Despite the fact that my favorite deck for exploring romantic relationships remains the Manara Tarot, I have also worked with other similarly themed tools. One of them is the Casanova Tarot—a deck we will discuss today. Who hasn’t at least once heard of the adventures of the world-famous Italian adventurer whose name has become synonymous with seduction—Giacomo Casanova? It is precisely his romantic exploits that the eponymous deck is dedicated to.
History of the Deck
Despite being considered a relatively “young” deck, the first edition of the Casanova Tarot was published twenty years ago—in the distant year 2000. Of course, this is not like the Aleister Crowley Tarot, which was released back in the late 1970s and created several decades earlier, but the erotic Casanova Tarot can’t be called entirely “new” either. The illustrations, based on the escapades of the famous Venetian, were created by artist Luca Raimondo, and the deck was authored by Mario Pignatello. The cards have been reissued three times—in 2008, 2010, and 2019. The earliest editions were distinguished by their card backs: they featured Venetian masks, which in later versions were replaced by a full-length figure of Casanova himself. The general appearance of the illustrations also changed slightly: instead of white borders and the card names in four languages, the borders became black, and only the numbers of the Arcana were left, which many beginners found inconvenient, since it became quite difficult to identify the number cards without closely examining the picture. The Major Arcana were a bit easier, as they were numbered with Roman numerals even in the first version. As for tactile impressions: the original Italian cards from Lo Scarabeo with white borders felt a bit sturdier to the touch (I have experience with two versions of the deck). I can’t say anything about Russian-language editions, as I prefer the Italian originals.
Key Features
The main feature of the Casanova Tarot is its focus on love, but I will discuss its symbolism in more detail later. Otherwise, the deck follows classic traditions: there are exactly 78 cards, four suits with standard names, and the court cards are Pages, Knights, Queens, and Kings. Everything is almost like in the Waite deck, except for the numbering of the Major Arcana: Strength is number eleven, and Justice is number eight.
Deck Symbolism
The Casanova Tarot is an erotic deck filled with piquant illustrations depicting various moments from the adventures of the Italian heartbreaker, as described in his personal memoirs. While the meanings of many Arcana remain close to the classical ones, they are presented through the lens of sensuality, psychology, and eroticism. Nevertheless, unlike the more popular Manara Tarot in Russia, the Casanova deck has a more “masculine,” “intellectual” energy rather than a feminine one. On an internet forum, I once saw a classification of the most famous love-themed decks according to their correspondence to one of the Tarot suits. There, the Manara Tarot was associated with Cups, the Tarot of Sexual Magic (Magic of Pleasure) with Wands, the Decameron Tarot with Pentacles, and Casanova with Swords, i.e., the intellectual aspect. This division accurately reflects the characteristics of these decks: in the Tarot of Sexual Magic, passion rules; in Manara, it’s the emotional-psychological state; Decameron reveals the purely masculine, often overly material aspect of relationships; and the Casanova Tarot shows rather the intellectual-physiological aspect. Additionally, it’s worth noting that in the deck dedicated to the life and adventures of Giacomo Casanova, most illustrations are set against the backdrop of incredibly picturesque corners of Venice, giving the cards a special charm. And, of course, an essential element—the amazing and varied Venetian masks, which can tell much about the mood and motivation of the Arcana’s characters.
Major Arcana
The Major Arcana of the Casanova Tarot, like the Minor Arcana, show us certain scenes described in the novel “The Story of My Life.” Of course, it’s hard to say now which of these stories are real memoirs from Giacomo Casanova’s turbulent past and which are artistic fiction, but perhaps that’s not so important. What matters is that to truly understand the cards of this unusual deck, you’ll have to reread the book, because then the Arcana will reveal themselves in a new light, new details will emerge, and the semantic field of each card will broaden. As usual, we will take a closer look at five Major Arcana.
So, let’s start with The Magician. On this card of the Casanova Tarot we see a scene depicting the aristocratic Madame d’Urfe and the main character. D’Urfe was a passionate admirer of all things magical: she was fascinated by mysticism, Kabbalah, and alchemy. In Casanova’s biography, there was an episode when he was mistaken for a great magician, and the venerable French nobility certainly believed these rumors. It’s no surprise that the mysticism-enthusiast aristocrat wanted to meet the famous sorcerer one-on-one, confident that he knew one very important secret of alchemy which he might share with her. Essentially, the Arcana shows the relationship of two people, one of whom is the leader (in this case Casanova himself), the other — the follower (the woman). One partner, of course, if you dig deeper, is deceived, takes on faith everything his counterpart says and does, and the other benefits from this. But in fact both feel quite comfortable because they evaluate the usefulness of this relationship from the standpoint of reason. If you take the Magician as the Italian lover himself, then the most characteristic qualities of his displayed in this situation come to mind immediately: initiative, resourcefulness, and the ability to make the right impression.
The Hanged Man in this erotic deck is very interesting and unusual. On the Twelfth Arcana of the Casanova Tarot, instead of the rather familiar static image, we see incredible dynamism. I won’t recount all the details of the story fragment depicted here, but briefly: by fate’s will, Giacomo Casanova found himself behind bars in the Piombi prison, from which no one had ever escaped. But the great adventurer devised a very clever plan, showed incredible patience and persistence, and eventually managed to escape, although the escape was complicated by many obstacles. On the Arcana we see one of the tensest moments of this escape: Casanova descending on a rope through the roof of the prison toward the Doge’s Palace. In essence, the card characterizes a dangerous situation that could end at any moment either in complete victory or a grand failure. Going back if caught by the guards is a bad idea, as the hero would not only be re-imprisoned but also have his term extended; the rope could break — and then farewell not only to thoughts of freedom but also to life itself. Sacrifice is partly present too: to descend the rope, Casanova had to sacrifice his expensive, luxurious clothes, which turned into rags after such a feat.
