Pip card (Minor Arcana)

A card that shows suit symbols (like Cups, Swords, Wands, Coins) arranged in patterns, usually without people or full scenes. Common in Marseille-style decks.

A Minor Arcana card that shows a full scene with people, landscapes, and actions. Standard in Rider–Waite–Smith and many modern decks.

A historic European tarot pattern with pip-style Minors and traditional, often medieval-looking Majors and Courts. Many modern restorations remain popular.

Rider–Waite–Smith (RWS)

A 1909 tarot deck illustrated by Pamela Colman Smith under A. E. Waite. It popularized fully scenic Minors and underlies many contemporary decks.

A tarot deck painted by Lady Frieda Harris under Aleister Crowley in the 1940s. It uses symbolic Minors with keywords and strong esoteric attributions.

A card, usually in the Minors, showing only suit symbols arranged in patterns, without full narrative scenes.

The Page/Valet, Knight, Queen, and King (or equivalent) cards in each suit, often read as people, roles, or parts of the self.

A 20th-century esoteric tarot deck created by Aleister Crowley and Lady Frieda Harris, noted for symbolic Minors, keywords, and occult correspondences.

What is Scenic Minor?

A Minor Arcana card that depicts a narrative scene with figures and settings, offering strong visual cues for interpretation.

Traditions in Dialogue: Marseille, Rider–Waite–Smith, Thoth, and Modern Decks — Advanced Tarot: Archetypes, Symbolism, and the Narrative Web of the Arcana

Orienting the Traditions: Why Deck Lineage Matters

Four Lineages, One Archetype

We will compare tarot traditions side by side to see how the same archetypes are drawn, named, and emotionally colored in different ways. The goal is to notice what changes when art, titles, and structure shift.

Tarot de Marseille Snapshot

Tarot de Marseille (TdM) is a historic European pattern. Majors look familiar, but Minors are mostly pip cards: arrangements of suit symbols without scenes. Modern reference decks include Camoin-Jodorowsky and CBD Marseille.

Rider–Waite–Smith Snapshot

RWS, published 1909, dominates English-language teaching. Its key feature is fully scenic Minors: each card is a little story. It reflects Golden Dawn ordering and attributions and underlies many modern decks.

Thoth Snapshot

The Thoth Tarot, painted in the 1940s, is esoteric and intense. It uses Golden Dawn roots, abstract symbolism, strong color theory, and printed keywords on Minors like "Debauch" or "Victory".

Modern and Inclusive Decks

21st-century decks often revise RWS or Marseille structures to be more gender-expansive, racially diverse, or culturally specific. Examples include Modern Witch Tarot, Next World Tarot, and The Gentle Tarot.

Learning Goals

You will learn to compare depictions across traditions, understand pip vs scenic Minors, and see how deck choice affects symbolic nuance, accessibility, and psychological resonance in readings.

Pip vs Scenic Minors: Two Different Reading Muscles

What Are Pip Minors?

In Marseille-style decks, Minors 1–10 are pip cards: suit symbols arranged in patterns, with no people or clear story. You rely on number plus suit, and on shapes and context to find meaning.

Scenic Minors: Little Stories

In RWS and most modern decks, Minors 1–10 are full scenes with people and landscapes. Visual cues suggest narratives and emotions, making story-based, intuitive readings easier for many readers.

Thoth: Hybrid Symbolism

Thoth Minors are symbolic hybrids: geometric patterns, strong colors, astrological glyphs, and printed keywords like "Strife" or "Luxury". They mix structure with an intense emotional label.

Different Reading Muscles

Pip Minors train abstract, structural thinking. Scenic Minors train narrative and empathic imagination. Thoth-style hybrids train symbolic pattern recognition, but their keywords can strongly bias tone.

Guiding Question

Keep asking: how would a reading change if this card were a pip, a scene, or a keyword-heavy Thoth card? Notice how format alone shifts the emotional temperature of your interpretation.

Side-by-Side: The Fool Across Traditions

Marseille: Le Mat

Marseille’s Fool (Le Mat) shows a colorful wanderer with a dog nipping at their clothes. Clothes may be tattered, and numbering is ambiguous. The tone leans toward outsider, vagabond, or holy fool.

RWS: Cliffside Optimism

RWS’s Fool stands on a cliff edge, looking up, holding a white rose, with a small dog. The scene emphasizes innocence, trust, and new beginnings, with clear but gentle danger.

Thoth: Primordial Chaos

Thoth’s Fool is androgynous in a swirling field of symbols: animals, sun, grapes, butterflies. It feels cosmic and chaotic, focusing on primordial potential rather than a simple personal journey.

