My current tarot obsession is the 50-card Tarocchi di Mantegna (or Mantegna Tarot) from 15th century Italy. These are 50 instructional cards subdivided into five “suits” or groupings:

1. The Human Condition,
2. The Muses & Apollo,
3. The Classical Liberal Arts,
4. The Cardinal Virtues, and
5. The Heavenly Spheres.

From 1 to 5 we see the ascent of the human soul. Grouping 1 represents the social hierarchy from the Wretched (Impoverished), Servant, and Artisan to Magistrate, King, and Pope. This is the Earthly realm.

The Nine Muses led by Apollo in Grouping 2 corresponds with the Aristotelian element Fire. The Classical Liberal Arts are the intellections that arise from the element Air. The Cardinal Virtues correspond with Water. And finally, Grouping 5, the Heavenly Spheres, corresponds with Spirit.

Below I’ve arranged the cards in sequential order by their card numbers, and by the five groupings, with 10 cards in each set.

You can click on any of these image files for an enlarged view of the cards. At the very end of this post are links to zip files for you to download the formatted high-res image files if you’d like to print out your own deck.

The Human Condition

1. Impoverished	6. Knight
2. Servant	7. Magistrate
3. Craftsman	8. King
4. Merchant	9. Emperor
5. Nobleman	10. Pope

The card numbered 1, Misero, represents the impoverished. Next in the human social hierarchy is the Servant, then the Artisan or Craftsman, Merchant, and so on to Magistrate, King, Emperor, and Pope.

The Nine Muses & Apollo

11. Caliope (The Epic)	16. Thalia (The Comedy)
12. Urania (Astronomy)	17. Melpomene (The Tragedy)
13. Terpischore (Dance)	18. Euterpe (Music)
14. Erato (The Romance)	19. Clio (History)
15. Polyhmnia (The Hymn)	20. Apollo

The nine muses, patrons of the arts, personify states of consciousness that facilitate homonoia, an ideal state of collective mind and heart. The tenth state is that of the invocation of Apollo, who presides over the muses and is the god of truth and prophecy, among other attributes.

The Liberal Arts

21. Grammar	26. Music
22. Logic	27. Poetry
23. Rhetoric	28. Philosophy
24. Geometry	29. Astrology
25. Arithmetic	30. Theology

Classically you have the quadrivium plus the trivium that together, make up the basic curriculum of the well-rounded scholar.

The quadrivium being geometry (element Fire) expressed on Card 24, music (element Water) – Card 26, astronomy (element Air) as astrology in Card 29, and numerology (element Earth) as arithmetic in Card 25. The trivium was the trinity of humanities: grammar, logic, and rhetoric. You see that trivium in Cards 21, 22, and 23. Three more round out the ten: poetry, philosophy, and theology (religion).

The Cosmic Principles (Cardinal Virtues)

31. Genius of the Sun	36. Fortitude
32. Genius of Time	37. Justice
33. Genius of the World	38. Charity
34. Temperance	39. Hope
35. Prudence	40. Faith

Cards 31, 32, and 33 represent the universal principles: Iliaco, Chronico, and Cosmico sequentially. Iliaco, the Genius of the Sun, is that of the four seasons and calendrical cycle. Chronico is the Genius of Time while Cosmico is Space, or Genius of the World, genius used here to express the spirit of these concepts, or guiding spirits.

The four Platonian and Biblical virtues are depicted in Cards 34, 35, 36, and 37: Temperance (Temperantia), Prudence (Prudentia or Sophia), Fortitude (Fortitudo), and Justice (Iustitia). Cards 38, 39, and 40 are the trinity of theological virtues: Charity, Hope, and Faith.

The Heavenly Spheres

41. The Moon	46. Jupiter
42. Mercury	47. Saturn
43. Venus	48. Angel of the Eighth Sphere
44. The Sun	49. Primum Mobile
45. Mars	50. Prima Causa

Finally, ascent beyond the Firmament into the heavenly spheres. Here you have the Sacred Seven arranged in descending order of the planetary hours.

Card 48 is Octava Spera, the enigmatic Angel of the Eighth Sphere, representative of the fixed stars that in medieval times were believed to be the sphere beyond Saturn’s orbit, Saturn being the seventh sacred planet.

