Hi Tinevisce -
Welcome to Aeclectic Tarot! I'm excited that you've branched out into a Visconti for your second deck - it certainly is a beautiful, evocative deck. I think there are (or at least were) three different makers who published them - Lo Scarabeo, US Games, and Il Meneghello. The latter is a limited edition and I don't think is offered on Amazon, so you probably got either the Lo Scarabeo or the US Games - although I think there's a 'kit' version from Race Point of the Lo Scarabeo cards. The main differences are in the size of the cards (the US Games cards are quite large, while the LS cards will be closer in size to your RWS cards), the fact that the LS cards are a lavish restoration while the US Games cards are a more evocative and ancient-looking reproduction (the colors are much less bright), and the artist used to supply the four missing cards - although you probably won't be able to tell which are 'modern' at first glance; I couldn't.
Don't let the so-called 'non-scenic' pips (the forty cards numbered one through ten in each suit) put you off. Many readers learn to read with non-scenic pips, or you can read with just the Majors and the Court cards. The easiest way to read with the numbered cards is to combine attributes of the suit (you probably already know those from your RWS deck) with the number for a reasonably unique definition. I don't know if you read 'intuitively' or use basic meanings, but if the latter, you only have to learn the attributes of the ten numbers (pretty basic numerology) then combine them with your knowledge of the suit (and use nearby cards) to get a meaning. There are a lot of good resources here on AT that will help you read with non-scenic pips.
I hope you thoroughly enjoy your new deck. Let us know what you think after you get the cards. Even if you don't read with them, the Visconti cards are quite beautiful to look at and enjoy - and that was probably their original function way back in the fifteenth century.
Hello!
While ordering, I did feel that ordering a second deck post a scant three months of reading experience might have been a bit of a suicide mission, reading wise- but I was enthralled by the artwork of the Visconti Sforza: I'm getting the LS version from Amazon. One of my problems is living in India, where it can be quite difficult to get a hold of things like Tarot decks; and it gets expensive to ship it all the way from the States or Europe.
I do know that four of the cards were missing from the VS deck, and I remember quite clearly that one was the Devil- I do not, however, remember the others.
As for reading the cards, I mostly tend to stick to the traditional meanings; although I've had the odd case or two where the pictures lead me to read a card in a certain way that isn't traditional- so mostly traditional, with a dash of intuition thrown in?
Combining numerology with Suit qualities sounds like an interesting approach; one that would need a lot of esoteric knowledge, me thinks- certainly a lot harder than having visual imagery to help you out; but the challenge would be a fun one, me thinks.
So far as the RW is concerned, I haven't used the numerological aspects of the pips in my readings; but I remember one where I kept drawing 9 numbered cards- I took it to mean that the journey the cards were outlining were almost at an end, even if I couldn't see it.
In terms of the Majors, would you say that any of the Major VS cards depart dramatically from their RW counterparts; in your experience?
