Question by Gorgeoustx Elect Bill White 2010: What is the history of the Tarot.?
Any guesses on accuracy?
Best answer:
Answer by GiGi
some European stuff. It’s well documented. Go to the library. The tarot first appeared in Christian Europe before 1367. Before that, tarot cards were used in Islamic Spain. Early European decks had about 52 cards, without jokers like modern cards today.
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The co-evolved with the playing decks of cards play poker with. (late 13th early 14 century Europe) The greater arcana were at one time used to play other card games. Though they dropped out of fashion, because frankly, those games were boring (no kidding) – which is why the current deck of “playing cards” has 52 while a tarot deck has up to 76 (depending on deck – the original Crowley deck had 3 Magus/magician and one additional card)
In the same way you can use poker cards to “read” you can use tarot cards to play solitaire….
One is simply a very dressed up version of the other…..
As far as accuracy….sigh, that’s another matter completely.
the first tarot decks were created between 1410 and 1430 in either Milan, Ferrara, or Bologna, in northern Italy…..
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tarot
Well lets see a person learns to Throw a ball when they are two or three years old then if he is real good he pitches in little league and improves until he becomes a champion in Collage. Then the very best goes on to the majors. That’s about the history of it Babe Ruth was a famous pitcher ……….. Oh, Tarot! never mind.
Kisses Betty B.
Try these sites:
http://www.tarot.com/about-tarot/library/essays/history
http://www.tarothermit.com/
http://www.salemtarot.com/tarothistory.html
http://www.mystichouse.com/tarot1/history.htm
Thats the general gist. ^_^ I hope it helps.
I researched this a while ago…..do enough research…and you end up with the most common answer.
Nobody really seems to know for sure.
Or….I should do even more research? I don’t know for sure.
One can only speculate on its origins.
One theory is that in the great library of Alexandria in Egypt, whose female librarian Hypatia was world-renowned for her wisdom and learning, there existed scrolls (which was how books were made in those days) containing all of the wisdom of the ancient world.
One of these “books” was supposedly based on the legendary Book of Thoth, derived from the mystery schools of Egypt. The allegorical illustrations on the Tarot cards are said to contain these secret teachings, which in the Major Arcana represent a course in personal development. The esoteric teachings were hidden in the seemingly innocent pictures.
It is believed that the tarot originated somewhere in northern Italy, in fact its original name was ‘carte da trionfi’ (triumph cards).
The tyrannical stranglehold on all matters of faith by the Roman Catholic church in the Middle Ages, forbid the reading of the Bible and insisted that only priests could offer spiritual advise or wisdom.
The Tarot was a game, played in the marketplace for amusement, but savvy and clever Tarot dealers also gave advice and insights based upon psychic ‘readings’.
This was branded as ‘occult’ by the church, and ‘Satanic’.
Basically, anything that the church couldn’t use to make money to use for cathedral-building was branded as ‘witchcraft’ or ‘Satanic’.
But Tarot is no less legitimate a spiritual practice than going to Bible studies and praying, and many folks rely upon it for insight and inspiration.
The ‘fortune-telling’ side of the Tarot practice is debatable, and some Tarot readers insist that they are ‘not fortune tellers’.
They insist that the Tarot reveals what is, and what could be, not a specific future prediction. Others disagree.
I don’t really know the history of tarot except it was practiced in medieval times in Europe. As to accuracy, I find that it is accurate but does not give specifics. It pretty much tells you where you are right now and what potentials your situation can have. But of course the future is up to us.
This vid tells about the origin of the tarot: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PlIPqks0Tmw
If you are using Tarot cards as an oracle, you may be more inclined to read card meanings and spreads. But if using Tarot Cards as a tool for Psychic Ability you would be less likely to hold to any hard and fast guide lines. I’m a profession psychic and use Tarot Cards in a random way. In 25 years of professional readings I’ve never used any ‘meanings, spreads or reversals’ of tarot cards from any books.
So if you want to develop ‘Psychic Ability’ throw the books and guidelines away and let the images inspire you. But you may need to try the Rider Waite or another imaged deck.
Here’s the how-to of reading tarot cards with your psychic perception in six simple steps. http://www.psychic-junkie.com/reading-tarot-cards.html
You can use this four minute video as a brief meditation on the tarot that, repeatedly viewed, will help you learn how to read tarot cards psychically. http://www.psychic-junkie.com/tarotvision.html
To tap in to it more you can go to my free psychic development pages here: http://www.psychic-junkie.com/develop-psychic-ability.html
But on the other hand, if you want to use the Tarot as an oracle, a form of divination that needs no real ‘psychic ability’, then keep the books and use the meanings and spreads if you prefer.
Here is a free download demo for a great Tarot program. To keep the size of the demo manageable it contains the Rider/Waite deck, the actual program will have 10 complete decks. This Demo version of Tarot is a full working copy for 30 days. So you get 30 days to study meanings and spreads! http://www.free-tarot-download-demo.wotsnext.com
There are a couple of good documentaries about the Tarot on http://www.MyPathTV.net