I got an Etteilla deck as a gift recently and… I love the historical imagery but I’m having trouble figuring out how to actually use it. The deck is really different from standard tarot. The cards have keywords and reversed meanings printed right on them, which you’d think would help, but honestly just confuse me more.
I’ve been trying to practice with it, but I feel stuck. Every resource I find online says something different about whether to read the upright or reversed keywords, or how the numbered cards work compared to regular tarot. Someone at my local shop told me Etteilla was the first person to make a deck specifically for divination, which is cool, but I still need to learn how to read it. The few books I’ve found are either out of print or crazy expensive.
Has anyone here learned to read with an Etteilla deck? What approach did you take? I’m also wondering if the astrological correspondences are different from RWS decks. Any book recommendations or personal tips would be really helpful. This deck speaks to me, but I need some guidance to make it usable in my readings.
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When I started using my Etteilla deck, I was surprised the minor arcana meanings are pretty similar to RWS. Way more than I thought they’d be. Turns out the Golden Dawn system (which influenced RWS) borrowed a lot from Etteilla’s original framework. So there’s more overlap than you’d expect.
I’ve been using my RWS knowledge as a base and then the printed keywords just add extra layers to my readings. Have you tried comparing readings between your Etteilla and a regular deck to see where they match up?
Just a heads up, Etteilla decks aren’t great for doing readings on the go. You know those quick pulls at coffee shops or when you’re out with friends? Not ideal for these.
The keywords and meanings need time to sink in. You really need a quiet spot where you can focus on what’s coming through. Try to read these in a noisy place and you’ll probably miss half of what the cards are trying to tell you.
Yeah I had trouble with the upright/reversed keywords too. The Etteilla deck helped because the reversals work more like modifiers. So if you get ‘happiness’ reversed, it’s more like ‘temporary happiness’ instead of ‘sadness.’
Working with an Etteilla deck can be tricky. Those old images are something else (some of them make the Death card look tame in comparison).
The historical stuff can really mess with your readings. I’ve had clients get confused or even uncomfortable with some of the old-fashioned imagery and keywords. You basically have to translate everything into modern terms, like explaining why your grandmother says things that would get her cancelled on social media.
I’ve been mixing Etteilla with oracle cards lately. The combination works pretty well - you get the traditional structure from Etteilla plus whatever the oracle brings to the table.
Just a heads up, Huson’s Mystical Origins of Tarot covers the Etteilla deck but only the Minors. No Major Arcana info at all. Still, if you’re looking into Etteilla’s Minor Arcana meanings, he lists interpretations for all of them.
The keywords are pretty straightforward and different from what you’d find in RWS or Thoth.
The color symbolism in Etteilla is pretty different from what we’re used to. Blues are for temporal matters and golds for spiritual ones. In modern decks blue usually means spiritual stuff. The red borders mark certain cards as ‘active’ forces, especially with the court cards. Green in the vegetation cards (like Card 37) is about material growth, not emotional healing.
I had to unlearn a lot of modern color associations to work with this deck. The yellows really confused me since they’re warnings in Etteilla, not positive like in RWS.
Etteilla organized the deck into these groups called septenaries. The first seven cards are grouped separately and have their own meanings. It’s quite different from how the major arcana is structured in regular tarot. It’s interesting to see how various systems approach organizing card meanings.
Pros of stumbling onto this post: I just opened the subreddit and found some fresh content about my favorite deck. It’s great to see more talk about this tarot system, and I’m excited to share a helpful resource I’ve found.
Cons of researching this deck: There aren’t many English materials available. Most detailed guides are in other languages, which can make it tough for English speakers to find good information.
Pro tip for the trumps: The etteillastrumps blogspot is a good starting point for Major Arcana interpretations. It’s one of the few English resources specifically for this system.
My favorite quirky Etteilla cards are Card 15 ‘The Crocodile of Deception’ and Card 68 ‘The Chatty Servant Girl’. Love how dramatic these old names are compared to modern decks. The historical nicknames are pretty funny - Card 8 is called ‘Etteilla’s Girlfriend’ instead of Justice. Apparently it was based on someone he actually knew.
When I first tried Etteilla, I asked it about a friend’s career change. The accuracy was surprising. If you’re thinking of using it, try asking specific questions for more focused insights.
Here’s something I’ve been doing lately with my deck, laying out cards in a sequence and using the keywords to build a story. Like, instead of just pulling cards for a specific question, I’ll put down 5-6 cards and see what narrative emerges from the keywords. Sometimes the connections you find this way give you insights you wouldn’t get from a regular reading.
That’s such a helpful observation about the RWS-Etteilla connection! Building on your comparison idea - I’ve found it really illuminating to do the same spread with both decks side by side. The 3 of Swords, for instance, shows up as heartbreak in both systems, but Etteilla adds this layer about ‘removal of obstacles’ that completely changed how I read difficult cards.
For the original poster struggling with the keywords - try treating them like training wheels at first. Read with your intuitive impressions, then check if the printed keywords align or add something you missed. The reversed meanings on Etteilla cards aren’t always pure opposites like modern decks; sometimes they’re more like ‘the shadow side’ of the upright meaning. The 2 of Coins upright might be ‘obstacles’ but reversed becomes ‘letter/news’ - totally different energy rather than just ‘no obstacles.’
Also, if you’re comfortable with pip cards in RWS, you’re already halfway there with Etteilla. The number meanings stay pretty consistent (2s for balance/choice, 3s for growth/collaboration, etc.), just filtered through Etteilla’s more fortune-telling lens.