Divinatory, esoteric and occult tarot
Encyclopedia
Tarot
reading revolves around the belief that the cards can be used to gain insight into the past, current and possible future situations of the subject (or querent
), i.e. cartomancy
. Some believe they are guided by a spiritual force, while others believe the cards help them tap into a collective unconscious
or their own creative, brainstorming
subconscious
. The divinatory meanings of the cards commonly used today are derived mostly from cartomancer
Jean-Baptiste Alliette who was also known as Etteilla.
and magic
. Tarot was not known to be adopted by mystics, occultists and secret societies until the 18th and 19th centuries. The earliest known use of tarot cards for divination was in Bologna Italy, around 1750, using a set of divinatory meanings entirely different from modern divinatory tarot.
Modern occult tarot begins in 1781, when Antoine Court de Gébelin
, a Swiss
clergy
man and Freemason
, published Le Monde Primitif, a speculative study which included religious symbolism
and its survivals in the modern world. De Gébelin first asserted that symbolism of the Tarot de Marseille represented the mysteries
of Isis
and Thoth
. Gébelin further claimed that the name "tarot" came from the Egyptian
words tar, meaning "royal", and ro, meaning "road", and that the Tarot therefore represented a "royal road" to wisdom. De Gébelin also asserted that the Romani people (Gypsies), who were among the first to use cards for divination, were descendants of the ancient Egyptians and had introduced the cards to Europe. De Gébelin wrote this treatise before Jean-François Champollion
had deciphered Egyptian hieroglyphs, or indeed before the Rosetta Stone
had been discovered, and later Egyptologists
found nothing in the Egyptian language to support de Gébelin's fanciful etymologies
. Despite this, the identification of the Tarot cards with the Egyptian "Book of Thoth
" was already firmly established in occult practice and continues in modern urban legend
to the present day.
The idea of the cards as a mystical key was further developed by Eliphas Lévi
and passed to the English-speaking world by The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn
. Lévi, not Etteilla
, is considered by some to be the true founder of most contemporary schools of Tarot; his 1854 Dogme et Rituel de la Haute Magie (English title: Transcendental Magic) introduced an interpretation of the cards which related them to Hermetic Qabalah
. While Lévi accepted Court de Gébelin's claims about an Egyptian origin of the deck symbols, he rejected Etteilla's innovations and his altered deck, and devised instead a system which related the Tarot, especially the Tarot de Marseille, to the Hermetic Qabalah
and the four elements
of alchemy
.
Tarot divination became increasingly popular in the New World
from 1910, with the publication of the Rider-Waite-Smith Tarot in December 1909, (designed and executed by two members of the Golden Dawn), which replaced the traditionally simple pip cards with images of symbolic scenes. This deck also further obscured the Christian allegories of the Tarot de Marseilles and of Eliphas Levi's decks by changing some attributions (for instance changing "The Pope" to "The Hierophant
" and "The Popess" to "The High Priestess
". The Rider-Waite-Smith deck still remains extremely popular in the English-speaking world.
, and later, Eliphas Lévi
. These occultists later produced esoteric decks that reflected their own ideas, and these decks were widely circulated in the anglophone world. Various esoteric decks such as the Rider-Waite-Colman Smith deck (conceived by A. E. Waite and rendered by Pamela Colman Smith
), and the Thoth Tarot deck (conceived by Aleister Crowley
and rendered by Lady Frieda Harris
) -- and tarot decks inspired by those two decks—are most typically used. Waite, Colman Smith, Crowley and Harris were all former members of the influential, Victorian-era Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn
at different respective points in time; and the Golden Dawn, in turn, was influenced by Lévi and other French occult revivalists. Although there were various other respective influences (e.g., Etteilla's pip card meanings in the case of Waite/Colman Smith), Waite/Colman Smith's and Crowley/Harris' decks were greatly inspired by the Golden Dawn's member-use tarot deck and the Golden Dawn's tarot curriculum.
