Tarot: Part I

Introduction

The Tarot intrigues students of various spiritual traditions. Its origins have been veiled in rumor and speculation to the extent that it becomes difficult to discern fact from false advertisement when one searches for the source of this tool. This article will attempt to clarify misinformation as well as give the reader a comprehensive understanding of the Tarot and its many uses. The first part of this article will explain the origins and evolution of Tarot; the second part will provide an in depth look into meanings and techniques for using the Tarot for divination and personal development.

History

Attempting to trace the origins of the Tarot has often been a cumbersome task. Many occultists are familiar with the stories of the Tarot originating in Egypt and being associated with antiquity. One reason for this assumption is the belief that the Tarot was a common tool of the gypsies who were falsely believed to be of Egyptian descent (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tarot). Others supposed that because Egyptians were among the first to produce paper that it was likely that this paper was eventually fashioned into early Tarot cards (Place). Further research by objective scholars however has proven that this would not have been historically accurate. Papyrus, they reason, was not a suitable media for the making of cards, as it takes the form of a larger scroll and would be impractical for use in a card game or a divination tool. It is further pointed out that games of chance and primitive forms of gambling were often the product of this ancient technology, as well as the development of early forms of currency (Place). The popular tie between Ancient Egypt and the Tarot is currently being attributed to Occultists in the 1700s that for a number of reasons made several assumptions linking the Tarot to this culture. This will be explored in more detail later.

Renaissance History

It is currently accepted that the Tarot originated in Northern Italy in and around the 1400s (http://www.learntarot.com/less1.htm). It is also currently believed that the deck of cards was initially used for a game called Tarocchi, an earlier form of the modern game of Bridge (Wikipedia). The early decks consisted of five suits, the fifth being what is now referred to as the Major Arcana. For those who follow Pagan or other occult teachings, this structure contains significance in that there are five elements and the fifth, Akasha or the Mother element, is the culmination of the other four and represents the spiritual plane and a transcendence of mundane into magickal. In early decks this fifth suit was unnumbered and its quantity varied among different decks (Place). Long before the modern decks proliferated the Tarot went through many of its own transformations as it developed into the system of allegorical symbols used today.

Visconti-Sfroza Deck     

In the fifteenth century the Duke of Milan, Filippo Maria Visconti and his successor Francesco Sforza, commissioned the creation of this deck of cards which represented the pop culture phenomenon of the time, the Trionfi. This was a parade where costumed characters represented virtues triumphing over baseness (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visconti-Sforza_tarot_deck). The characters featured on these cards represented classical archetypes of ancient deities, heroes, and myths (Place). A literary reference names these decks “Tarrochi” in 1533 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tarot). There are currently remnants of this project which developed into 15 separate decks, believed to be the one of the oldest and most complete sets (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tarot). Among these decks the most prominent symbols represent the time in which they were commissioned. Their Renaissance Italy origins are reflected in the symbols relating to Christian, Neo-Platonic, and Classical Mythic themes presented. The Trumps outline a progression of values that reflects the priorities of Renaissance culture (Place). In particular the struggle of the individual to find a sense of divine structure, beauty, and justice are present as well as the entanglement of humankind between base desire and divine purpose. Although the early decks interpret these themes with allegory that borrows from the Classics to the Bible, it is a pictorial representation of the soul in a mundane world searching for higher meaning and overcoming temptation to indulge in immediate gratification of the senses. Just as the Grimm’s fairy tales borrowed from cultural archetypes to portray a symbolic code of conduct to encourage children to behave as expected, so does it seem, the Tarot became a tool to assist adults in remembering the priorities of a culture in which the sacred and profane interpretations of love, beauty, and justice are sometimes difficult to distinguish.

A major theme in the structure of this deck is the depiction of the 7 Virtues of spiritual excellence. The virtues were originally found in classic Greek literature including the works of Plato (Place). The Renaissance saw a rebirth of Classical thought and philosophy and these virtues re-emerged from the original four in platonic philosophy; Temperance, Strength, Justice, and the addition of three from Christian doctrine, Prudence, Faith and Hope (Place). Four are found in most traditional Tarot decks on cards such as the World and Wheel of fortune whether in writing or symbolically with images borrowed from popular tales and myths (Place). All 7 virtues as well as male and female court cards were included in a deck designed by Boneficio Bembo in the 1500s in Milan, which is the most complete deck to have survived of all the recovered collections (Place). This deck also contains many recognizable symbols used in later decks including the Chariot and Lovers (Place). The Visconti-Sforza decks incorporate popular Grail imagery which later would catch the attention of modern alchemists and Cabalists (Place). The numbering of decks occurred for the first time in the 1400s in the Sola-Busca deck (Place). This deck also included fully illustrated pip cards although at face value the images appear to be of popular heroes and religious allegory and the cards do not appear to relate to each other (Place) .

