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Tarot is one of the most widely consulted oracles in the world today. The
rich imagery contained in the Tarot cards can be seen on one level as representations
of the entire gamut of human experience and on another deeper level as
symbols of self transformation. They have been used as a tool for Divination,
Meditation, Psychological and Spiritual growth, or simply as a card game
for entertainment. Where you are now is where your thoughts and beliefs
have taken you. The Tarot is like a pictorial window into your subconscious.
By laying bare the realities of your thoughts and beliefs the Tarot is
able to predict trends in your life and likely outcomes if you maintain
your present course for good or bad.
What is the origin and meaning of the word Tarot? The earliest Tarot decks that survive today are Visconti-Sforza Decks. Since these fifteenth Century decks there have been hundreds of Deck Designs, from such artists as Salvador Dali and Furgas Hall, who designed the Deck Jane Seymour read from in the James Bond film Live and Let Die. The most famous early deck, the Visconti-Sforza, contain figures and faces of what are thought to be close family members. The earliest playing cards came from ninth century China, about the same time as the first books were printed. The use of the Tarot for the purpose of fortune telling (Tarot Readings) may have been adopted by the Gypsies who first appeared in Europe in large numbers about a century after the first documented appearance of Tarot Cards.
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What are Tarot
cards and how do they work? Tarot Cards consist
of 22 pictured cards called the Major Arcana or Trumps and 56 suit cards
called the Minor Arcana. Each suit consists of 10 numbered cards and 4
court cards. In modern Tarot decks the numbered Suit cards often contain
pictures depicting the meaning or symbolism of the card. The four suits
are Wands (Batons, Staves), Cups, Swords and Pentacles (Coins). The Tarot
provides advice and guidance as to how you may best achieve your desired
aims or how to avoid unpleasant consequences of maintaining a destructive
course of action. Remember the Tarot does not judge you it merely depicts
honestly your current state of spiritual being. In Divinations the cards
are laid out in a predetermined pattern or spread usually in response to
a specific question by the querent. The cards are then read and interpreted
by the Tarot Reader both individually and in relation to one another. Why
the cards should fall in a particular manner that appears to relate to
the question is open to argument. Possibly the Swiss Psychologist Carl
Jung's theory of Synchronicity (meaningful coincidence) may provide some
explanation. Perhaps the Psychic abilities of the reader to penetrate the
rich layers of psychological meaning contained in the cards enables them
to intuitively free associate an understanding of the images which is relevant
to the question of the querent. However the Tarot works, for centuries
people have been profoundly affected by the Tarot's capacity to transform,
inspire and enlighten the reader and give meaningful insight to whomever
has studied their astounding beauty.
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| Where did Tarot cards come from? In 1377 in Basle, Switzerland, a Dominican Friar, John described playing cards. There were four suits , each suit consisted of thirteen cards (ten plus three court cards) These would have been single headed cards, double headed cards as a pattern came about in 1850. The suit of cards are still with us today and little has changed. European decks sometimes keep their original suit names of Cups, Swords, Batons and coins which later became Hearts, Spades, Clubs and Diamonds. The Tarot has kept to the original European names, though more recently replacing Batons with wands, and Coins with Pentacles. There are some variations, such as German standard of Leaves , Acorns, Hearts and Bells. From the Fifteenth to the Eighteenth Century the principle method of printing was with engraved woodcuts. However, the very wealthy could afford to employ an artist to hand paint a set, even featuring there own likeness on, for instance, the King of Cups. By the late Sixteenth Century, cards were being produced by Wood Block Printing in significant numbers. With the size of the Deck varying from fifty to ninety-seven cards from town to town. The output from Marseilles, France was greater than that of other towns, making the design from there the most widely known. The Marseilles Tarot became the model layout and description for most Tarot Cards. Tarot Cards enjoyed a resurgence of interest at the turn of the Century alongside a general interest in the Occult. One of the most important Occult Orders at this time was the Order of the Golden Dawn among whose most important members were Aleister Crowley and Arthur Edward Waite who both commissioned the design of New Decks of Tarot Cards which are amongst the most widely used Tarot Decks today. |
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