Taromantic Tarot Deck

Taromantic Tarot Deck - 26 Marseille cards with French keywords

Most tarot decks hand you 78 cards and leave the rest to you. This one takes a different approach: 26 cards, each carrying a short French text that not only describes the card itself but also shows how its meaning shifts depending on the cards around it.

Behind this deck is Baptiste Paul Grimaud, founded in Paris in 1848. For decades, Grimaud was the only publisher printing the Tarot de Marseille across all of France. The images here are their classic 1987 edition, published under the France Cartes name.

What you see on the cards

The visual language is traditional Tarot de Marseille: clean lines, flat colours, no modern embellishments. Iconographically familiar to anyone who knows the Marseille tradition. What sets this deck apart is the printed text: keywords and short explanations in French appear above and below each image.

Those texts are not just definitions. They show how a card can be read differently depending on its neighbours. Each card also carries a second layer of information at the bottom: a list of specific card combinations under the heading 'près de...' (next to...), showing what a particular pairing means in practice. Le Bateleur next to Le Chariot indicates travel. Next to Le Soleil, a new love. Contextual reading becomes something you can practise directly from the card, without memorising anything first.

At the very bottom of each card, five domains are rated: Affectif, Matériel, Professionnel, Santé and Spirituel. Each gets a score from Moyen to Très favorable. That gives every reading an immediate, structured outcome across the areas most people actually ask about.

What you do not get

There is no guidebook included. The Minor Arcana are absent too, with the exception of the four Aces. This is not a complete 78-card set. That is not a flaw but a deliberate choice: this is a focused study tool built around the core of the Marseille system.

Many people use this deck alongside a full Marseille set as a supplementary study resource.

Lay three cards side by side and read the texts as if they form a single sentence. That gives you an immediate feel for how cards influence one another.

French as a practical requirement

The keywords and explanations are entirely in French. A basic knowledge of the language or a translation tool is enough to follow them, but reading French comfortably makes the experience considerably smoother. This is a product of French origin, designed for the French-speaking market.

Specifications

• Number of cards: 26 (22 Major Arcana + 4 Aces)
• Card size: 70 x 120 mm
• Language: French (text on the cards)
• Packaging: sturdy box
• Edition: France Cartes / Baptiste Paul Grimaud, 1987

Questions we often get

Can I do full readings with this deck?
For simple three- or five-card spreads it works well. For spreads that require the full 78 cards, this deck is not sufficient.

Do I need to speak French to use this deck?
It helps. The keywords and explanations are in French. A basic knowledge of the language or a translation tool is enough to follow them, but reading French fluently makes the experience noticeably easier.