Francophone occultists such as Court de Gebelin, Etteilla
, Eliphas Lévi
, Oswald Wirth
and Papus were influential in fashioning esoteric tarot in the French-speaking world. The influence of these Francophone occultists has come to bear even on interpretation of the Tarot de Marseille cards themselves. Even though the Tarot de Marseille decks are not 'occult' per se, the imagery of the Tarot de Marseille decks arguably shows Hermetic
influences (e.g., alchemy
, astronomy
, etc.). Referring to the Tarot of the Bohemians, Eliphas Levi stated that "this book, which may be older than that of Enoch
, has never been translated, but is still preserved unmutilated in primeval characters, on detached leaves, like the tablets of the ancients... It is, in truth, a monumental and extraordinary work, strong and simple as the architecture of the pyramids, and consequently enduring like those - a book which is the summary of all sciences, which can resolve all problems by its infinite combinations, which speaks by evoking thought, is the inspirer and moderator of all possible conceptions, and the masterpiece perhaps of the human mind. It is to be counted unquestionably among the very great gifts bequeathed to us by antiquity..."
In the French-speaking world, users of the tarot for divination and other esoteric purposes such as Alexandro Jodorowsky, Kris Hadar, and many others, continue to use the Tarot de Marseille, although Oswald Wirth's Atouts-only (major-arcana) tarot deck has enjoyed such popularity in the 20th century (albeit less so than the Tarot de Marseille). Tarot decks from the English-speaking tradition (such as Rider-Waite-Colman Smith and decks based on it) are also gaining some popularity in French-speaking countries.
Paul Marteau pioneered the number-plus-suit-plus-design approach to interpreting the numbered minor arcana cards ["pip cards"] of the Tarot de Marseille. Prior to Marteau's book Le Tarot de Marseille (which was first published circa 1930s), cartomantic meanings (such as Etteilla's) were generally the only ones published for interpreting Marseille pip cards. Many French tarotists employ only the major arcana cards for divination. In fact, in recognition of this, many French-language Tarot de Marseille tarot books discuss the symbolism and interpretation of only the major arcana. Many fortune-tellers in France who use the Tarot de Marseille for readings will use only the major arcana and will use an Etteilla deck if they are to use all 78 cards (four suits of 14 cards each) for the reading.
was the first to issue a revised tarot deck specifically designed for occult purposes rather than game playing. In keeping with the belief that tarot cards are derived from the Book of Thoth
, Etteilla's tarot contained themes related to ancient Egypt
.
The seventy eight card tarot deck used by esotericists has two distinct parts:
closely match Anglo-American playing cards, having Ace-through-Ten and four face cards. The face cards are Page, Knight, Queen, and King. Each suit of the Minors corresponds to one of the four Alchemical elements
. Pentagrams corresponds with Earth, Swords with air, Wands with fire, and Cups with water. (Some variations exist depending on artist, Pentagrams are sometimes depicted as Coins, Wands with Staves, and so forth.)
The Face cards also correspond to the Elements. The Page is Earth, the Knight is Air, the Queen is Water, and the King is Fire. This makes the Page of Pentagrams (or Earth of Earth), the Knight of Swords (or Air of Air), the Queen of Cups (or Water of Water) and the King of Wands (or Fire of Fire) very strong cards.
are a set of twenty-two cards
in the tarot
deck, with no suit. They serve as permanent trumps in games played with the tarot deck
, and are distinguished from the four standard suits collectively known as the Minor Arcana
. The terms "Major" and "Minor Arcana" are used in the occult and divinatory
applications of the deck, and originate with Paul Christian
.
Each Major Arcanum depicts a scene, mostly featuring a person or several people, with many symbolic elements. In many decks, each has a number (usually in Roman numerals
) and a name, though not all decks have both, and some have only a picture. These cards are often interpreted as describing the normal progression of a truly holy life (or the path to enlightenment of the Initiate through the Mysteries), and often tell where a person is along their journey, or if they have strayed. Such an interpretation is called the "Fool's Journey" and it originated with Eden Gray
.
, consider the tarot to function as a textbook and mnemonic device for their teachings. This may be one cause of the word arcana being used to describe the two sections of the tarot deck: arcana is the plural form of the Latin
word arcanum, meaning "closed" or "secret."
Tarot is often used in conjunction with the study of the Hermetic Qabalah
. In these decks all the cards are illustrated in accordance with Qabalistic principles, most being under the influence of the Rider-Waite-Smith deck and bearing illustrated scenes on all the suit cards. The images on the 'Rider-Waite' deck were drawn by artist Pamela Colman-Smith
, to the instructions of Christian mystic and occultist Arthur Edward Waite
, and were originally published by the Rider Company in December 1909. This deck is considered a simple, user friendly one but nevertheless its imagery, especially in the Major Arcana, is complex and replete with esoteric symbolism. The subjects of the Major Arcana are based on those of the earliest decks, but have been significantly modified to reflect Waite and Smith's view of Tarot. An important difference from Marseilles style decks is that Smith drew scenes with esoteric meanings on the suit cards. However the Rider-Waite wasn't the first deck to include completely illustrated suit cards. The first to do so was the 15th century Sola-Busca deck.
