Tarot card decks are best conceived of as having aspects of books, works of

art, and playing cards (see Fig. 1 below). Like books, decks are printed and
distributed by a publisher at a specific time in a specific place, in a certain
language, and have unique retail identifiers (e.g., ISBN and SKU). Like works of
art, cards are designed and rendered (sometimes by multiple people in different
roles spanning several stages of the development); cards can be constructed from
various materials in different shapes and sizes; they also typically have an artistic
theme, be it an historical period or aesthetic form (style), genre or concept
(subject), or ethnic/national association (cultural context). Lastly, like traditional
playing cards, decks have a set number of total cards, some of which are
designated by suits, within which are court cards (both suits and court cards are
given unique names). This conception aided the development of this application
profile by suggesting schemas to draw upon: for aspects pertaining to books,
many elements were derived from Dublin Core, whereas those pertaining to
artistic works were derived from CDWA Lite.

Fig. 1
 As previously mentioned, metadata will need to accommodate both the
deck itself and individual cards. The deck has the following characteristics:
➢ A creator (person), who possesses a name and role
➢ A title (the name of the deck)
➢ A publisher (corporate entity), along with the place (physical location) and
date (specification of time represented by a calendar system) in which the
deck was published
➢ An identifier (alphabetical and/or numeric designation)
➢ A language in which any text may appear
➢ A statement of rights (typically held by the publisher or creator)
➢ A descriptive note that explains features of the deck, often written by the
publisher for promotional purposes
➢ A theme, which (as previously explained) may consist of a style, subject,
or cultural context
➢ As objects, they have physical properties, in that the cards are constructed
from a certain material (physical medium), have dimensions (spatial
extensions), and a geometric shape
➢ Finally, each deck has important details: the total number of cards
(quantity), and the names to which have been given to suits and courts

The individual cards themselves have the following characteristics:

➢ They are a part of the deck (relation)

➢ Each card has a unique name
➢ Each card has a type within the Tarot structure:
▪ Trump (Major Arcana)
▪ Suit (Minor Arcana)
- Court
- Pip
➢ Trump cards are often designated by a number
➢ Suit cards are designated by their suit and rank (e.g., “five of wands”)
➢ Finally, the artwork on each card can be given a description, can depict
symbolism, and can have a divinatory meaning

The graphical overview can be seen below (Fig. 2).

Fig. 2