The
origin of the tarot cards -- which are actually cards
with attractive pictures -- continues to remain vague
despite considerable research. According to conservative
estimates, they are at least 500 years old. Some scholars,
however, place them in the 1st century after christ. Others
aver that they originated from the religious rituals and
symbols of the ancient egyptians. The earliest documented
set of tarot cards is rooted in the second half of the
fifteenth century and was painted in Italy. The renaissance
had already adopted the greek gods and the greek philosophy,
which is why it is greek mythology, moral, spiritual and
mystical elements which form the backbone of tarot cards.
The
images and imagery portrayed on the cards reveals hidden
things which would not be discoverable through purely
‘rational’ means. The tarot cards have much
to tell you. The tarot pack is set of cards which may
be used either for divination, or as a philosophical machine
for answering almost any kind of question put to it through
a medium or someone familiar with its powerful symbolism.
The images on the tarot, and the interest in predicting
events through symbols, dates back to ancient Egypt and
even older civilizations, right across the world.
Tarot
may have travelled to europe from the middle east at the
time of the crusades, in the 12th century. The earliest
surviving tarot deck, however, comes from 14th century
Italy, where an Italian nobleman had a deck hand-painted
as a present for his daughters' marriage.
Tarot
cards show the major themes of life, and what we can learn
about ourselves. Each card is called arcanum, which means
'mystery'. The pack consists of two quite different, though
not totally unrelated, groups of cards, totalling 78 in
number. In addition to 22 major cards known as the major
arcana, there are four suits of cards -the suit of cups
(symbolizing water), the suit of wands (symbolizing fire),
the suit of swords (symbolizing air ) & the suit of
pentacles (symbolizing earth) -- which form the minor
arcana.
"The Wish Factory" | ©2004, Stephen Conklin, Jr.
All Photography here is available at ~piscean )-( delusions
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