), i.e. cartomancy
. Some believe they are guided by a spiritual force, such as Gaia, while others believe the cards help them tap into a collective unconscious or their own creative, brainstorming
subconscious
. Though certain core themes persist seemingly unchanged, the divinatory meanings of the cards are derived from many sources and can vary significantly based on the time period and culture which produced the deck. It is generally accepted that the Reader is required to develop their own personal understanding of the meanings of the cards, using the commonly recognized meanings as a rough guide.
Each card has several meanings, and the reader determines which meaning to apply based on the card's location in the spread and which cards are turned up around it. Common sense is also used to discard meanings which have no relevance to the question asked.
Sometimes, rather than being dealt randomly, the initial card in a spread is intentionally chosen to represent the querent or the question being asked. This card is called the significator.
Some common spreads include:
Love spread.
The love tarot is a five card reading: past, present, future, other person and obstacles/positives. It is a thorough tarot card reading that looks at the influences of the past the current situation and how it may effect the future in relation to love. The future possibilties and advise on how to acheive them. The other person's trait's and feelings and the postive or negative influences. It can elaborate on the people or person currently in your life a person of your past or someone in your future or the possibilties surrounding the three.
Automated tarot readings typically invite the Reader to type a question into the software application, and usually, to choose a tarot card spread. The software application assigns a tarot card to each position in the spread. Many applications offer interpretations for the cards selected during the reading, as well as a summary of what a given position in the tarot spread means.
Traditional tarot readings done with a physical deck rely on the idea that the tarot card reader is able to gain insight into the past, present or future through a personal connection to the tarot cards. Similarly, virtual tarot software allow various levels of interaction between the human seeking answers and the software program generating the tarot reading. Some applications only allow the seeker to type in a question, and launch the automated reading by clicking a button. Other applications additionally allow the user to click on each card in the spread generated, at which time that card is revealed-- mimicking the more traditional process of revealing the tarot card by turning it over.
There are currently hundreds of virtual tarot reading software applications available.
Tarot
The tarot |trionfi]] and later as tarocchi, tarock, and others) is a pack of cards , used from the mid-15th century in various parts of Europe to play a group of card games such as Italian tarocchini and French tarot...
reading revolves around the belief that the cards can be used to gain insight into the past, current and possible future situations of the subject (or querent
Querent
Querent as "one who seeks" is derived, according to the Oxford English Dictionary, from the Latin quærēns "seeker," the present participle of quærere "to seek, gain, ask."...
), i.e. cartomancy
Cartomancy
Cartomancy is fortune-telling or divination using a deck of cards. Forms of cartomancy appeared soon after playing cards were first introduced into Europe in the 14th century...
. Some believe they are guided by a spiritual force, while others believe the cards help them tap into a collective unconscious
Collective unconscious
Collective unconscious is a term of analytical psychology, coined by Carl Jung. It is proposed to be a part of the unconscious mind, expressed in humanity and all life forms with nervous systems, and describes how the structure of the psyche autonomously organizes experience...
or their own creative, brainstorming
Brainstorming
Brainstorming is a group creativity technique by which a group tries to find a solution for a specific problem by gathering a list of ideas spontaneously contributed by its members...
subconscious
Subconscious
The term subconscious is used in many different contexts and has no single or precise definition. This greatly limits its significance as a definition-bearing concept, and in consequence the word tends to be avoided in academic and scientific settings....
. The divinatory meanings of the cards commonly used today are derived mostly from cartomancer
Cartomancy
Cartomancy is fortune-telling or divination using a deck of cards. Forms of cartomancy appeared soon after playing cards were first introduced into Europe in the 14th century...
Jean-Baptiste Alliette who was also known as Etteilla.
History
The original purpose of tarot cards was for playing games, with the first basic rules appearing in the manuscript of Martiano da Tortona before 1425. Tarot cards would later become associated with mysticismMysticism
Mysticism is the knowledge of, and especially the personal experience of, states of consciousness, i.e. levels of being, beyond normal human perception, including experience and even communion with a supreme being.-Classical origins:...
and magic
Magic (paranormal)
Magic is the claimed art of manipulating aspects of reality either by supernatural means or through knowledge of occult laws unknown to science. It is in contrast to science, in that science does not accept anything not subject to either direct or indirect observation, and subject to logical...
