The Tarot
The Tarot is probably one of the most popularly used tools of divination in the world today. While not as simple as some other methods, like pendulums or tea leaves, the Tarot has drawn people into its magic for centuries. Although methods of reading the Tarot have changed over the years, and many readers adopt their own unique style to the traditional meanings of a layout, in general, the cards themselves haven’t changed much.
In Occult circles, the word "Tarot" itself translates "Royal Road."
French & Italian Tarot- The ancestors of what we today know as Tarot cards can be traced back to around the late fourteenth century. Artists in Europe created the first playing cards, which were used for games, and featured four different suits. These suits were similar to what we still use today – staves or wands, discs or coins, cups, and swords. After a decade or two of using these, in the mid-1400s, Italian artists began painting additional cards, heavily illustrated, to add into the existing suits. These trump, or triumph, cards were often painted for wealthy families. Members of the nobility would commission artists to create for them their own set of cards, featuring family members and friends as the triumph cards. A number of sets, some of which still exist today, were created for the Visconti family of Milan, which counted several dukes and barons among its numbers. Because not everyone could afford to hire a painter to create a set of cards for them, for a few centuries, customized cards were something only a privileged few could own. It wasn’t until the printing press came along that playing card decks could be mass-produced for the average game-player.
Tarot as Divination- In both France and Italy, the original purpose of Tarot was as a parlor game, not as a divinatory tool. It appears that divination with playing cards started to become popular in the late sixteenth and early seventeenth century, although at that time, it was far simpler than the way we use Tarot today. By the eighteenth century, however, people were beginning to assign specific meanings to each card, and even offer suggestions as to how they could be laid out for divinatory purposes.
Tarot and the Kabbalah- In 1781, a French Freemason (and former Protestant minister) named Antoine Court De Gebelin published a complex analysis of the Tarot, in which he revealed that the symbolism in the Tarot was in fact derived from the esoteric secrets of Egyptian priests. De Gebelin went on to explain that this ancient occult knowledge had been carried to Rome and revealed to the Catholic Church and the popes, who desperately wanted to keep this arcane knowledge secret. In his essay, the chapter on Tarot meanings explains the detailed symbolism of Tarot artwork and connects it to the legends of Isis, Osiris and other Egyptian gods. The biggest problem with de Gebelin’s work is that there was really no historical evidence to support it. However, that didn’t stop wealthy Europeans from jumping onto the esoteric knowledge bandwagon, and by the early nineteenth century, playing card decks like the Marseille Tarot were being produced with artwork specifically based on DeGebelin’s analysis.
In 1791, Jean-Baptiste Alliette, a French occultist, released the first Tarot deck designed specifically for divinatory purposes, rather than as a parlor game or entertainment. A few years earlier, he had responded to de Gebelin’s work with a treatise of his own, a book explaining how one could use the Tarot for divination. As occult interest in the Tarot expanded, it became more associated with the Kabbalah and the secrets of hermetic mysticism. By the end of the Victorian era, occultism and spiritualism had become popular pastimes for bored upper class families. It wasn’t uncommon to attend a house party and find a séance taking place, or someone reading palms or tea leaves in the corner.
The Origins of Rider-Waite-Smith
British occultist Arthur Waite was a member of the Order of the Golden Dawn – and apparently a longtime nemesis of Aleister Crowley, who was also involved in the group and its various offshoots. Waite got together with artist Pamela Colman Smith, also a Golden Dawn member, and created the Rider-Waite Tarot deck, which was first published in 1909. At Waite's suggestion, Smith used the Sola Busca artwork for inspiration, and there are many similarities in the symbolism between Sola Busca and Smith's final result. Smith was the first artist to use characters as representative images in the lower cards. Instead of showing merely a cluster of cups, coins, wands or swords, Smith incorporated human figures into the artwork, and the result is the iconic deck that every reader knows today. The imagery is heavy on Kabbalistic symbolism, and because of this, is typically used as the default deck in nearly all instructional books on Tarot. Today, many people refer to this deck as the Waite-Smith deck, in acknowledgement of Smith’s enduring artwork. Now, over a hundred years since the release of the Rider- Waite deck, Tarot cards are available in a practically endless selection of designs. In general, many of these follow the format and style of Rider-Waite, although each adapts the cards to suit their own motif. No longer just the domain of the wealthy and upper class, Tarot is available for anyone who wishes to take the time to learn it.
Tarot Deck Structure-
Number of Cards There are traditionally 78 Cards in a Tarot Deck. Some newer Tarot decks have additional cards added, and some have removed cards, but generally, it’s 78 cards.
Structure The Tarot is broken down into three different parts:
Arcana in Latin means "secrets." Major Arcana means "Big Secrets" Minor Arcana means "Little Secrets".
· The Major Arcana – Spiritual lessons and collective consciousness archetypes.
· The Minor Arcana – Everyday divinity and lessons.
· Court Cards – The people and the personalities of the Tarot.
The Tarot has a specific numbered structure. There’s a progression in the Major Arcana, Minor Arcana, and the Court Cards. Along with the numbered structure, there is also a progressive story to each of the elements and structures of the Tarot.
In the Major Arcana, The Fool’s Journey is one example. The Fool is either seen as the beginning of the Major Arcana or even outside of it all together because it’s numbered 0. On the Fool’s Journey, the Fool meets each member of the Major Arcana and learns lessons that reflect the journey of life. There’s more than one school of thought when it comes to grouping the Major Arcana, and each one of them has something to offer.
Structure-
Major Arcana (0-22)(Named Cards)
Minor Arcana- Ace-10’s 4 Suits-(Wands/Cups/Swords/Pentacles) 10 cards of each suit(Ace-10) = 40
Court Cards- 4 cards of each suit -16 Court Cards-4 Pages, 4Knights, 4Queens, and 4 Kings.
Court Cards are made up of: (In order)-Pages, Knights, Queens, and Kings.
So, all together, there are: (22+40+16=78 cards total)
Each Card brings a unique energy to a spread. Read together, they can have different meanings when reading depending on where they fall in a layout, or the position of the spread itself.
The Tarot-Specifically the Major Arcana, are Archetypes that reside in all of us at any given time. The goal is to embody all these archetypes, and integrate them, to become whole, or attain enlightenment. In the Occult the Major Arcana are called “keys.” These keys unlock the hidden knowledge to travel up the tree of life and return to source. Occultists use the Major Arcana as a meditation focus, and over time integrate these aspects of themselves into the psyche. Most people think that Tarot is just another form of divination, and use them on a shallow level, but this is not what they were intended to be used for.
The Tarot can be a reflection that sheds light into the recesses of the mind to see where one needs to focus to improve their overall well being, and where the “shadow work” needs to happen.