The World in 7 decks
The same card as 7 decks draw it, five and a half centuries apart. What stays the same is the card’s core; what changes is where a reading can find something new. The meanings are written for the Rider–Waite–Smith picture; the descriptions here are of each deck’s own.
Side by side
Choose any two decks and read the pictures against each other.
Pamela Colman Smith, 1909
A dancer wrapped in a flowing purple scarf floats inside a great oval wreath bound with red ribbons, holding a wand in each hand, one leg crossed behind the other. In the four corners, a man, an eagle, a lion and a bull look out from clouds. The dancer is alone in the centre and entirely at ease.
Lequart, Paris, 19th century
A naked woman with a red sash stands on one foot inside an oval wreath of yellow and red leaves, holding a wand in one hand and a small object in the other. In the corners are a haloed angel and a haloed eagle at the top, and a pale bull-like beast and a haloed lion at the bottom. Numbered XXI, titled LE MONDE.
Rider–Waite–Smith
Pamela Colman Smith, 1909
A dancer wrapped in a flowing purple scarf floats inside a great oval wreath bound with red ribbons, holding a wand in each hand, one leg crossed behind the other. In the four corners, a man, an eagle, a lion and a bull look out from clouds. The dancer is alone in the centre and entirely at ease.
Tarot de Marseille
Lequart, Paris, 19th century
A naked woman with a red sash stands on one foot inside an oval wreath of yellow and red leaves, holding a wand in one hand and a small object in the other. In the corners are a haloed angel and a haloed eagle at the top, and a pale bull-like beast and a haloed lion at the bottom. Numbered XXI, titled LE MONDE.
Tarot de Viéville
Jacques Viéville, c. 1650
Numbered XXI, a naked, haloed child with a dark and red cloak holds a sceptre inside an upright oval wreath of leaves bound with red bands. An angel and an eagle fill the upper corners, and a lion and an ox with a red cap lie at the bottom.
Visconti-Sforza
Bonifacio Bembo, c. 1450
Two naked winged children with blue wings and red drapery stand on a green field and hold up a round medallion between them. Inside it, a walled pink city with towers and a domed building sits on a rocky island amid green water, under a blue sky full of gold stars. The surrounding gold is tooled with a patterned border.
In the Visconti-Sforza deck the number cards show only their suit symbols, and the trumps are unnamed and unnumbered.
Sola Busca
c. 1491
A long-haired man in pink looks down sadly, holding a slender staff, with a red crown lying before him. Behind him is a large blue starry globe crossed by bars, with a winged golden dragon perched on them. The name NABVCHODENASOR runs across the top and XXI is at the left.
Sola Busca trumps are named figures matched to the standard trumps by number only.
Oswald Wirth
Oswald Wirth, 1889
A naked woman with a red scarf and two short wands stands with one leg crossed inside an oval laurel wreath bound at top and bottom with gold ties. In the corners appear a winged head in a cloud, an eagle, a grey bull with red horns and a lion's head. Below are the number 21, LE MONDE and the Hebrew letter tav.
Soimoi
Mike Koz, 2025
A woman in a pale kimono with a blue sash dances barefoot on a swirl of golden mist above a still lake, waving a long orange ribbon. A thin golden ring encloses her, and around it, in pale gold line, are a dragon, a leaping tiger, a crane and a turtle. Stars fill the night sky, wisteria hangs at top right, and a small lantern stands on the dark shore.