Decks in Detail: Visconte Sforza Golden Tarot
Artist & Premise
Imagine. You’re a very wealthy nobleman. What can you possibly buy as a gift for that special anniversary? A portrait? oh, that’s so yesterday. A Gala Ball? Well, it’s good fun but over so quickly. A new carriage? Perhaps, but we already have three of them. I know, I shall commission a unique and brand new set of hand crafted tarot cards. And to be sure they are better than anyone else’s, they shall be decorated with gilt and jewels.
This is exactly what happened in the 1400s in Milan. It was a craze that took off, and all the noble families were doing it. The ldest surviving deck was commissioned by Duke Visconti, who was said to have been the richest man in Italy. His daughter married the brave warrior, Sforza (it translates as ‘strong’); who, in 1451 commissioned this deck to celebrate their 10th anniversary. Dressed in costume typical of the early 15th Century, the couple are depicted on many of the Major Arcana cards, either alone or together; ad that explains why so many of the cards appear to bear the same character.
These cards were most certainly designed as playing cards for the game of I Trionfi – Trumps. The deck consisted of ten pip (number) cards and four court cards (Knave, Knight, Queen and King) for each of the four suits. But this was a game of Trumps, with card I The Magician being the lowest trum card, and XXI The World being the highest trump card; and The Fool, without a number, being a wild card.
Presentation
The particular deck I ordered is The Golden Tarot, The Visconti Sforza Deck, written by Mary Packard, and illustrated by Rachel Clowes.
The box is superb. It’s sizeable and sturdy and very well-presented. And with the book and the deck comes a purple spread cloth – an unexpected and pleasant touch. The original sized cards are taller than most decks we are used to handling nowadays, and take a little getting used to, but again, they are sturdy and no doubt will last a good while.
The Book
The book is by far the best Little White Book I have ever come across. It is hard back, with a beautiful cover a glossy pages. Not too long, but Packard takes us through a fantastic introduction to tarot history, walking us through the origin of the Visconti-Sforza deck, followed by a short journey through the evolution of tarot; and also a spiritual journey along the Road to Wisdom, looking at the mysticism and alchemy behind the tarot.
The card descriptions are very descriptive, literally a verbal painting of the images. The symbolism is touched upon, just in case we had forgotten that a flowing white beard is a symbol of sheer masculinity! The divinatory meanings are quite limited, however – simply a few sentences and phrases her card to act as a reminder.
The Cards
The Viconti Sfiorza deck is a very elegant one, and the readings it gives are straight to the point with no frills and tassles.
As a beginner deck they are quite difficult to get to grips with for a few reasons. First of all, the pip cards are literally pips…. you count the dipd and that’s it. You need to have a sound grasp of numerology and the elements in oder to be able to interpret the cards – effectively this is cartomancy with an extra suit of trumps! Even then, the Swords and the Wands are tricky to differentiate, having slightly different handles and that’s all.
If you like to read with reversals then this is not the deck for you, as with the majority of pip cards, there is no way to tell which way is up!
Even if you are familiar with cartomancy, you’d need to send a good bit of time with the deck before reading with them anyway, simply because the cards are not numbered, and since a LOT of the characters are actually very similar (remember Lady Visconti was the model for many cards) therefore it is easy to get the cards confused.
The Priestess, for example is very similar to the Queen of Cups and the Queen of Pentacles. The Court cards all have identical baby faces; only the props can be used to tell them apart. It is worth knowing that the Knave always wears a short skirt, the Knight always has a horse, the Queen has a long robe and the King sits atone what looks like a drum.
The Verdict
This is a gift I would buy for the seasoned tarot reader who has nearly everything…it’s packaging does make it a fantastic gift. And at least we know that even if our seasoned tarot reader friend has this tucked away, it is that good a gift that they would be able to pass it on again as a gift!
It is a deck I actually bought simply because I was intrigued by the history of it – and I wanted to see up close and personal the three legged table which the magician has. I was intrigued to learn then that only 76 of the original cards survived – The Devil and The Tower were missing, so these cards have been recreated in the original style by later artists.
I have spent far more hours pouring over the artwork on these cards than I have actually using them for reading – which happens very rarely. But I do use them for teaching. Mostly, again to pour over the artwork with students!
One card that fascinates me is Strength. The protagonist is beating his lion with a club, thereby controlling him with brute force. Having developed a concept that this card represents strength coming from within; and that control should be exerted via intangible means – mind over matter, so to speak. But this card clearly indicates that the card is about domination.
So this suggests that perhaps the meanings of the cards has evolved over the years, as is natural when dealing with human kind. That is obvious just by seeing how TV entertainment has evolved over the last 5 decades. Since I don’t have a TV myself, when I do see one, it is very easy to see how it has changed; much like watching a distant child grow up when seen at weddings and funerals. You notice the changes!
Quite frankly, they are no fun to work with compared to the plethora of more modern decks – but if you are a serious tarotist then you probably do want a copy of the most original tarot cards we know of. Before I sign off though – let me just refer you to an amazingly good fun deck I once came across, one which has a very similar feel to this deck. I’ll let you see for yourself:
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Deck: The Golden Tarot
Author: Mary Packard
Artist: Rachell Clowes
Publisher: RacePoint
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