The Judgment Arcana shows us a scene with Giacomo Casanova and a young girl named Elena Morphy. It happened that a chance meeting of a dirty, ragged Morphy with the famous ladies’ man completely changed the girl’s life. Casanova cleaned her up, put her in order, and when he learned that she was a virgin, he decided to present her as a gift to the King of France. As is known, in those times when the seductive heartbreaker carried out his adventurous exploits, virginity was incredibly valued, so Elena Morphy was lucky to go from a ragged beggar to a true royal mistress. Here we see that both partners again gain certain benefits: Elena—a luxurious, wealthy life, Casanova—the favor of the king and along with it, the entire French nobility.
It is also worth mentioning several Major Arcana that can be called “landscape” cards, since they do not feature heroes — we see only buildings or landscapes. These Arcana in the Casanova Tarot include the Wheel of Fortune, the Tower, the Star, the Moon, and the Sun. Let’s look at the Tower in more detail, since in this erotic deck it lacks the traditional aspect of destruction; here it rather symbolizes being bound by some limitations, loneliness, imprisonment. The illustration of the Sixteenth Arcana shows us in all its gloomy glory the bell tower of the Santa Maria della Formosa Church against a sky covered with gray clouds. On one hand, the church represents certain restrictions imposed on a person, on the other, the gloomy, depressing weather serves as a symbol of inner turmoil and burdensome obligations that the person cannot cope with. The card indicates relationships that seem strong and reliable on the surface but in fact become a prison, a confinement for the querent. This can be a marriage that turns into heavy shackles, any situation where a person finds it difficult to break certain boundaries, a depressive state of mind, and much more.
Finally, let’s analyze one more Major Arcana of the Casanova Tarot and then move to the Minor Arcana. Let it be The World. The card perfectly shows us the completion of a great journey, a climax, the final stage, a summing up. We see the great adventurer sitting in a huge library inside the castle that became his last refuge for a full dozen years. Casanova is immersed in memories and painstaking work — he is writing his memoirs which later reflected not only fascinating travels but also effectively told the story of an entire era. In my opinion, a magnificent selection of the plot for the meaning of The World Arcana.
Minor Arcana
The Minor Arcana of the Casanova Tarot, like the Major ones, depict the same scenes from the memoirs of the famous seducer. Following tradition, let’s look at one numbered card from each suit. So, from the Wands we focus on the Five. It greatly resembles the classic fiery Five of the Waite deck. On the card, we see a duel between Casanova and the Cavalier de Talvy. The quarrel between the men was about a mere trifle — a small joking impertinence the young rake allowed himself. It cannot be said that the duel shown between the heroes is serious — it’s rather an imitation, which perfectly reflects the classic card meaning.
The Three of Cups shows the classic love triangle that indeed (judging by the memoirs) existed in Casanova’s life. On the card, Giacomo is making love with two women at the same time — the Savorgnan sisters. All three get what they want at once here: the young beauties, each of whom took a liking to the charming young man, and Casanova himself, who never missed a chance to conquer as many women as possible simultaneously.
The Four of Swords is excellently portrayed in the Casanova Tarot. Isolation, complete loneliness, temporary constraints forcing a person to be away from social and, of course, love life — all this we see in the illustration where Casanova languishes in a cramped cell within the walls of the Venetian prison (the same from which he later escaped on The Hanged Man Arcana).
The Eight of Pentacles in this erotic deck shows Casanova’s very first sexual experience—with Bettina, the doctor’s sister, with whom the young Giacomo spent his first years away from home while studying and living with her brother. The card characterizes first love, first intimate connection, relationships in which one partner plays the role of a wise “teacher” (Bettina was several years older than Casanova), the other — the “student.”
Court Cards
The Court Arcana in the Casanova Tarot are represented both as specific characters from “The Story of My Life” and as collective images. All of them correspond fairly well to classic archetypes but naturally have key features that can be understood if you know the story connected with the particular hero or heroine. However, it is quite possible to understand the Court characters even without recalling the book’s stories: their poses, clothing, surroundings, and colors of the illustrations give many interesting clues, so we will not dwell on them in detail; otherwise, my article risks approaching the length of the Italian lover’s memoirs themselves.
Features of Card Interpretation
As I have already mentioned, a deep study of the Casanova Tarot requires some knowledge of the original source — otherwise many Arcana will seem unclear. Of course, you can use intuitive reading or emphasize classical meanings, but it seems to me that in that case the whole meaning of working with this deck is simply lost. It is better to spend time rereading the stories, at least briefly. Reversed cards are not used in the Casanova Tarot.
Questions the Deck Is Suitable For
The Casanova Tarot is considered a narrowly specialized deck aimed exclusively at exploring love relationships. However, in my opinion, it is also quite easy to analyze general relationships with it: business, friendship, and others.
Who the Cards Are Suitable For
The Casanova Tarot can be confidently recommended to those looking for an interesting, understandable, and multifaceted deck for exploring questions of love, marriage, sex, as well as to collectors.
