The tarot (/ˈtæroʊ/; first known as trionfi and later as tarocchi, tarock, and others) is a pack of playing cards, used from the mid-15th century in various parts of Europe to play games such as Italian tarocchini and French tarot. In the late 18th century, it began to be used for divination in the form of tarotology/cartomancy.
Like common playing cards, the tarot has four suits (which vary by region: French suits in Northern Europe, Latin suits in Southern Europe, and German suits in Central Europe). Each suit has 14 cards, ten cards numbering from one (or Ace) to ten and four face cards (King, Queen, Knight, and Jack/Knave).
Playing cards first entered Europe in the late 14th century, most likely from Mamluk Egypt, with suits of Batons or Polo sticks (commonly known as Wands by those practicing occult or divinatory tarot), Coins (commonly known as disks, or pentacles in occult or divinatory tarot), Swords, and Cups. These suits were very similar to modern tarot divination decks and are still used in traditional Italian, Spanish and Portuguese playing card decks.[6]
The first documented tarot packs were recorded between 1430 and 1450 in Milan, Ferrara and Bologna when additional trump cards with allegorical illustrations were added to the common four-suit pack. These new decks were called carte da trionfi, triumph cards, and the additional cards known simply as trionfi, which became “trumps” in English. These cards are documented in a written statement in the court records in Florence, in 1440. The oldest surviving tarot cards are from fifteen decks painted in the mid 15th century for the Visconti-Sforza family, the rulers of Milan.[7] During the 16th-century, a new game played with a standard deck but sharing the same name (triomphe) was quickly becoming popular. This coincided with the older game being renamed tarocchi.[1]
Varieties
A variety of tarot designs exist and a number of typical regional patterns have emerged. Historically, one of the most important designs is the one usually known as the Tarot de Marseille. This standard pattern was the one studied by Court de Gébelin, and cards based on this style illustrate his Le Monde primitif. Some current editions of cards go back to a deck of a particular Marseille design that was printed by Nicolas Conver in 1760. Other regional styles include the “Swiss” Tarot. This one substitutes Juno and Jupiter for the Papess, or High Priestess and the Pope, or Hierophant. In Florence an expanded deck called Minchiate was used. This deck of 97 cards includes astrological symbols including the four elements, as well as traditional tarot motifs.
Some decks exist primarily as artwork; and such art decks sometimes contain only the 22 trump cards.
Occult varieties
Etteilla was the first to issue a tarot deck specifically designed for occult purposes. In keeping with the misplaced belief that such cards were derived from the Book of Thoth, Etteilla’s tarot contained themes related to ancient Egypt.
The 78-card tarot deck used by esotericists has two distinct parts:
- The Major Arcana (greater secrets), or trump cards, consists of 22 cards without suits
- The Minor Arcana (lesser secrets) consists of 56 cards, divided into four suits of 14 cards each; ten numbered cards and four court cards.
The terms “major arcana” and “minor arcana” were first used by Jean-Baptiste Pitois (also known as Paul Christian) and are never used in relation to Tarot card games.
Tarot is often used with the study of the Hermetic Qabalah.[18] In these decks there are Kabbalistic illustrations, most inspired by the “Rider-Waite” deck. The first deck to include completely illustrated suit cards was the 15th century Sola-Busca deck.[19]
Older decks such as the Visconti-Sforza and Marseilles are less detailed than modern ones. A Marseilles type deck has repetitive motifs on the pip cards, similar to Italian or Spanish playing cards, as opposed to the full scenes found on “Rider-Waite” style decks. These more simply illustrated “Marseilles” style decks are also used esoterically, for divination, and for game play, though the French card game of tarot is now generally played using the Tarot Nouveau.
The Marseilles’ numbered minor arcana cards do not have scenes depicted on them; rather, they sport a geometric arrangement of the number of suit symbols (e.g., swords, rods/wands, cups, coins/pentacles) corresponding to the number of the card (accompanied by botanical and other non-scenic flourishes), while the court cards are often illustrated with flat, two-dimensional drawings.
In contrast to the Thoth deck’s colorfulness, the illustrations on Paul Foster Case‘s B.O.T.A. Tarot deck are black line drawings on white cards; this is an unlaminated deck intended to be colored by its owner.
Other esoteric decks include the hermetic Golden Dawn Tarot, which claims to be based on a deck by S.L. MacGregor Mathers.