. Tarot was not known to be adopted by mystics, occultists and secret societies until the 18th and 19th centuries. The earliest known use of tarot cards for divination was in Bologna Italy, around 1750, using a set of divinatory meanings entirely different from modern divinatory tarot.
Antoine Court de Gebelin
Antoine Court who named himself Antoine Court de Gébelin was a former Protestant pastor, born at Nîmes, who initiated the interpretation of the Tarot as an arcane repository of timeless esoteric wisdom in 1781.-Early life:...
, a Swiss
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
clergy
Clergy
Clergy is the generic term used to describe the formal religious leadership within a given religion. A clergyman, churchman or cleric is a member of the clergy, especially one who is a priest, preacher, pastor, or other religious professional....
man and Freemason
Freemasonry
Freemasonry is a fraternal organisation that arose from obscure origins in the late 16th to early 17th century. Freemasonry now exists in various forms all over the world, with a membership estimated at around six million, including approximately 150,000 under the jurisdictions of the Grand Lodge...
, published Le Monde Primitif, a speculative study which included religious symbolism
Religious symbolism
Religious symbolism is the use of symbols, including archetypes, acts, artwork, events, or natural phenomena, by a religion. Religions view religious texts, rituals, and works of art as symbols of compelling ideas or ideals...
and its survivals in the modern world. De Gébelin first asserted that symbolism of the Tarot de Marseille represented the mysteries
Western mystery tradition
Western esotericism or Hermeticism is a broad spectrum of spiritual traditions found in Western society, or refers to the collection of the mystical, esoteric knowledge of the Western world...
of Isis
Isis
Isis or in original more likely Aset is a goddess in Ancient Egyptian religious beliefs, whose worship spread throughout the Greco-Roman world. She was worshipped as the ideal mother and wife as well as the matron of nature and magic...
and Thoth
Thoth
Thoth was considered one of the more important deities of the Egyptian pantheon. In art, he was often depicted as a man with the head of an ibis or a baboon, animals sacred to him. His feminine counterpart was Seshat...
. Gébelin further claimed that the name "tarot" came from the Egyptian
Egyptian language
Egyptian is the oldest known indigenous language of Egypt and a branch of the Afroasiatic language family. Written records of the Egyptian language have been dated from about 3400 BC, making it one of the oldest recorded languages known. Egyptian was spoken until the late 17th century AD in the...
words tar, meaning "royal", and ro, meaning "road", and that the Tarot therefore represented a "royal road" to wisdom. De Gébelin also asserted that the Romani people (Gypsies), who were among the first to use cards for divination, were descendants of the ancient Egyptians and had introduced the cards to Europe. De Gébelin wrote this treatise before Jean-François Champollion
Jean-François Champollion
Jean-François Champollion was a French classical scholar, philologist and orientalist, decipherer of the Egyptian hieroglyphs....
had deciphered Egyptian hieroglyphs, or indeed before the Rosetta Stone
Rosetta Stone
The Rosetta Stone is an ancient Egyptian granodiorite stele inscribed with a decree issued at Memphis in 196 BC on behalf of King Ptolemy V. The decree appears in three scripts: the upper text is Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs, the middle portion Demotic script, and the lowest Ancient Greek...
had been discovered, and later Egyptologists
Egyptology
Egyptology is the study of ancient Egyptian history, language, literature, religion, and art from the 5th millennium BC until the end of its native religious practices in the AD 4th century. A practitioner of the discipline is an “Egyptologist”...
found nothing in the Egyptian language to support de Gébelin's fanciful etymologies
Etymology
Etymology is the study of the history of words, their origins, and how their form and meaning have changed over time.For languages with a long written history, etymologists make use of texts in these languages and texts about the languages to gather knowledge about how words were used during...
. Despite this, the identification of the Tarot cards with the Egyptian "Book of Thoth
Thoth
Thoth was considered one of the more important deities of the Egyptian pantheon. In art, he was often depicted as a man with the head of an ibis or a baboon, animals sacred to him. His feminine counterpart was Seshat...
" was already firmly established in occult practice and continues in modern urban legend
Urban legend
An urban legend, urban myth, urban tale, or contemporary legend, is a form of modern folklore consisting of stories that may or may not have been believed by their tellers to be true...
to the present day.
