Tarot History Forum

When discussing the Mitelli Tarochinno on another forum, someone introduced me to a Sibilla deck that is really quite beautiful called the "Sibilla Della Zingara". This one (and maybe all of them???) is based on a regular 52 card deck. I wonder if the meanings came first, and then the illustrated version followed? Here are a few cards from it that I find really lovely:













The entire set can be viewed here:
http://strangerealms.multiply.com/photo ... la_Zingara

I'd really like to learn more about Sibilla decks. Does anyone else use them? Is there a good resource to learn more about them? Anyone know their history?

That Imeneo card is taken directly from Raphael.

I wonder if the others also have classical sources?

Hello Roberto,

I love Sibillas. I have a couple of them. Even one by Luigi Scapini, the same artist who made the medieval tarot, among others.

All Sibillas I have seen are based on a full, 52 deck of playing cards. Some of them have poems that somehow explain the image. Some also have numbers, as lottery numbers.

I find appealing the relationship between oracle decks and fairy tales, as pass times for the same kind of soirees on the 17th-18th Century. I also find interesting Sibilla’s relationship with comics. In a way, you are generating a random comics strip you then proceed to read. Some of these images depict situations or events from daily life, some others are borrow from European Folklore and symbolism.

In a way, the Sibillas seem to work the opposite way than the Lenormand deck. In the Lenormand we have a set of symbols that we need to place on a quotidian context to make the message useful, while in the Sibillas we have quotidian images that we need to understand at a symbolic level to make the message understandable.

These decks are quite fun to read!

Best,

EE

I really appreciate the reply Enrique, thanks!

What you say about the Sibilla decks compared to the Lenormand decks makes a LOT of sense. There's very much a "folk" feel to these, and a sense that "anyone" could read with them. While there is a sort of mystery feel to them, the "meaning" of every card is pretty easy to sense, and stories are easy to build using the different components.

I really love these, I'm afraid that after feeling very smug about not buying many decks the past few years... I might just have to get a few of these. Any recommendations?

jmd wrote:That Imeneo card is taken directly from Raphael.

I wonder if the others also have classical sources?

It also reminds me of the Tarot de Marseille Lovers!

Robert,

My favorite one is ‘Sibilla Originale del 1890′by Il Meneghello.

Here you have a three images as a sample: http://www.tarot-as-tarocchi.com/images/p021_1_24.jpg

I love La Leggerezza!

I have a limited, numbered, edition, and I know there are other printed versions of the same deck, which feels a little older than La ‘Sibilla dela Zingara”, which I also like a lot.

Best,

EE

Well, Robert, thanks to this thread now I have been playing again with my Sibillas. It is amazing how clearly these cards speak!

Thanks.

EE

EnriqueEnriquez wrote:Well, Robert, thanks to this thread now I have been playing again with my Sibillas. It is amazing how clearly these cards speak!

Thanks.

EE

I'm delighted to hear that Enrique, and jealous too! I'm planning on buying myself one when I've settled in England. I've been trying to learn a bit more about Lenormand the past few days; but in the back of my mind I keep thinking "Sibilla... get the Sibilla!"

Do you tend to use them intuitively based on the image and situation? Or have you acquainted yourself with "traditional meanings"? Both?

I find the connection to playing cards very interesting. I assume after a while of using the sibilla, a regular playing card deck would "flash" the sibilla meanings.

I'd like to learn more on the history of these decks. They're fascinating, and some are also incredibly beautiful.

le pendu wrote:Do you tend to use them intuitively based on the image and situation? Or have you acquainted yourself with "traditional meanings"? Both?

I simply see the narratives evolving. They hit you with such consistency and clarity! Now and then I would pay attention to the suits, either anchoring them with social hierarchies, classical relatonship like hearts=emotions, and things like that.

But as you place three cards in a row, BANG!

I just took three cards right now: Ladro (a Thief entering a house through a window), Falsitá (one of my favorite cards, featuring a fat cat sitting on a chair, in front of a half-open cabinet), and Giovane Fanciulla (a delicate young lady standing in a garden). The innocence of the woman, the naughtiness of the cat, and the imminent treat of the thief are so clear! You get a story in a blink.

le pendu wrote:I find the connection to playing cards very interesting. I assume after a while of using the sibilla, a regular playing card deck would "flash" the sibilla meanings.

Yes! In fact, years ago I used to read with a regular deck of playing cards (There is something amazing about the feeling of shuffling and handling a simple Bicycle or Tally Ho deck. No other deck feels that right) and what came to me were the Sibilla’s images. I could look at a card, close my eyes, and start describing a whole image which was a lot more appealing to the client. I would get, for example, the jack of Hearts, and start describing “a lover sitting below a window, serenading someone who sleeps inside the building.”

I have come to realize that I forgot these associations.

Best,

EE