About Tarot
A Brief History Of Tarot
The Story of Pyramids
Divination (from Latin divinare, ‘to foresee, to foretell, to predict, to prophesy’) is the art and science of gaining insight into a question or situation by way of reading signs, events, omens, or through alleged contact or interaction with a supernatural agency.
Divination is a systematic method which organizes what appears to be disjointed, random facets of existence such that they provide insight into a problem at hand.
Both oracles and seers in ancient Greece practiced divination. Oracles were the conduits for the gods on earth; their prophecies were understood to be the will of the gods verbatim. Seers were not in direct contact with the gods; instead, they were interpreters of signs provided by the gods.
Seers used many methods to explicate the will of the gods including extispicy, bird signs, etc. the craft as a whole was well regarded and trusted by the Greeks, and the Stoics accounted for the validity of divination in their physics.
The divination method of casting lots (Cleromancy) was used by the remaining eleven disciples of Jesus to select a replacement for Judas Iscariot. Therefore, divination was arguably an accepted practice in the early church.
Later on, different countries/regions used different methods for divination. Tarot Card Reading as a tool for divination became popular in Europe by the mid 1900s. From there it reached Japan and this western divination method of tarot card reading quickly adapted into a contemporary Japanese divination tool due to Japan’s robust visual culture. Although Japan retains a history of traditional and local methods of divination, contemporary methods of divination in Japan include both Western and Chinese astrology, geomancy or feng shui, tarot cards, I Ching (Book of Changes) divination, and physiognomy (methods of reading the body to identify traits).
From thereon, Tarot Card Reading got into prominence and is one of the most preferred tools for Divination today across the world.
Divination is different from fortune telling :
Divination has a more formal or ritualistic element and often contains a more social character, usually in a religious context, as seen in traditional African medicine. Fortune-telling, on the other hand, is a more everyday practice for personal purposes. Particular divination methods vary by culture and religion.
A Brief History Of Tarot
The Story of Pyramids
In the ancient period, in Egypt, when saints used to meditate in the pyramids, they got some visuals while meditating. So, the saints started drawing them on the walls of these pyramids. Later on, these symbols were compiled together and were given the shapes of Tarot Cards.
Spiritual people started giving different meanings to these symbols with their intuitive skills. This was undoubtedly the result of the subconscious mind of the meditators. This is how the Tarot cards came into existence between the 1400s and 1500s in Egypt. However, they were used as playing cards then, and later It got spread into the whole of Europe. The emergence of Tarot Card decks for use in divination via Tarot Card Reading started only in the 1700s and 1800s. By the mid 1900s, Tarot Card Reading gained prominence as a tool for Divination in the entire Europe.
MYSTIC TAROT
Tarot Card Reading
Isn’t it surprising that such a small deck of cards can change the lives of so many people? What is this art or science that makes Tarot Card Reading as the most preferred tool for divination?
Let’s deep dive into the magic of Tarot Card Reading to find out the answers.
Let us first understand what these Tarot Cards are and then we will go to how and why these Tarot Cards work.
Note that we will be referring to Rider-Waite Tarot Deck throughout our discussion.
Rider-Waite Tarot Card deck is a total of seventy-eight illustrated cards set. These 78 cards are divided into two parts, Major Arcana and Minor Arcana. Major Arcana comprises 22 cards and are numbered from 0 to 21 in the card set. They represent major life events, significant milestones such as birth, marriage, career, spiritual growth, etc. including overarching themes and archetypes in the querent’s life.
The representation of the larger cycles of life, from birth to death, by the major arcana cards, is both physical as well as symbolic. Life consists of cycles within cycles. An example of this could be a period within which a certain number of people get together to learn a specific life lesson. Once this lesson is learned, some or all members are ready to move on to their next phase/cycle of life, which may be with some, all or none of those in the group/community/setting that was once ideal for them.
MYSTIC TAROT
Rider-Waite Tarot Deck
The Rider-Waite Tarot Deck came into existence when, based on the instructions of academic and mystic Dr. Arthur Edward Waite and illustrated by Pamela Colman Smith, the cards were originally published by the Rider Company in 1909. Rider-Waite Tarot Deck is the most popular deck in Tarot Divination and is used by more than 95% of Tarot readers. It is also known as the Waite–Smith, Rider–Waite–Smith or Rider Tarot