Modern Inclusive Fool

Modern decks like Modern Witch keep the cliff but show a contemporary figure, often with a smartphone. The card keeps RWS themes while inviting more people to see themselves in the archetype.

Comparing the Feel

Marseille may stress nonconformity, RWS a leap of faith, Thoth raw creative chaos, and modern decks identity and digital-age risk. Same archetype, very different emotional temperatures.

Thought Exercise: 3 of Swords in Three Systems

You will now do a short mental comparison using a card many people find emotionally charged: the 3 of Swords.

Step 1: Recall or imagine the RWS 3 of Swords

Classic image: 3 swords piercing a red heart against a gray, rainy sky.
Question: What are three keywords you associate with this image? (Example answers: heartbreak, sorrow, betrayal.)

Step 2: Imagine a Marseille 3 of Swords (pip)

Visual: three swords arranged symmetrically, maybe with floral elements, but no heart, no rain, no people.
Task: Using number + suit, try to reinterpret:
3 as growth, expansion, first stability after duality.
Swords as mind, conflict, analysis, communication.
Question: What three keywords might you choose now, based only on "3" plus "Swords"? (Example: difficult decision, intense discussion, mental breakthrough.)

Step 3: Imagine the Thoth 3 of Swords (Sorrow)

Thoth shows three swords over a symbol of Saturn in Libra, with a gray, oppressive mood.
The printed keyword is "Sorrow".
Question: How does having the word "Sorrow" printed on the card push your interpretation compared to Marseille? Does it narrow your options?

Step 4: Reflect

Write down (or say aloud) one situation in which you might prefer each version:
RWS-style 3 of Swords.
Marseille-style 3 of Swords.
Thoth 3 of Swords.
Hint: think about client sensitivity, psychological depth, and whether you want open-ended or sharply defined meanings.

Use this as a template: whenever you meet a card, ask yourself how its meaning would shift if it were RWS, Marseille, or Thoth style.

Courts Across Traditions: People, Roles, and Parts of Self

Court Structures

Marseille and RWS use Page/Valet, Knight, Queen, King. Thoth uses Princess, Prince, Queen, Knight, where Thoth Knights act more like RWS Kings and Princes more like RWS Knights.

Cultural Coding of Courts

Marseille courts wear medieval European clothes and feel formal. RWS courts are still Eurocentric but more expressive. Thoth courts are mythic and symbolic. Modern decks diversify race, gender, and body types.

Psychological Flavor

Marseille’s Queen of Swords can feel distant and formal. RWS adds emotional nuance. Thoth makes her mythic and ruthless. Modern inclusive decks may show a contemporary, relatable figure with a laptop or phone.

Courts as Inner Voices

From your earlier module, courts are parts of self. Ask: which version of this Court feels like a real inner voice? Which feels theatrical? Deck choice affects which internal roles feel believable.

Who Gets to Appear?

Decks decide who is visible: which genders, races, abilities, and roles. That shapes who clients can see as themselves, lovers, bosses, or ancestors in a reading.

Mini-Lab: Build a 3-Card Story in Two Traditions

You will now simulate a quick experiment to feel how deck choice changes narrative.

Step 1: Choose a trio of cards

Use this suggested trio for consistency:
Card A: 5 of Wands
Card B: Queen of Cups
Card C: 10 of Pentacles/Coins

Step 2: Imagine them in RWS style

5 of Wands: five youths play-fighting with wands.
Queen of Cups: a calm queen gazing into an ornate cup by the sea.
10 of Pentacles: family scene, elder figure, archway of coins.
Task: In 2–3 sentences, tell a story about a group project using these images. (Example: chaotic brainstorming, guided by an emotionally wise mentor, leading to long-term success.)

Step 3: Imagine them in Marseille pip style

5 of Wands: five batons interlaced, no people.
Queen of Cups: more static court, formal pose.
10 of Coins: ten coins arranged symmetrically.
Task: Using number + suit, reinterpret the trio as a story about inner development, not outer events. (Example: internal struggle over motivation, learning emotional mastery, achieving material or practical stability.)

Step 4: Compare

Write or think through answers to these prompts:
Which version felt easier to narrate, and why?
Which version left more open space for client-specific details?
Which version felt more psychological vs more structural or symbolic?

Optional extension

Repeat Steps 2–4 but imagine a Thoth-style 5 of Wands ("Strife") and 10 of Disks ("Wealth").
Notice how the keywords push you toward certain storylines.

This exercise is meant to be quick and intuitive; there are no wrong answers. You are training your awareness of how format shapes story.