The Angel of the Eighth Sphere, governess of the four fixed signs beyond Saturn, kind of reminds me of the iconic depiction of The World card.

Card 49, Primum Mobile in Renaissance astronomy and astrology represents that which initiates movement in our universe. And Card 50, Prima Causa, or First Principle, is the theological argument for why God exists: ex nihilo nihil fit, or nothing comes from nothing.

Psst… that was a little something-something I tucked into the first stair leading into The Mason card, the Three of Orbs (Pentacles) in my tarot deck. There’s a numerological relationship between The Mason and The World card through the Trinity.

Prima Causa is the Empyrean Heaven, the dwelling of God (and the realm where the Empyrean Courts in my tarot deck reside).

Per medieval cosmology, you had earth at the center, then the first sphere was Luna, the Moon, then Mercury, Venus, the Sun, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn. The eighth sphere was the sphere of the fixed stars and the Firmanent. Beyond that you have the crystalline Ninth Heaven, and then Prima Causa is the tenth sphere.

A cool synchronicity in the arrangement of the five groupings of ten is how it can be reconciled with the Kabbalistic Tree of Life with the ten sefirot, moving from lower material to higher spiritual.

I’m sure you can catch how much my personal style of art vibes with this pack of cards. It’s an obvious sibling to the Spirit Keeper’s Tarot.

So during this time that I’ve been sheltering in place through the pandemic, I’ve been planning out how I want to approach creating and drawing by hand my own interpretation of this 50-card tarot deck (and also write a companion guidebook on this fascinating deck structure).

Mantegna Tarot Printables

CLICK HERE to download the formatted with bleed margins version of the cards for upload to a print-on-demand service such as MakePlayingCards.com. Select your choice of card back design, then go to one of those print-on-demand sites, follow their directions, and upload these formatted cards.

Tarocchi di Mantegna 1465

CLICK HERE to download the card images only version, which you can make derivatives of or use in any way you’d like. However, don’t send these JPGs as-is to a printing service to create a physical copy of the deck, because they are NOT formatted. These are the high-res images of the deck art only.

12 Astrological Houses & 10 Classical Liberal Arts Correspondence Table

1  Aritmetricha (Arithmetic)	5  Musicha (Music)	9  Philosofia (Philosophy)
2  Geometria (Geometry)	6  Grammatica (Grammar)	10  Geometria (Geometry)
3  Rhetorica (Rhetoric)	7  Poesia (Poetry)	11  Astrologia (Astrology)
4  Theologia (Theology)	8  Loica (Logic)	12  Theologia (Theology)

Your Genius and Tarocchi di Mantegna

CLICK HERE to download the DOCX file of the text to a newsletter I sent out about the Tarocchi di Mantegna (1465).

I attribute the personified daimons in the deck to astrological zodiac signs and how to reveal your own through the Hermetic Lot of Spirit (or Arabic Part of Spirit) in your birth chart.

In Platonian philosophy, daimons were divine guiding spirits that personified certain occult and esoteric powers. These daimons are the driving forces behind our most creative and intellectual pursuits. Daimons can propel greatness. When invoked, whether intentionally or by the divine hand of fate, a daimon will spark genius. Aristotelian philosophy regarded daimons as an intermediary divinity, akin to an angel that guides us. Daimons are felt, but usually not seen.

Genius is the divine aspect within the human soul. Through genius, divinity flows from us, meaning genius is the radiance of a particular facet of divine glory. During the Renaissance, the liberal arts were personified into diamons and expressed in art.

The evocation of particular daimons can then activate our inner genius. The echelon of daimons of the liberal arts was considered higher than the realm of human work (grouping 1, The Human Condition) and even the realm of the muses (grouping 2, The Nine Muses & Apollo), just below the cardinal virtues.

Ruling Planet		Cardinal Virtue	Ruling Planet		Cardinal Virtue
Aries	Mars	Justice	Libra	Venus	Temperance
Taurus	Venus	Temperance	Scorpio	Mars	Justice
Gemini	Mercury	Faith	Sagittarius	Jupiter	Charity
Cancer	Moon	Hope	Capricorn	Saturn	Prudence
Leo	Sun	Fortitude	Aquarius	Saturn	Prudence
Virgo	Mercury	Faith	Pisces	Jupiter	Charity