Tarot Cards Repository

A curated collection of tarot card decks with high-quality images and comprehensive documentation.

Overview

This repository contains various tarot card decks sourced from public domain and Creative Commons licensed materials. Each deck is organized in its own directory with proper attribution and source information.

Available Decks

Rider-Waite Tarot Deck

• Location: tarot/rider-waite/
• Source: Wikimedia Commons
• License: Public Domain
• Description: The classic Rider-Waite-Smith tarot deck, one of the most influential and widely used tarot decks in the world.
• Formats: Full resolution (720px) and optimized versions
• Complete deck: 78 cards (22 Major Arcana + 56 Minor Arcana)

Soimoi Tarot Deck

• Location: tarot/soimoi/
• Description: Alternative tarot deck collection
• Format: JPG images in full resolution

Sola Busca Tarot Deck

• Location: tarot/sola-busca/
• Source: Wikimedia Commons
• License: Public Domain
• Description: The earliest known fully illustrated 78-card tarot (Italy, c. 1491) and a direct influence on the Rider-Waite-Smith deck.
• Format: 78 JPG cards (00.jpg–77.jpg; trumps 00–21, pips/courts 22–77)

Tarot de Marseille

• Location: tarot/marseille/
• Source: Wikimedia Commons
• License: Public Domain
• Description: The classic French Tarot de Marseille pattern. Uses the historical trump numbering (VIII Justice, XI Force) — the reverse of Rider-Waite.
• Format: 78 PNG cards (22 trumps + 56 minor arcana)

Repository Structure

TarotCards/
├── README.md
├── LICENSE
├── SOURCES.md
├── requirements.txt
├── tarot/
│   ├── rider-waite/
│   │   ├── 720px/        # Full resolution cards
│   │   ├── full/         # Original downloads
│   │   ├── gif/          # Generated GIF animations
│   │   └── metadata.json
│   ├── soimoi/
│   │   └── full/         # Full resolution cards
│   ├── sola-busca/       # Sola Busca deck (Wikimedia Commons, PD)
│   │   ├── full/
│   │   └── metadata.json
│   └── marseille/        # Tarot de Marseille (Wikimedia Commons, PD)
│       ├── full/
│       └── metadata.json
├── decks_config.json      # Configuration file for all decks
└── scripts/
    ├── download_tarot_cards.py
    ├── download_commons_deck.py
    ├── resize_cards.py
    ├── create_tarot_gif.py
    ├── convert_to_jpg.py
    └── deck_manager.py    # Deck management utility

Installation

Prerequisites

Install required Python packages:

pip install -r requirements.txt

Required packages:

• Pillow - Image processing and manipulation
• requests - HTTP library for downloading files
• beautifulsoup4 - Web scraping (optional, for download scripts)

Scripts Documentation

1. download_tarot_cards.py

Purpose: Downloads tarot card images from Wikimedia Commons or other sources.

Usage:

python scripts/download_tarot_cards.py

Features:

• Downloads complete Rider-Waite deck from Wikimedia Commons
• Handles Major and Minor Arcana cards
• Automatic retry on failed downloads
• Progress tracking

1b. download_commons_deck.py

Purpose: Downloads complete public-domain decks straight from the Wikimedia Commons API, verifying each file's licence and recording it in metadata.json.

Usage:

# List the decks this script knows how to fetch
python scripts/download_commons_deck.py --list

# Download a full deck (saved to tarot/<deck>/full/)
python scripts/download_commons_deck.py --deck sola-busca
python scripts/download_commons_deck.py --deck marseille

Features:

• Pulls original-resolution images and per-file licence via the Commons API
• Skips any file whose licence is not free (never assumes public domain)
• Writes tarot/<deck>/metadata.json with source URL, licence and dimensions per card
• Faithful per-deck naming (e.g. Marseille keeps the historical VIII Justice / XI Force order)

2. resize_cards.py

Purpose: Universal script for resizing tarot card images to different resolutions.