Check Understanding: Traditions and Minors

Answer this question to check your grasp of key structural differences.

Which statement best describes a key difference between Marseille, RWS, and Thoth Minor Arcana?

All three systems use fully scenic Minors with people in every card.
Marseille uses mostly pip Minors, RWS uses fully scenic Minors, and Thoth uses symbolic Minors with keywords and esoteric attributions.
Marseille and Thoth use pip Minors, while RWS uses only Major Arcana cards.

Show Answer

Answer: B) Marseille uses mostly pip Minors, RWS uses fully scenic Minors, and Thoth uses symbolic Minors with keywords and esoteric attributions.

Marseille decks typically use pip-style Minors (no full scenes). RWS is famous for fully scenic Minors. Thoth Minors are hybrid: symbolic, with strong color and often a printed keyword, plus esoteric (astrological, Kabbalistic) attributions.

Review Key Terms and Traditions

Use these flashcards to reinforce core vocabulary and distinctions between systems.

Pip card (Minor Arcana): A card that shows suit symbols (like Cups, Swords, Wands, Coins) arranged in patterns, usually without people or full scenes. Common in Marseille-style decks.
Scenic Minor: A Minor Arcana card that shows a full scene with people, landscapes, and actions. Standard in Rider–Waite–Smith and many modern decks.
Tarot de Marseille: A historic European tarot pattern with pip-style Minors and traditional, often medieval-looking Majors and Courts. Many modern restorations remain popular.
Rider–Waite–Smith (RWS): A 1909 tarot deck illustrated by Pamela Colman Smith under A. E. Waite. It popularized fully scenic Minors and underlies many contemporary decks.
Thoth Tarot: A tarot deck painted by Lady Frieda Harris under Aleister Crowley in the 1940s. It uses symbolic Minors with keywords and strong esoteric attributions.
Modern inclusive deck: A contemporary tarot deck that intentionally broadens representation (race, gender, body type, culture) and often adapts RWS or Marseille symbolism.
Emotional temperature of a card: The felt emotional tone a card conveys (e.g., hopeful, harsh, ambiguous), shaped by art style, color, keywords, and cultural coding.
Court cards as parts of self: A psychological approach that reads Pages/Knights/Queens/Kings (or equivalents) as inner roles, voices, or developmental stages rather than only external people.

Design Prompt: Choosing the Right Deck for a Reading

To finish, you will apply what you learned to a realistic scenario.

Scenario

A friend comes to you for a reading. Their question:
"I feel stuck in my career and unsure how to move forward without burning out."
You own three decks:
A restored Marseille.
A classic RWS clone.
A modern inclusive deck based on RWS.

Step 1: Rank your deck choices

Rank the three decks from 1 (most likely to use) to 3 (least likely) for this specific question.

Step 2: Justify your top choice

In 3–5 sentences, explain:
Why this deck’s symbolism and emotional temperature feel appropriate.
How its Courts and Minors will help you talk about burnout, identity, and future paths.

Step 3: Consider a different client

Now imagine the client is a tarot historian who wants a reading about the same issue but also cares deeply about traditional symbolism.
Would your ranking change? Why or why not?

Step 4: Meta-reflection

Answer briefly:
One advantage of using a Marseille deck in psychological readings.
One advantage of using a modern inclusive deck for clients from marginalized groups.

This reflection helps you treat deck choice as an intentional, ethical, and psychological decision, not just an aesthetic one.

Key Terms

Pip card: A card, usually in the Minors, showing only suit symbols arranged in patterns, without full narrative scenes.
Court cards: The Page/Valet, Knight, Queen, and King (or equivalent) cards in each suit, often read as people, roles, or parts of the self.
Thoth Tarot: A 20th-century esoteric tarot deck created by Aleister Crowley and Lady Frieda Harris, noted for symbolic Minors, keywords, and occult correspondences.
Scenic Minor: A Minor Arcana card that depicts a narrative scene with figures and settings, offering strong visual cues for interpretation.
Tarot de Marseille: A family of historic European tarot designs, especially from France and Switzerland, characterized by pip-style Minors and traditional imagery.
Emotional temperature: The overall emotional tone or mood a card or deck conveys (e.g., gentle, harsh, ambiguous), affecting how readings feel.
Modern inclusive deck: A contemporary tarot deck designed to broaden representation and accessibility, often updating traditional imagery to reflect diverse identities.
Rider–Waite–Smith (RWS): A 1909 tarot deck that popularized fully scenic Minor Arcana; the basis for many modern decks and most English-language tarot teaching.