Before Rider-Waite-Smith: Exploring the Etteilla Tarot
Long before the Rider-Waite-Smith deck became the standard for modern readers, another deck laid the groundwork for tarot as a tool of divination: the Etteilla tarot. Created in the late 18th century by a French occultist, Jean-Baptiste Alliette (who reversed his name to publish as “Etteilla”), this was the first tarot deck designed explicitly for divination, rather than as a card game or symbolic curiosity.
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A System, Not Just a Deck
Etteilla’s deck was bold in its intention. Unlike the Tarot de Marseille, which carried centuries of layered symbolism but no official instruction for reading, Etteilla’s cards came with meanings assigned to each upright and reversed position. He published guides, frameworks, and correspondences, connecting cards with astrology, alchemy, and the four elements.
This was not just a deck; it was a system.
The illustrations diverged sharply from what we might expect in a modern tarot. The Major Arcana included cards like “Chaos,” “Birds and Fish,” and “Repose,” bearing more resemblance to mystical allegories than archetypes. Some cards feel surreal or strange to the contemporary eye.
A Bold Claim: The Cards Could Speak
What makes the Etteilla tarot fascinating isn’t just its historical placement, but its audacity. It claimed that tarot could tell the future. That paper and ink could reflect fate.
In a time when tarot was still whispered about in drawing rooms and private salons, Etteilla made it public. He taught classes. Sold printed interpretations. Made this strange art form, once reserved for esoteric circles, available to the everyday seeker.
Enter the Golden Dawn
Nearly a century later, Etteilla’s influence echoed in the halls of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. While the Golden Dawn would eventually craft its own intricate tarot system (Rider-Waite-Smith), it was Etteilla who first demonstrated that tarot could be a tool of occult structure.
The Golden Dawn studied Etteilla’s work and expanded upon and refined it. They kept the notion of elemental correspondences and upright/reversed meanings. They developed further systems of esoteric alignment, but the foundation Etteilla laid was undeniable.
Etteilla Today
RWS is the gold standard for any tarot beginner and seasoned readers alike, but I’ve found the direct, symbolic, and sometimes unsettling accuracy of an Etteilla deck to be an amazing supplement to my readings. Used on it’s own or in combination with other oracle decks, RWS, or even Tarot de Marseille, the deck enhances the reading. One that is less psychological and more fated.