Usage:

# Resize Rider-Waite cards to 720px width
python scripts/resize_cards.py --source tarot/rider-waite/full --output tarot/rider-waite/720px --width 720

# Create thumbnails for Soimoi deck (200px height)
python scripts/resize_cards.py -s tarot/soimoi/full -o tarot/soimoi/thumbs --height 200 -q 85

# Resize without preserving aspect ratio
python scripts/resize_cards.py -s tarot/new_deck/full -o tarot/new_deck/400x600 -w 400 -h 600 --no-preserve-aspect

Arguments:

• -s, --source: Source directory with cards (required)
• -o, --output: Output directory for resized cards (required)
• -w, --width: Target width in pixels
• -H, --height: Target height in pixels
• -q, --quality: JPEG quality (1-100, default: 95)
• --no-preserve-aspect: Don't preserve aspect ratio

Features:

• Batch resize all cards in a directory
• Maintains original aspect ratio by default
• Creates optimized versions for web/mobile use
• Supports multiple output formats
• Configurable for any tarot deck

3. create_tarot_gif.py

Purpose: Universal script for creating animated GIF files from tarot cards.

Usage:

# Create single card animation
python scripts/create_tarot_gif.py --source tarot/rider-waite/720px --output tarot/rider-waite/gif --type single

# Create three cards layout for Soimoi deck
python scripts/create_tarot_gif.py -s tarot/soimoi/720px -o tarot/soimoi/gif -t three --pool 20

# Create Celtic Cross spread with custom settings
python scripts/create_tarot_gif.py -s tarot/new_deck/images -o tarot/new_deck/gif -t celtic --frames 15 --duration 600

# Create Telegram-optimized GIF
python scripts/create_tarot_gif.py -s tarot/rider-waite/720px -o tarot/rider-waite/gif -t telegram

# Create random cards GIF
python scripts/create_tarot_gif.py -s tarot/soimoi/full -o tarot/soimoi/gif -t random --cards 30 --name my_random

Arguments:

• -s, --source: Source directory with cards (required)
• -o, --output: Output directory for GIF (required)
• -t, --type: Type of GIF to create (required)
  • single: Single changing card
  • three: Three cards side by side
  • celtic: Celtic Cross spread (10 cards)
  • telegram: Optimized for Telegram
  • random: Random sequence of cards
  • all: All cards in sequence
  • filtered: Filtered cards (e.g., major arcana only)
• --name: Custom output filename (without extension)
• --frames: Number of frames in animation
• --duration: Duration of each frame in ms (default: 500)
• --pool: Size of card pool for random selection
• --cards: Number of cards for random type
• --width: Card width in pixels
• --height: Card height in pixels
• --loop: Number of loops (0 = infinite)
• --filter: Filter for cards (for filtered type)

Features:

• Single Card Animation: Creates GIF with one changing card

  • Default: 12 frames, 500ms per frame, 232x360px

• Three Cards Layout: Shows 3 random cards side by side

  • Default: 640x360px (doubled resolution)
  • Random selection from card pool

• Celtic Cross Spread: Traditional 10-card tarot spread

  • Frame size: 500x600px
  • Card size: 72x120px
  • Proper card positioning with overlay effects

• Telegram Optimization: Creates small, fast GIFs

  • Optimized file size (<1MB)
  • Fast animation (100ms per frame)
  • Reduced palette for better compression

4. convert_to_jpg.py

Purpose: Universal script for converting all images to JPG format.

Usage:

# Convert images in Soimoi deck to JPG
python scripts/convert_to_jpg.py --dir tarot/soimoi/full

# Convert with custom quality
python scripts/convert_to_jpg.py -d tarot/new_deck/images --quality 90

# Convert but keep original files
python scripts/convert_to_jpg.py -d tarot/backup --keep-originals

Arguments:

• -d, --dir, --directory: Directory with images (default: tarot/soimoi/full)
• -q, --quality: JPEG quality (1-100, default: 95)
• --keep-originals: Don't delete original files after conversion

Features:

• Converts PNG, GIF, BMP, TIFF, WEBP to JPG
• Handles transparency with white background
• Maintains high quality (95% JPEG quality by default)
• Optionally deletes source files after conversion
• Renames .jpeg extensions to .jpg for consistency
• Works with any directory

5. deck_manager.py

Purpose: Centralized management utility for tarot decks and their configurations.

