Spending Time with the Visconti-Sforza Tarot
I discovered the Visconti-Sforza tarot in a small shop in Milan. The shop was tiny, possibly less than 200 square feet is my guess. The front part of the shop displayed various tarot decks. The back was the shop owner’s tarot-painting work station. He remains one of the last few tarot artists in the world, and one of the most well-known ones, who still paints tarot cards by hand.
Not far from the shop is the Sforzesco Castle. They resided there during the 15th century.
I discovered the Visconti-Sforza tarot in a shop in Milan, the city where the deck was commissioned. The Dukes of Milan, Filippo Maria Visconti and (his successor) Francesco Sforza, created the “card game to be enjoyed by the aristocracy,” which later became a divination tool. (Read more about the Visconti-Sforza deck here and here). This deck was created in the 15th century.
The tarot artist who hand-painted the deck that I bought owned the Il Meneghello shop near the Sforzesco Castle, considered the birthplace of tarot, for reasons explained above. The artist, an old man, had his studio in the same space as the shop, where many of his decks were displayed. His daughter spoke English and translated for him. They introduced the deck to me.
Back in the 15th century, the cards were also hand-painted.
A while ago—I’m writing this in early 2025—the idea of going through the Major Arcanas of this deck came to me. What this means is that I want to write a little something about how each card speaks to me. I wanted to write about them in the order that I pick from the deck. (Let’s see whether this endeavor continues.) The first card was The Judgment. In the Visconti-Sforza deck, it’s the last Major Arcana. This is different from the modern decks, which has one additional Major Arcana: The World.
The World has not appeared in this deck yet. Is that significant? I will not investigate that here.
The Judgment card speaks to me:
It’s okay. What translates through you is not personal. There are personal and impersonal aspects of operating in this world.
To keep it succinct and fun: it says that don’t take things too seriously.
At the same time there is seriousness.
Moving from the subconscious to conscious: this isn’t the easiest deck to read because it wasn’t intended for divination.
The Visconti-Sforza tarot deck was commissioned by the Dukes of Milan at the time, in the 15th century.
I encountered it at a tarot shop near the Sforzesco Castle.
To the right is The Last Judgment card, a Major Arcana, from the tarot deck (with the i
mage from The Morgan Library & Museum).
According to the Morgan Library, “[t]he tarot deck was created in fifteenth-century Italy as a card game to be enjoyed by the aristocracy.” It was not originally for divination, though it had grew into so. The Visconti-Sforza tarot is one of the earliest complete tarot decks, if not the earliest.
The tarot artist who hand-painted the deck that I bought was the owner of the Il Meneghello shop near the Sforzesco Castle. His daughter spoke English and wrote a companion book explaining the origin of the deck and the meanings of the Major Arcana cards. The artist, an old man, had his workshop in the back of the shop, whereas his decks were displayed at the front.
Back in the 15th century, the cards were also hand-painted.
A while ago—I’m writing this in early 2025—the idea of going through this deck, starting with the Major Arcanas—came to me. I wanted to write about them in the order that I pick from the deck. (Let’s see whether this endeavor continues.) The first card was The Judgment. In the Visconti-Sforza deck, it’s the last Major Arcana. This is different from the modern decks, which has one additional Major Arcana: The World. The World is missing in the deck. Is that a significant change symbolically? The answer is unclear. In any case, The Judgment card spoke to me: It’s okay. What translates through you is not personal. There are personal and impersonal aspects of operating in this world.
Spring is here. I write near a window in my condo. From the 15th century to this spring, it has been about 600 years, or 6 centuries. I travelled from the U.S. to Italy to discover this deck, which travelled through time. I value the passing of time.
— 2025.
和维斯康提-斯福尔扎塔罗牌一起度过时间
我是在米兰的一家小店里发现的维斯康提-斯福尔扎塔罗牌。小店很小，大概不到20平方米（这是我猜测的），前面摆设了各式各样的塔罗牌。后面则是店主的工坊。他是著名的塔罗画师，大概是世界上最后几个可以用手工画塔罗牌的工匠师傅了。
小店旁边不远处则是斯福尔扎城堡。——他们是14世纪在那里居住的。