The variety of decks in use is almost endless, and grows yearly. For instance, cat-lovers may have the Tarot of the Cat People. The Tarot of the Witches and the Aquarian Tarot retain the conventional cards with varying designs. The Tree of Life Tarot‘s cards are stark symbolic catalogs; and The Alchemical Tarot, created by Robert M. Place, combines traditional alchemical symbols with tarot images.
A popular occult deck is the Rider-Waite-Smith
The images on the “Rider-Waite” deck were drawn by artist Pamela Colman Smith following the instructions of Arthur Edward Waite and were originally published by the Rider Company in 1910. The subjects of the Major Arcana are based on those of the earliest decks, but have been modified to reflect Waite and Smith’s view of tarot. A difference from Marseilles style decks is that Smith drew scenes with esoteric meanings on the suit cards. It differs from the earlier tarot designs by featuring scenic pip cards and the ranking of Strength and Justice. In Rider-Waite-Smith deck, Strength is the 8th tarot card while Justice is the 11th tarot card within the Major Arcana, their positions are reversed in the Thoth deck.
Tarotology
Tarotology is the theoretical basis for the reading of Tarot cards, a subset of cartomancy, which is the practice of using cards to gain insight into the past, present or future by posing a question to the cards. The reasoning behind this practice ranges from believing the result is guided by a spiritual force, to belief that the cards are instruments used to tap either into a collective unconscious or into the subject’s own creative, brainstormingsubconscious.
Readings are also done by app or by telecommunication.
Cold Reading and Tarot
Part I: Skeptics, Mentalists and Tarot Readers
For purposes of this article let us assume that there is no paranormal or spiritual aspect to tarot readings. Let’s pretend, for the moment, that all tarot readings have a rational basis in easily explained normal human skills.
Skeptics and mentalists reduce tarot reading to just this level. Mentalists utilize skills to make money in public performances, while skeptics denounce any tarot or psychic readings that don’t acknowledge they are merely mental tricks. They claim “pseudo-psychics” exploit human weaknesses and take advantage of the desire to easily gain benefit from something. Pseudo-psychic readings are seen as “too-good-to-be-true” and as giving false hope just to make money. Skeptics claim that psychic and tarot readings can be explained by techniques gathered under the terms Cold and Hot Readings. We will ignore hot readings (that fraudulently use information obtained ahead of time) as our purpose is to examine readings where nothing prior is known about the client.
Eyes-Open, Eyes-Shut
Skeptics and mentalists separate psychics and readers into two categories:
- those who are deliberately conning people (“eyes-open”)
- those who believe they actually have some powers—when all they’ve really done is learned how to do cold reading without realizing it. (“eyes-closed” or “shut-eye”).
Psychic and tarot readers who are mentalists are eyes-open practitioners. They either honestly explain that they are performing mental tricks or they lie or avoid the issue as part of a deliberate con. Craig Browning challenges fellow mentalists to be willing to be embraced by the public as the ‘real thing’:
“The refusal of going with this route not only delivers to us an up-hill trek in attempting to establish a career, it likewise reveals a sense of ‘guilt’ within our being that negates our ability to be effective as psychic performers. . . . I know what you’re thinking (I am a mind reader, you know…): “That’s not ethical!” Who out there is really all that ethical? . . . Either you want to make money and build up a career or you don’t.”
Obviously there are ethical mentalists and there are mentalists who are hustlers and con artists. (William Lindsay Gresham’s noir classic Nightmare Alley—film and novel—both do a superb job of portraying a carny mentalist.)
According to skeptics this leaves category 2—shut-eyes—as the only avenue through which honest tarot readers (who are not mentalists) operate.
In Popular Culture
Here’s a old list of tv series and movies featuring tarot:
Two more recent examples:
Shut Eye (2016-)
Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell (2015)
A list of Stories Where Tarot Reading Plays a Role:
https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/5230.Stories_Where_Tarot_Reading_Plays_A_Role
-and here’s a tvtropes page for games and other pop culture that feature tarot:
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TarotMotifs
Other
Cards are collected for their art.
Cards are used by folks of a creative bent for inspiration in creating art or writing a novel.
Links
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tarot
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tarotology
Cold Reading and Tarot, Part 1
I recently purchased the Steampunk Tarot deck and have read the accompanying manual. The deck is based on the Rider-Waite-Smith but in the style of steampunk. I found the manual easy to read.
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