Justice : Its original Placement

Huck said:

For most games of Tarot the iconography of the chosen motifs is totally meaningless. Structurally it is necessary, that the cards have a hierarchical row. If you use animals as in the Animal Tarot, buildings or social events as in some of the 19th century deck, it doesn't matter....

The iconography itself as a complex artwork might be overcrowded with symbolic meaning, whatever the artist did like and the commissioner wanted, but it not naturally tells us anything about the really played game.
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Yes, the symbols are irrelevant to the game--thus, animals in sequence are equal to Platonic virtues, death, devil, sun, world, etc, in sequence. The iconography "does not tell us anything about the game." And yet the iconography is still there, with the game, whether the originators wish to see it or see through it to the game. That is why in 1527 Teofilo Folengo could write a sonnet in Italian with all the trumps symbolically incorporated. It's an interesting mix-- game and symbol-- to consider.

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Rosanne said:

A Versicola is a combination of cards that has a special value or the same value.
When you read through that it sounds like Minchiate is somewhat like Chinese games like MahJong. It also shows the Throned ones of the Tarot
Thanks for the site....Good Italian practice for me.

~Rosanne

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One should not leap to the conclusion that the earlier sources represent something more like the original order of the trumps. All the sources date from 50 to 150 years after the invention of the game. It is likely that each reflects an ordering that had become established in some locale or circle of players by the mid-15th century.

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In the eastern tradition, the problem was solved by placing Justice above Death, next to the Angel of Judgement. This is symbolically appropriate, Justice now representing archangel Michael dispensing Justice on Judgement Day.

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