Usage:

# List all configured decks
python scripts/deck_manager.py --list

# Add a new deck
python scripts/deck_manager.py --add marseille --name "Tarot de Marseille" --source tarot/marseille

# Get information about a deck
python scripts/deck_manager.py --info rider-waite

# Generate processing scripts for a deck
python scripts/deck_manager.py --deck soimoi --scripts resize
python scripts/deck_manager.py --deck soimoi --scripts gif
python scripts/deck_manager.py --deck soimoi --scripts convert

# Remove a deck from configuration
python scripts/deck_manager.py --remove old_deck

Features:

• Centralized deck configuration management
• Automatic directory structure creation
• Script generation for batch processing
• Easy deck addition and removal
• Configuration stored in decks_config.json

Configuration File

The decks_config.json file stores configuration for all tarot decks:

{
  "decks": {
    "rider-waite": {
      "name": "Rider-Waite",
      "source_dir": "tarot/rider-waite",
      "full_size_dir": "tarot/rider-waite/full",
      "resized_dirs": {
        "720px": "tarot/rider-waite/720px",
        "360px": "tarot/rider-waite/360px",
        "thumbs": "tarot/rider-waite/thumbs"
      },
      "gif_dir": "tarot/rider-waite/gif",
      "card_count": 78
    }
  },
  "default_settings": {
    "gif": {...},
    "resize": {...}
  }
}

Workflow Examples

Adding a New Tarot Deck

1. Place card images in a directory:

   mkdir -p tarot/new_deck/full
   # Copy your card images to tarot/new_deck/full/

2. Register the deck:

   python scripts/deck_manager.py --add new_deck --name "My New Deck" --source tarot/new_deck

3. Convert images to JPG if needed:

   python scripts/convert_to_jpg.py --dir tarot/new_deck/full

4. Create resized versions:

   # 720px width version
   python scripts/resize_cards.py -s tarot/new_deck/full -o tarot/new_deck/720px -w 720
   
   # Thumbnails
   python scripts/resize_cards.py -s tarot/new_deck/full -o tarot/new_deck/thumbs --height 200

5. Generate GIF animations:

   # Single card GIF
   python scripts/create_tarot_gif.py -s tarot/new_deck/720px -o tarot/new_deck/gif -t single
   
   # Three cards GIF
   python scripts/create_tarot_gif.py -s tarot/new_deck/720px -o tarot/new_deck/gif -t three
   
   # Celtic Cross spread
   python scripts/create_tarot_gif.py -s tarot/new_deck/720px -o tarot/new_deck/gif -t celtic

Batch Processing with Deck Manager

# Get all commands for processing a deck
python scripts/deck_manager.py --deck new_deck --scripts resize
python scripts/deck_manager.py --deck new_deck --scripts gif

# The deck manager will output ready-to-use commands for batch processing

Contributing

1. Fork the repository
2. Create a feature branch
3. Add new decks with proper attribution
4. Update the README and SOURCES.md files
5. Submit a pull request

License

This project is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC 4.0) - see the LICENSE file for details.

This means:

• ✅ You can use, modify, and share this project for non-commercial purposes
• ✅ You must give appropriate credit
• ❌ You cannot use this project for commercial purposes
• ❌ You cannot sell or monetize the content

Sources and Attribution

All images are sourced from public domain or Creative Commons licensed materials. See SOURCES.md for detailed attribution information.

Disclaimer

This repository is for educational and research purposes. All images are used in accordance with their respective licenses and copyright terms.