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| Tarot Cards |
Tarot is a pack of playing cards that is used for divination in the form of what practitioners call tarotology or cartomancy…there are non-occult tarot decks and games, but for our purposes, we will look at the tarot cards used for ‘occult’ reasons…the cards are traced by some writers of the occult to ancient Egypt, perhaps the Book of Thoth, but there is actually no documented evidence of such origins or of the usage of tarot for divination before the 18th century… that’s when a man called Etteilla, a.k.a. Jean-Baptiste Alliette was the first to issue a tarot deck specifically designed for occult purposes and introduce them to the masses…his tarot contained themes related to ancient Egypt even though as stated, there was no documented connection...the 78-card tarot deck used by those called esotericists has two distinct parts:
The Major Arcana (the greater
secrets), or trump cards, which consist of 22 cards without suits with names
such as The Magician, The High Priestess, The Empress, The Emperor, The Hanged
Man, Death, Temperance, The Devil, The Tower, The Star, The Moon, The Sun, The
Hierophant, The Lovers, The Chariot, Strength, The Hermit, Wheel of Fortune,
Justice, Judgement, The World, and The Fool.
Then there is what is known as The
Minor Arcana (or lesser secrets) consists of 56 cards, divided into four suits
of 14 cards each; ten numbered cards and four court cards. The court cards are
the King, Queen, Knight and Page/Jack, in each of the four tarot suits.
Can the future really be seen
through these Tarot cards?...maybe, maybe not...only fate can say for sure…in
actuality, tarot cards aren’t used to foretell the future as is commonly
believed… according to The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, "The
most powerful sources of information come from within; the Tarot aids in coming
in contact with one's Higher Self."
