Why do some tarot decks have 2 extra cards?
Have you ever opened up a fresh Tarot deck, eagerly shuffled the cards to do your first reading, and seen a blank card or card you’ve never seen pop up? I remember being confused the first time that happened to me. I had a customer from the crystal store I used to work for tell me that he owned a card printing company and that cards have to be printed in sheets, which means that there are usually a few left over cards for a lot of decks, which is how the jokers came to be in regular playing cards. Once I looked this up, it made so much sense! I like to view these two extra cards as the little thing that makes certain decks special when they have specific cards that go with them. When they’re blank, you can make your own cards to go with the deck. You could also use them as an altar card if you want to stick with just the traditional system.
Playing & Tarot Cards are printed in sheets with 8 or 10 cards in a row. Tarot is a 78 card system based on the numbered nodes and energetic pathways of the Kabbalah, so there are almost always 2 cards left over from printing that would be wasted otherwise. Some decks will include 2 blank cards to allow for some personal creativity. Some decks like The Ethereal Visions or White Numen create their own cards that go with the theme of the deck and contribute towards the overall soul of the deck. You can see some pictures below of old and modern card printing sheets. Image sources linked below.
