The beginning....

So do I remember my first tarot deck? Of course I do! It must be in the year 1993 when there was this weird Magazine called "Rätselhafte Phänomene". The articles in that magazine were questionable at the least if you ask me and were dealing about urban myth like sponatious combustion, Area 51 and stuff like that but from a children's kind of view they were very intersting.

The first few issues of the mag came with Tarot collecting cards and as soon as I hold the first ones in my hands my sould was sold! I had to have them all and couldn't wait until I had the full set complete. The cards came in a nice looking black box. Unfortunately the box is missing but I still have the cards which makes me very proud after so many years.

The box:                                       And The Back of the Cards:

       












And the cards themselves:

I didn't know the actual name of the tarot for many years. Just as with the internet I found out that this is the rather popular 1JJ Swiss Tarot. The name might be a little strange but this is a so called classic Marseilles deck. The original was created around the 1830s and consists of 78 cards with 22 illustrated minor arcanas and 54 minors without illustrated pips.

Regarding Marseilles decks the opinions amongst collectors are widely divided. Some apreciate the decks for their old fashion looks whereas other's prefer the illustrated minors of a classic Raider-Waite deck.

For me this deck has still a special place in my heart for being my very first tarot deck. But concerning it's imagery it's not my favourite.