A Brief History of the Tarot and Me

 

A Brief History of the Tarot and Me

Posted on Apr 20, 2011 by Cybee

For Thousands of year’s people have looked to the heavens and made their own assumptions of what all those celestial bodies do to serve our needs here on earth. One of those assumptions was that the Earth was the centre of the whole Universe yet nowadays scientists have disproved that theory.

Tarot cards are a collection of 78 images (22 of the Major Arcana and 56 in the Minor Arcana) representing ancient and universal archetypes, as well as situations that might arise in the course of the lifetime of an individual. The collection is arranged in the form of a pack of cards and is used to gain insights into psychology and metaphysics, as well as foretelling the future. The true origins of the Tarot are controversial, having long been lost in antiquity. There are a number of theories, but most scholars agree that its present form originated in the Middle Ages.

But hang on a minute! “I am not a very religious person nor do I believe everything I am told, see, or read.” So, first of all, “didn’t God sort of, make earth the centre of his universe?” Also, if there is an inevitable answer to, “why we are here, and what’s life all about,” surely it must come from the universe itself? And so I believe that, “The Tarot, because of it’s Universal qualities and variable aspects ingrained into it through time, is more than likely to give us some if not all the answers, but only in time.”

For over 600 years now the Tarot has been redefined, remastered and even messed around with, even up to the present day. Many have thought of the Tarot as “Magikal,” mystical and even dangerous if used in the wrong way for predictive purposes. The Tarot cards incorporate many other types of divination, such as Astrology, Kabbalah, Karma etc. They have a symbolic nature inherent to themselves and this symbolism defines through our psyche our true inner thoughts of the subconscious. And so we use these pictures and symbols to connect to our own deeper thoughts and through that process, in turn, we connect to the universe, of which we are all apart.

Interpreting the cards is obviously a major part of reading and understanding them. For the beginner/novice it is paramount to understand and familiarise yourself with the interpretations before you can start to evaluate any reading that you do.

Anything you learn in life has its own basic principles and structure, so therefore learning and understanding these principles and structures give you the foundations to build on in the future.

As you progress and learn to understand the meanings, you will start to realise that what you have learned at the beginning, starts to change with practice and experience and you will start to formulate your own interpretations, as I have done.

This doesn’t mean re-inventing the wheel, but now you have started to blend your knowledge, experience and understanding into the Tarot system.

Interpretation of the cards is always changing as we change within our own society structure but the basic principles and structure stay the same.

Finally. Tarot is a method or system for divination. It is not necessarily or solely based on the cards. The cards are the tools we work with, and within the system. It’s the symbolism of the cards that make it all work. Let me explain with this story.

“I was sat in a crowded pub one night, having a drink with my friends and colleagues. We had just finished our shift working on a Tarot line and were discussing Tarot principles and some of the readings we had done that night. A young man who was sat at the table next to us had overheard our conversation and sceptically started to question us. He said that it was all baloney! One of my colleagues then started to argue the point, that if you don’t understand something, you are bound to be sceptical.

His friends now joined the debate and eventually there was no convincing them whatsoever until they had seen some kind of proof that it really does work. At this point I felt we were loosing the argument and had to do something to reassure my friends. I asked the young man to pass the ashtray they had been using over to me and I placed it in front of me on the table.

After several minutes of looking into the bowl of the ashtray, I told the young man that when he was about 20-21 years old he had an accident to his left leg, which caused him to be hospitalised for several months. He sat there for a few seconds then said I was just making it up. I left it at that and let him ponder. A short while later, I got up to go to the toilet and the young man followed me. He stopped me and asked, “How did you know that something had happened to my leg?” And then he began to explain. He had been in a car accident and his left leg had got caught behind the accelerator pedal. The Fire service had to cut him out of the car and he had lost two toes in the process from his left foot.”

Well! This is just an example and a true story of how the Tarot (or at least the powers of divination) can be used. It’s about using your intuition and sensing what is around you and the client. Feel the reading as you lay the cards down, one by one. As thoughts start to build in your mind, speak them out loud, no matter what they are saying. To the client they will certainly mean something.