blue_fusion
so you guys haven't encountered a deck with 3 suits yet?
Three-suit minor arcana
jmd
As a deck with three suits, even if arising from considerations of the Tarot, isn't itself a Tarot deck, I have moved this to Divination. Maybe others will have come across this deck in this section.
Ravenswing
three suits...
if i were to consider a deck with three suits they would have to represent air, water and fire. i'm leaning on the kabalah for this one-- the three mother letters. aleph which represents air, mem which represents water and shin for fire. earth (the material) is created from these three...
LVX
steve
if i were to consider a deck with three suits they would have to represent air, water and fire. i'm leaning on the kabalah for this one-- the three mother letters. aleph which represents air, mem which represents water and shin for fire. earth (the material) is created from these three...
LVX
steve
Mermaid
Or you could go Celtic 
The Celts believed in a cosmos made up of 3 realms - the Land, Sky and Sea; which were linked to the World, the Otherworld and the Underworld. It seems to me that these 3 realms could lend themselves to a Celtic-themed deck with 3 minor arcana suits.
The four suits of a regular tarot deck are based on the 4 classical elements, as used by Wiccans & many other Pagans. These are Water (cups), Earth (coins), Fire (wands or sometimes swords) and Air (swords or sometimes wands). Some Pagans will say there are 5 elements, the fifth being spirit (in the centre of a cast circle). Myself, I think of this as being the Major arcana in a tarot deck. However, these 4 (or 5) elements weren't recognised by the Celts.
If you're curious, here's a link to an article titled 'Why Wicca isn't Celtic'. It's quite long, but really interesting - the author takes some time to compare the Wiccan 4 elements to the Celtic 3 realms somewhere in the middle.
http://www.leabharlann.org/philosophy.htm
The Celts believed in a cosmos made up of 3 realms - the Land, Sky and Sea; which were linked to the World, the Otherworld and the Underworld. It seems to me that these 3 realms could lend themselves to a Celtic-themed deck with 3 minor arcana suits.
The four suits of a regular tarot deck are based on the 4 classical elements, as used by Wiccans & many other Pagans. These are Water (cups), Earth (coins), Fire (wands or sometimes swords) and Air (swords or sometimes wands). Some Pagans will say there are 5 elements, the fifth being spirit (in the centre of a cast circle). Myself, I think of this as being the Major arcana in a tarot deck. However, these 4 (or 5) elements weren't recognised by the Celts.
If you're curious, here's a link to an article titled 'Why Wicca isn't Celtic'. It's quite long, but really interesting - the author takes some time to compare the Wiccan 4 elements to the Celtic 3 realms somewhere in the middle.
http://www.leabharlann.org/philosophy.htm
Jeannette
I would agree that the 22 majors/4 suits (10 pips/4 courts) is indeed a "key" characteristic, but I don't necessarily define "key" as "the essential-as-the-whole." Of course, this can be -- and has been -- a matter of some debate, which will probably never be entirely resolved. Nor should it be -- everyone is entitled to their own opinion on this matter.
From my perspective, the Deva Tarot meets the criteria of a "true" tarot, in that it does "pass" the 22 majors/4 suits-10 pips-4 courts "test." What makes the classification of the Deva more "fuzzy" is not what it lacks, but what it adds -- one major arcana card, and an entire suit. Granted, it is, to the best of my knowledge, the first and only "tarot" to do so in quite this particular fashion. But it is perfectly functional as a "standard" tarot -- simply remove the extra cards, and there you go!
By the same token, I do not claim that anything that has only a remote resemblence to tarot to be a tarot, simply by virtue of the fact that it contains some tarot-like features. To return to the discussion thread at hand, I would find it much more difficult to classify a three-suit tarot as a "tarot" than the five-suit deck in question. But again, this is strictly IMHO, and I make no claims of any sort of "proof" of my position that brings the point beyond further debate.
However, further exposition on the point here would be to deviate too far from the current thread, so I'll start another, with links to the Deva Tarot for reference. I'll start it under the "Talking Tarot" heading, but leave it to the discretion of jmd and the other forum moderators to move it to another section if they see fit to do so.
-- Jeannette
http://www.tarotgarden.com
blue_fusion
i posted this cuz i was planning to create a such deck myself. i was just wondering if i could base it on a preexisting three-suit deck...
jade
i guess you will have to be the first!
in light,
jade
in light,
jade
Mermaid
Let us know how you get on Bluefusion - I'm really interested in seeing what you come up with!
blue_fusion
in designing a three-suit deck, right now, i'm leaning towards more cards per suit (around 17 each).
Sam
this deva deck sounds interesting, but i don't think i want it. oh well.
oh well.