arcana are more receptive, Yin, oriented inward. Arcana divisible by three (III, VI, IX, XII, XV, XVIII, XXI) mark important stages of the initiatory path. Double-digit arcana (X through XXI) indicate greater complexity, a tension between two principles — two currents crossing.

The animals depicted in the arcana are also symbolic. The Fool's dog represents unmastered instinct. Strength's lion evokes animal passions. The crayfish and dogs of the Moon symbolise archaic fears. The eagle, associated with the Emperor and the World, represents broad vision and spiritual mastery. Every detail, however small, is part of a coherent system of correspondences built and refined over several centuries of esoteric practice. With these cards, you never stop learning — which is what makes them a living codex.

Reading the Major Arcana in a Tarot de Marseille spread calls for an approach that is both intuitive and structured. It is not simply a matter of memorising keywords associated with each card, but of developing a genuine inner conversation with the symbols. The first thing to do when facing a card is to observe without trying to analyse: let the image speak, notice the emotions and sensations it stirs. It is exactly like meditation — the mind wants to analyse, and you let things come.

The Major Arcana distinguish themselves from the Minor Arcana by their symbolic weight and their scope. When a reading contains many Major Arcana, it indicates that the querent's situation is subject to significant forces, karmic cycles, or deep life themes. Conversely, a total absence of Major Arcana in a spread suggests that events belong more to the everyday and remain under the direct influence of personal choices.

A card's position in the spread changes its interpretation. In a classic cross layout, the central card represents the current situation, the crossing card indicates the obstacle or support, the foundation reveals the unconscious origin, the crowning card shows conscious aspirations, and the peripheral cards speak of the surrounding context. A Major Arcana in the crowning position carries a different resonance than that same arcana in the foundation position.

Reversed cards are a matter of debate within the Tarot de Marseille community. Many practitioners refuse to read them as inverted, preferring to nuance interpretation according to the overall context of the reading. Others consider that a reversed arcana indicates a blocked, delayed, or poorly expressed energy. There is no absolute rule: each reader develops their own approach. Personally, I read a reversal as a signal of shadow — not a curse.

Growth in reading the Tarot de Marseille comes through regular practice and keeping a reading journal. Recording your readings, noting your initial impressions, then comparing them with subsequent events allows you to calibrate your intuition and progressively enrich your understanding of the Major Arcana. The relationship with a tarot deck is built over time, like any meaningful relationship. Give it time. It will give you everything.

The debate between the Tarot de Marseille and the Rider-Waite-Smith (RWS) is one of the most classic in the tarot world. These two traditions, while sharing the same 78-card structure, propose fundamentally different approaches to reading and learning.

The Rider-Waite-Smith, created in 1909 by Arthur Edward Waite and illustrated by Pamela Colman Smith, is the most widely distributed tarot in the English-speaking world and now across the globe. Its main innovation lies in the scenic illustration of the 56 Minor Arcana: each card depicts a figurative scene rich in narrative symbols. This characteristic makes the RWS far more accessible to beginners, since the images tell a visual story that is immediately understandable.

The Tarot de Marseille, by contrast, features geometric and symbolic Minor Arcana with no figurative scenes. The colours, the arrangements of cups, swords, wands, and coins are sufficient to encode meaning. This approach demands more training and intuition, but it also offers a far greater freedom of interpretation. The Tarot de Marseille is often considered more 'pure' by traditional esotericists — and I understand why. It forces you to trust yourself.

From an esoteric standpoint, the two traditions also diverge in their symbolic references. The RWS is deeply rooted in the Golden Dawn tradition, with very precise Kabbalistic and astrological correspondences encoded in every card. The Tarot de Marseille is more closely linked to older Kabbalistic traditions and French and Italian Hermetic philosophy.

For a beginner, the Rider-Waite-Smith offers a gentler learning curve thanks to its narrative illustrations. For someone wishing to deepen the French esoteric tradition and develop a more profound symbolic intuition, the Tarot de Marseille is irreplaceable. Many experienced practitioners end up working with both traditions, recognising that each illuminates different aspects of the human psyche and symbolic reality. I have made that journey myself through both. They do not contradict each other — they complement each other.