Copyright Ceci Henningsson 1994. This article may be freely copied and distributed provided this copyright notice is included. ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Introduction ============ This is a brief introduction to the Tarot. It is meant for people who have never even seen a Tarot deck, and have no idea what to do with one if they had. Please note that much of this article are my opinions, not godessgiven facts. The History of the Tarot deck ============================= The early history of the Tarot deck is shrouded in mystery. We do know that Tarot decks became popular in Italy in the Renaissance, and that they were used to play card games rather than for divination. In the eighteenth century a French occultist popularised the use of Tarot cards for divination. There are many different versions of the history of the Tarot floating about. Some of them claim that they go back to ancient Egyptians times even. These stories may be considered myths, in the sense that they are meaningful stories, which are meaningful regardless of their content of objective truth. They also serve the purpose of distinguishing the dabbler from the person who is seriously interested, as dabblers tend to be taken in by the fanciful stories and uncritically pass them on. What is a Tarot deck? ==================== A Tarot deck is a deck of 78 cards. It is divided into the Major Arcana with 22 cards and a Minor Arcana with 56 cards. The Major Arcana has individual cards which differ greatly from each other. They are usually numbered 0 to 21. Their names are: 0 The Fool 11 Strength 1 The Magician 12 Hanged Man 2 High Priestess 13 Death 3 Empress 14 Temperance 4 Emperor 15 Devil 5 Pope 16 Tower 6 Lovers 17 Star 7 Chariot 18 Moon 8 Justice 19 Sun 9 Hermit 20 Last Judgement 10 Wheel of Fortune 21 World The Minor Arcana is divided into four suits: Wands, Cups, Swords and Coins. Each suit has four Court Cards, which are Page, Knight, King and Queen. The numbered cards are 2 to 10 and Ace. Some of the numbered cards have traditional names, such as 10 of Swords, which is known as Ruin. There is a phletora of different Tarot decks. Some follow the traditional system quite closely, others have elaborated on it, or changed it, sometimes beyond recognition. The decks are often named after their designers. Often an occultist and an artist design a deck together. Designing a deck takes a lot of skill and time. Still many occultists design their own decks which are never published. Designing your own Tarot deck is a way of recording many of your insights. Famous Tarot decks ================== The most common Tarot deck is the Rider-Waite deck. It follows the traditional system exactly. The Thoth deck or Crowley-Harris deck is designed by Aleister Crowley, probably the most wellknown or infamous occultist in his day. Crowley changed the Page into a Princess and renamed many of the traditionally named cards. The Motherpiece deck by Vicki Noble and Karen Vogel is a round deck with pictures of women only. The pictures aren't beautiful in the common sense of the word, but many women find that its symbolism rings true to them. What are Tarot decks used for? ============================== Tarot decks are used for a number of purposes. The most wellknown is divination. Other common uses are meditation and self-improvement. When a Tarot deck is used for divination, it is first shuffled, and then a certain number of cards are put on the table with the face up. The person who puts the cards on the table is often called the Reader, and the person who asks the question is often called the Querent. Some times Reader and Querent are the same person. How many cards you use and the pattern you lay them out in is called the spread. Spreads often have fanciful names such as the Celtic Cross or the Gareth Knight Spiral Spread. The place in a spread often denotes a time factor (past, present, future) or inner or outer factors. Of course the commonly given meaning of a card has much to do with its interpretation, but other factors are taken into account too. The place in the spread, the question asked and intuitive hunches for instance. Many Readers use reversals too. That means that if a card comes up upside down, its meaning is ill-dignified. Often a Tarot consultation develops into a conversation between the Reader and the Querent, and they arrive at a meaning together. When the Tarot deck is used for meditation, usually a single card is used for a pathworking. A pathworking is a meditation where you try to interact with a landscape, people and objects you see in your mind's eye. Often a set of instructions is recorded on a tape, and the occultist then sits down in a relaxed environment where she is unlikely to be disturbed and listens to the instructions. They are typically phrased like this: "You stand on a windy clifftop. There is a path here. Follow the path. You walk on a path on a windy clifftop. The clean air fills your lungs, and the gusts throw your hair back and forth. As you walk, you notice a figure coming towards you on the path." This way you can make contact with the people portrayed in the Tarot cards, or explore the symbols used on them. Ethics and the Tarot ==================== Some people have strong opinions against the use of Tarot cards. Some feel that the cards in themselves are evil, others think that only the use of them as a tool for divination is wrong. These opinions are often based in superstition, popular misunderstandings or repressive religions. Of course people who fear Tarot cards shouldn't be forced to use them, just as people who like them shouldn't be disallowed to have them. Other people object to the use of Tarot cards as a divination method, because they think that the future simply cannot be divined. They often call themselves scepticals, and like to put anyone who is interested in occultism to the test. They often define magic as something supernatural, and if they find a natural explanation for a phenomenon, they say that it wasn't magic. Many occultists don't use definitions of magic as something supernatural. The most popular definition is probably Dion Fortune's: "Magic is the act of changing consciousness in conformity with Will." The Will is the magical will, which may be explained as your purpose for being. There's usually no point in engaging in a discussion about the validity of Tarot workings with scepticals. If they want to put the Tarot to a test, they can aquire the necessary knowledge and skills and do it on their own. Many occultists surround their Tarot decks with much superstition. Some keep them in special boxes, and annoint the box with essential oils at certain times, other think that its vital that noone is allowed to see their deck, or that a deck has to be given to you as a present for it to be useful. However rational a person might seem, common courtesy demands that you at least ask before touching their Tarot deck.