TAROT PART ONE
The history of the Tarot is wrapped in mysteries. Some people believe that the 78 cards originate from holy books in the ancient Egypt, others think that they originate from China and are brought to Europe by gipsies .
A common claim is that the tarot deck contains the secrets of the universe and the human being. But no evidence has been found for the true origine of the cards.
Tarot cards are almost certain the predessors of the playing cards, which we use nowadays. There exist examples of cards from the 15th Century, but we can conclude from documents that the cards already were very common in Europe centuries before.
In the late Middle Ages the Catholic church thought the card playing was a sin and didn't like the sometimes pagan symbols. Therefore the Church burned a lot of card decks. Despite this opposition, the tarot remained very popular, both for entertainment and fortunes telling. Especially the discovery of printing contributed to the popularity of the Tarot.
In the course of years a lot of people, who studied Tarot, made their own decks. Some of them changed symbols, names or images. Some examples are the Wirth-, Etteilla-, Thoth- and Rider decks. The Marseille deck is the most commonly used deck and is proven to originate from the Middle Ages.
A Tarot deck consists of two parts: the Minor Arcana and the Major Arcana.
The Minor Arcana:
The 56 cards of the Minor Arcana are divided in four suits. Every suit contains cards from ace to ten and four Courtcards. These are originally the Queen, the King, the Knight and the Shield Bearer. The four suits are: Swords, Disks, Cups and Wands.
The Courtcards represent influential persons in the life of the person who's asking a question, but can also reveal hidden personality-characteristics. The Cards with numbers describe the aspects of the four facets of life and suggest future paths to walk on.
The Major Arcana:
The Major Arcana consists of 22 card, numbered from 1 to 21. The Fools card usually has no number and in some decks number 0. The cards represent our journey through life, the many personal stages where we grow. When a cycle of personal stages is roud off, the cycle begins again. We start in stage 0, the Fool, who searches new experiences and challenges. The cycle ends with card 22: the World. The World represents accomplishment, completement, material- and spiritual success.
The
cards contain images with a lot of symbolism. The images, the use of color and
the name of the card symbolize many aspects of life. Some symbols can be traced
back to the ancient Egypt, other symbols are commonly used symbols in Astrology,
but like the history of the Tarot the history of the symbols and color use
remain unknown.
The cards can be used by anyone who wants to learn more about himself, his life and likes to get some advise. It takes a long study of the cards before the Tarot can be used and understood properly, but even for a novice the tarot can be helpful to get some advice. One thing that everyone can do is the calculation of your own soul card.
As Writen and Source From :
Tarot ontcijferd - Kathleen McCormack
Licht op de Crowley Tarot - Angeles Arrien