The idea of the cards as a mystical key was further developed by Eliphas Lévi
Eliphas Levi
Eliphas Lévi, born Alphonse Louis Constant , was a French occult author and purported magician."Eliphas Lévi," the name under which he published his books, was his attempt to translate or transliterate his given names "Alphonse Louis" into Hebrew although he was not Jewish.His second wife was...
and passed to the English-speaking world by The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn
Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn
The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn was a magical order active in Great Britain during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, which practiced theurgy and spiritual development...
. Lévi, not Etteilla
Etteilla
"Etteilla," the pseudonym of Jean-Baptiste Alliette , was the French occultist who was the first to popularise tarot divination to a wide audience , and therefore the first professional tarot occultist known to history who made his living by card divination...
, is considered by some to be the true founder of most contemporary schools of Tarot; his 1854 Dogme et Rituel de la Haute Magie (English title: Transcendental Magic) introduced an interpretation of the cards which related them to Hermetic Qabalah
Hermetic Qabalah
Hermetic Qabalah is a Western esoteric and mystical tradition...
. While Lévi accepted Court de Gébelin's claims about an Egyptian origin of the deck symbols, he rejected Etteilla's innovations and his altered deck, and devised instead a system which related the Tarot, especially the Tarot de Marseille, to the Hermetic Qabalah
Hermetic Qabalah
Hermetic Qabalah is a Western esoteric and mystical tradition...
and the four elements
Classical element
Many philosophies and worldviews have a set of classical elements believed to reflect the simplest essential parts and principles of which anything consists or upon which the constitution and fundamental powers of anything are based. Most frequently, classical elements refer to ancient beliefs...
of alchemy
Alchemy
Alchemy is an influential philosophical tradition whose early practitioners’ claims to profound powers were known from antiquity. The defining objectives of alchemy are varied; these include the creation of the fabled philosopher's stone possessing powers including the capability of turning base...
.
Tarot divination became increasingly popular in the New World
New World
The New World is one of the names used for the Western Hemisphere, specifically America and sometimes Oceania . The term originated in the late 15th century, when America had been recently discovered by European explorers, expanding the geographical horizon of the people of the European middle...
from 1910, with the publication of the Rider-Waite-Smith Tarot in December 1909, (designed and executed by two members of the Golden Dawn), which replaced the traditionally simple pip cards with images of symbolic scenes. This deck also further obscured the Christian allegories of the Tarot de Marseilles and of Eliphas Levi's decks by changing some attributions (for instance changing "The Pope" to "The Hierophant
The Hierophant
The Hierophant , in some decks named The Pope, is the fifth trump or Major Arcana card in most traditional Tarot decks. It is used in game playing as well as in divination.-Description and symbolism:...
" and "The Popess" to "The High Priestess
The High Priestess
The High Priestess is the second trump or Major Arcana card in most traditional Tarot decks. This card is used in game playing as well as in divination. In the first Tarot pack with inscriptions, the 18th-century woodcut Marseilles Tarot, this figure is crowned with the Papal tiara and labelled La...
". The Rider-Waite-Smith deck still remains extremely popular in the English-speaking world.
Esoteric tarot decks
In English-speaking parts of the world, where there is little or no tradition of using tarots as playing cards, tarot decks only became known through the efforts of occultists influenced by French tarotists such as EtteillaEtteilla
"Etteilla," the pseudonym of Jean-Baptiste Alliette , was the French occultist who was the first to popularise tarot divination to a wide audience , and therefore the first professional tarot occultist known to history who made his living by card divination...
, and later, Eliphas Lévi
Eliphas Levi
Eliphas Lévi, born Alphonse Louis Constant , was a French occult author and purported magician."Eliphas Lévi," the name under which he published his books, was his attempt to translate or transliterate his given names "Alphonse Louis" into Hebrew although he was not Jewish.His second wife was...
. These occultists later produced esoteric decks that reflected their own ideas, and these decks were widely circulated in the anglophone world. Various esoteric decks such as the Rider-Waite-Colman Smith deck (conceived by A. E. Waite and rendered by Pamela Colman Smith
Pamela Colman Smith
Pamela Colman Smith , also nicknamed Pixie, was an artist, illustrator, and writer. She is best known for designing the Waite-Smith deck of divinatory tarot cards for Arthur Edward Waite.-Biography:Smith was born in Pimlico, Middlesex , England the only child of an...
