Customer Reviews

Grand Etteilla Egyptian Gypsies Tarot

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This is an essential collectors dream! I ran across this little treasure by accident in a dusty shelf of an old occult book store. What a find it was. The first edition was printed in France in 1969, which is a reproduction of the original published just before the French Revolution!
Hows that for a trip back in time for you Tarot enthusiasts?

This is not your garden variety "New Age" Tarot deck. Considering when it was conceived and by whom, it is facinating beyond words! Looking back in time a few centuries ago, there was a time of the French Enlightenment. Society, for the first time began to question the system set before them. Antoine Court de Gebelin was a free thinker and self proclaimed sorcerer who believed that Gypsies came from Egypt, Egyptian Hieroglyphs were the mystical secrets of the universe, and the Tarot held all of its secret, as well as the Hebrew Kaballah. In 1799 he was disproved with the discovery of the Rosetta stone.

He influenced some around him, namely the Wigmaker Etteilla, who refashioned the traditional Marseille into something unique and "revolutionary". Each card is Numbered 1-78. The is no resemblance to any current deck. In fact, the were designed for fortune telling. Something a modern reader stays away from. At the time, the guillotine was severing the heads of many French citizens. A visit to a fortune teller was handy to see if you may be next.

In the sea of modern decks, this one stands out like a gem to the collector or a sore thumb to the beginner. In other words, if you want to learn Tarot, look elsewhere. If you do get a copy of this rarity, it could pay your monthly rent!