There are many fascinating articles and books which will provide more detail on the many Renaissance decks and their similarities and differences. It would be an injustice for the reader to think that only the aforementioned decks existed or that other works were not significant as well.

The Tarot goes to France

The Tarot of Marseilles was created in the city in France, which bears its name, but the Tarot of Marseillies was not created until 1748, well after Tarot was already in existence in other parts of the world (http://www.tarothermit.com/marseilles.htm).

Technology and industry are the reason this deck became so popular and widespread because from the 1500’s on Marseilles was a center of manufacturing Tarot cards. The Marseilles deck was published by Grimaud Card Manufacturing and contained 78 cards and five suits. Its structure holds the foundation that many other publishers would come to adopt (Place). With the invention of the printing press in the 1400’s people were able to mass produce art and literature for the first time. This technology was put to use creating works that reflected the culture of the age, which presented a resurgence of Pagan and Mystic traditions mixed with the newer Christian traditions. The very early pop culture icons illustrated popular stories of the time, no different than the way our modern technology is put to use to spread news and images of our modern icons and heroes. It is suspected that around this time the first books were published that officially put the Tarot in the context of fortune telling cards, and not simply a card game (Place). It is suspected that the idea crossed cultures from French soldiers occupying Milan in the late 1400’s and observing the popularity of Tarot and the symbols prominent in the Italian decks were transferred into the Marseilles deck with a few notable changes.(http://www.tarothermit.com/marseilles.htm).

The Marseilles deck gave the Italian Tarot a makeover in several ways. It contained the Minor Arcana that would later become widespread among Tarot decks, the staff (wand), sword, coin (pentacles in the Rider Waite deck) and cups. (Place). Tarot’s popularity was waning in Italy by the early 1700s as the Renaissance and its emphasis on the Classics gave way to a new and more solidly Catholic era in most of Europe (http://www.tarothermit.com/marseilles.htm). The Marseilles deck proved more tolerable to the changing culture as the names of several cards were altered and with it their meanings expanded as well (http://www.tarothermit.com/marseilles.htm). In spite of the changes, symbolic alchemical and neo-platonic themes are present and the argument that this was intentional is can be made with this deck (Place). Marseilles was mass produced as a standard deck, all decks containing the same format and number of trumps, and each deck was for the first time numbered in a way consistent with other decks. Unlike previously when placement and numbering varied from one deck to another and some decks took poetic license with the names of the trumps and other key elements (Place). Within the Major Arcana some changes are made as well that broke with but were later adopted by Italian decks. The card now called the Lovers sees the introduction of a third party evolving the meaning of the card to represent the triangular nature of love on a secular and divine level. The Moon is set over two towers repeated later in multiple cards within the deck and the ambiguous lobster/crawfish and dog/wolf symbols are added. The card representing Temperance shows a figure reminiscent of an angel, and the World card contains representations of four sacred animals in the Bible representing the four evangelists encircling a female figure. As well as pictorial changes, liberty was taken to transform the names of several cards thereby creating the Hermit, Lovers, and the House of God (Devil card), and Judgment (http://www.tarothermit.com/marseilles.htm). Placement also differs in that the Angelic figure of the Temperance card now mediates in the procession of dismal procession that had been “Traitor, Death, Devil, and Fire” all considered dark cards in the Italian decks. Now the Temperance card breaks the tension between Devil and Death cards, and the seven virtue cards were given even dispersement throughout three cards apart (http://www.tarothermit.com/marseilles.htm).

Another contemporary to the Tarot of Marseilles was the Vievelle Tarot, also from France, which featured a Tower card (major arcane) depicting lightning striking a tree, and a World card in which a nude is surrounded by a wreath with a lion, bull eagle and angel. This is the first to feature a nude, and it is said that the four corners are decorated with symbols of the four evangelists as represented this way in the Bible (Place) .

Divine Secrets

Early accounts of cartomancy in the 1500s with a deck similar to modern playing cards can be documented (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tarot). Accounts of parlor games popular in Renaissance Italy in which people would choose from the equivalent of minor arcane cards and use the selected card to represent the personality of the querent, to sonnets depicting the cards as solely used for divination the cards easily became adapted into the realm of divination (Place). It is this creativity that would become a springboard for full fledged occultists to add flesh to the original backbone that was the early Tarot and create an entire system used worldwide in one of the most popular and meaningful forms of divination, self knowledge and spiritual development. The typical Renaissance Tarot Cards, or Carte de Trionfi (from which the word Trump derives) have not been documented as used for divination prior to the 18th century, although other forms of cartomancy were in existence at that time as well. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tarot).