), and the Thoth Tarot deck (conceived by Aleister Crowley
Aleister Crowley
Aleister Crowley , born Edward Alexander Crowley, and also known as both Frater Perdurabo and The Great Beast, was an influential English occultist, astrologer, mystic and ceremonial magician, responsible for founding the religious philosophy of Thelema. He was also successful in various other...
and rendered by Lady Frieda Harris
Frieda Harris
[Marguerite] Frieda Harris was an artist, an occult magician, and, after she met him at age 60, an associate and friend of the author and occultist Aleister Crowley...
) -- and tarot decks inspired by those two decks—are most typically used. Waite, Colman Smith, Crowley and Harris were all former members of the influential, Victorian-era Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn
Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn
The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn was a magical order active in Great Britain during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, which practiced theurgy and spiritual development...
at different respective points in time; and the Golden Dawn, in turn, was influenced by Lévi and other French occult revivalists. Although there were various other respective influences (e.g., Etteilla's pip card meanings in the case of Waite/Colman Smith), Waite/Colman Smith's and Crowley/Harris' decks were greatly inspired by the Golden Dawn's member-use tarot deck and the Golden Dawn's tarot curriculum.
Tarot de Marseille
Etteilla
"Etteilla," the pseudonym of Jean-Baptiste Alliette , was the French occultist who was the first to popularise tarot divination to a wide audience , and therefore the first professional tarot occultist known to history who made his living by card divination...
, Eliphas Lévi
Eliphas Levi
Eliphas Lévi, born Alphonse Louis Constant , was a French occult author and purported magician."Eliphas Lévi," the name under which he published his books, was his attempt to translate or transliterate his given names "Alphonse Louis" into Hebrew although he was not Jewish.His second wife was...
, Oswald Wirth
Oswald Wirth
Oswald Wirth was a Swiss occultist, artist and author. He studied esotericism and symbolism with Stanislas de Guaita, and in 1889 he created a set of Tarot trumps based on the Marseilles deck. His interests also included Freemasonry and astrology.-External links:* * *...
and Papus were influential in fashioning esoteric tarot in the French-speaking world. The influence of these Francophone occultists has come to bear even on interpretation of the Tarot de Marseille cards themselves. Even though the Tarot de Marseille decks are not 'occult' per se, the imagery of the Tarot de Marseille decks arguably shows Hermetic
Hermeticism
Hermeticism or the Western Hermetic Tradition is a set of philosophical and religious beliefs based primarily upon the pseudepigraphical writings attributed to Hermes Trismegistus...
influences (e.g., alchemy
Alchemy
Alchemy is an influential philosophical tradition whose early practitioners’ claims to profound powers were known from antiquity. The defining objectives of alchemy are varied; these include the creation of the fabled philosopher's stone possessing powers including the capability of turning base...
, astronomy
Astronomy
Astronomy is a natural science that deals with the study of celestial objects and phenomena that originate outside the atmosphere of Earth...
, etc.). Referring to the Tarot of the Bohemians, Eliphas Levi stated that "this book, which may be older than that of Enoch
Book of Enoch
The Book of Enoch is an ancient Jewish religious work, traditionally ascribed to Enoch, the great-grandfather of Noah. It is not part of the biblical canon as used by Jews, apart from Beta Israel...
, has never been translated, but is still preserved unmutilated in primeval characters, on detached leaves, like the tablets of the ancients... It is, in truth, a monumental and extraordinary work, strong and simple as the architecture of the pyramids, and consequently enduring like those - a book which is the summary of all sciences, which can resolve all problems by its infinite combinations, which speaks by evoking thought, is the inspirer and moderator of all possible conceptions, and the masterpiece perhaps of the human mind. It is to be counted unquestionably among the very great gifts bequeathed to us by antiquity..."
In the French-speaking world, users of the tarot for divination and other esoteric purposes such as Alexandro Jodorowsky, Kris Hadar, and many others, continue to use the Tarot de Marseille, although Oswald Wirth's Atouts-only (major-arcana) tarot deck has enjoyed such popularity in the 20th century (albeit less so than the Tarot de Marseille). Tarot decks from the English-speaking tradition (such as Rider-Waite-Colman Smith and decks based on it) are also gaining some popularity in French-speaking countries.
Paul Marteau pioneered the number-plus-suit-plus-design approach to interpreting the numbered minor arcana cards ["pip cards"] of the Tarot de Marseille. Prior to Marteau's book Le Tarot de Marseille (which was first published circa 1930s), cartomantic meanings (such as Etteilla's) were generally the only ones published for interpreting Marseille pip cards. Many French tarotists employ only the major arcana cards for divination. In fact, in recognition of this, many French-language Tarot de Marseille tarot books discuss the symbolism and interpretation of only the major arcana. Many fortune-tellers in France who use the Tarot de Marseille for readings will use only the major arcana and will use an Etteilla deck if they are to use all 78 cards (four suits of 14 cards each) for the reading.
Occult tarot decks
EtteillaEtteilla
"Etteilla," the pseudonym of Jean-Baptiste Alliette , was the French occultist who was the first to popularise tarot divination to a wide audience , and therefore the first professional tarot occultist known to history who made his living by card divination...
was the first to issue a revised tarot deck specifically designed for occult purposes rather than game playing. In keeping with the belief that tarot cards are derived from the Book of Thoth
Thoth
Thoth was considered one of the more important deities of the Egyptian pantheon. In art, he was often depicted as a man with the head of an ibis or a baboon, animals sacred to him. His feminine counterpart was Seshat...
, Etteilla's tarot contained themes related to ancient Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
.
The seventy eight card tarot deck used by esotericists has two distinct parts:
| Latin | English Name 1 | English Name 2 | Description | Cards |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Major Arcana Major Arcana The Major Arcana or trumps are a suit of twenty-two cards in the tarot deck. They serve as a permanent trump suit in games played with the tarot deck, and are distinguished from the four standard suits collectively known as the Minor Arcana... |
Greater Secrets | Trump Cards | Consists of twenty two cards without suits. | The Fool The Fool (Tarot card) The Fool or The Jester is one of the 78 cards in a Tarot deck; one of the 22 Trump cards that make up the Major Arcana. The Fool is unnumbered... |
| The Magician The Magician (Tarot card) The Magician, The Magus, or The Juggler is the first trump or Major Arcana card in most traditional Tarot decks. It is used in game playing as well as in divination... |
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| The High Priestess The High Priestess The High Priestess is the second trump or Major Arcana card in most traditional Tarot decks. This card is used in game playing as well as in divination. In the first Tarot pack with inscriptions, the 18th-century woodcut Marseilles Tarot, this figure is crowned with the Papal tiara and labelled La... |
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| The Empress The Empress (Tarot card) The Empress is the third trump or Major Arcana card in traditional Tarot decks. It is used in Tarot card games as well as divination.- Description and symbolism :... |
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| The Emperor The Emperor (Tarot card) The Emperor is the fourth trump or Major Arcana card in traditional Tarot decks. It is used in game playing as well as in divination.- Description and symbolism :... |
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| The Hierophant The Hierophant The Hierophant , in some decks named The Pope, is the fifth trump or Major Arcana card in most traditional Tarot decks. It is used in game playing as well as in divination.-Description and symbolism:... |
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| The Lovers The Lovers The Lovers is the sixth trump or Major Arcana card in most traditional Tarot decks. It is used in game playing as well as in divination.- Interpretation :... |
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| The Chariot The Chariot (Tarot card) The Chariot is the seventh trump or Major Arcana card in most traditional Tarot decks. It is used in game playing as well as in divination.-Description:... |
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| Strength Strength (Tarot card) Strength is a Major Arcana Tarot card, and is numbered either XI or VIII, depending on the deck. Historically it was called Fortitude, and in the Thoth Tarot deck it is called Lust. This card is used in game playing as well as in divination.- Description and usage as in divination :A. E... |
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| The Hermit The Hermit The Hermit is the ninth trump or Major Arcana card in most traditional Tarot decks. It is used in game playing as well as in divination.- Description :A. E. Waite was a key figure in the development of modern Tarot interpretations... |
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| Wheel of Fortune Wheel of Fortune (Tarot card) Wheel of Fortune is the tenth trump or Major Arcana card in most Tarot decks. It is used in game playing as well as in divination.-Description:To the right is the Wheel Of Fortune card from the A. E. Waite tarot deck. A. E... |
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| Justice Justice (Tarot card) Justice is a Major Arcana Tarot card, numbered either VIII or XI, depending on the deck. This card is used in game playing as well as in divination.- Description :... |
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| The Hanged Man | ||||
| Death Death (Tarot card) Death is the thirteenth trump or Major Arcana card in most traditional Tarot decks.It is used in Tarot, tarock and tarocchi games as well as in divination.-Description:... |
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| Temperance Temperance (Tarot card) Temperance is the fourteenth trump or Major Arcana card in most traditional Tarot decks. It is used in game playing as well as in divination.- Description :... |
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| The Devil The Devil (Tarot card) The Devil is the fifteenth trump or Major Arcana card in most traditional Tarot decks. It is used in game playing as well as in divination.- Symbolism :... |
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| The Tower The Tower (Tarot card) The Tower is the sixteenth trump or Major Arcana card in most cartomancy Tarot decks. It is not used as part of any game.- History :... |
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| The Star The Star (Tarot card) The Star is the seventeenth trump or Major Arcana card in most traditional Tarot decks. It is used in game playing as well as in divination.- Description :... |
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| The Moon The Moon (Tarot card) The Moon is the eighteenth trump or Major Arcana card in most traditional Tarot decks. It is used in game playing as well as in divination.-Symbolism:* Two large, foreboding pillars are shown... |
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| The Sun The Sun (Tarot card) The Sun is a trump card in the tarot deck. Tarot trumps are often called Major Arcana by tarot card readers.-Rider-Waite symbolism:A. E. Waite suggested that this card is associated with attained knowledge. An infant rides a white horse under the anthropomorphized sun, with sunflowers in the... |
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| Judgement Judgement (Tarot card) Judgement , or in some decks spelled Judgment, is a Tarot card, part of the Major Arcana suit usually comprising 22 cards.-Rider-Waite symbolism:Very clearly, it is modeled after the Christian Resurrection before the Last Judgment... |
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| The World The World (Tarot card) The World is a trump or Major Arcana card in the tarot deck. It is usually the final card of the Major Arcana or tarot trump sequence. In the tarot family of card games, this card is usually worth five points.- Description :... |
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| Minor Arcana Minor Arcana |thumb|[[King of Swords]] card from a Minor Arcana deckThe Minor Arcana of occult or divinatory tarot refers to the portion of a Tarot deck that consists of 56 cards. The Minor Arcana are roughly similar to the cards found in a common deck of playing cards... |
Lesser Secrets | Consists of fifty six cards, divided into four suits of fourteen cards each; ten numbered cards and four court cards. The court cards are the King, Queen, Knight and Jack, in each of the four tarot suits. The traditional Italian tarot suits are swords Suit of swords The Suit of Swords is a suit found in playing cards using the Italian and Spanish suits. It is also found in Latin Suited Tarot Cards. It's equivalent to Spades in Anglo-American playing cards.The suit represents the Second Estate .... , batons Suit of wands In tarot, the suit of wands or batons can be used like one of the suits of playing cards or as a divination tool. It corresponds to the suit of clubs in conventional playing cards.... , coins Suit of coins The Suit of Coins or Pentacles is used in Latin suited playing cards, including tarot decks, and corresponds to the suit of diamonds in conventional playing cards. In divinatory and occult tarot it is part of what is called the "Minor Arcana"... and cups Suit of cups The suit of cups is one of the four suits of Latin-suited playing cards, such as tarot. The suit of hearts is derived from the suit of cups. These are sometimes referred to as chalices as well as cups. The element of cups is water, and the suit of cups pertains to situations and events of an... ; in modern tarot decks, however, the batons suit is often called wands, rods or staves, while the coins suit is often called pentacles or disks. |
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Minor Arcana
The Minor ArcanaMinor Arcana
|thumb|[[King of Swords]] card from a Minor Arcana deckThe Minor Arcana of occult or divinatory tarot refers to the portion of a Tarot deck that consists of 56 cards. The Minor Arcana are roughly similar to the cards found in a common deck of playing cards...
closely match Anglo-American playing cards, having Ace-through-Ten and four face cards. The face cards are Page, Knight, Queen, and King. Each suit of the Minors corresponds to one of the four Alchemical elements
Alchemical elements
Alchemical elements are components of the universe, expressed in their Aristotelian forms by alchemists as Fire, Earth, Air and Water. The elements represent physical substances and a larger consideration within philosophical alchemy....
. Pentagrams corresponds with Earth, Swords with air, Wands with fire, and Cups with water. (Some variations exist depending on artist, Pentagrams are sometimes depicted as Coins, Wands with Staves, and so forth.)
The Face cards also correspond to the Elements. The Page is Earth, the Knight is Air, the Queen is Water, and the King is Fire. This makes the Page of Pentagrams (or Earth of Earth), the Knight of Swords (or Air of Air), the Queen of Cups (or Water of Water) and the King of Wands (or Fire of Fire) very strong cards.
Major Arcana
The Major ArcanaMajor Arcana
The Major Arcana or trumps are a suit of twenty-two cards in the tarot deck. They serve as a permanent trump suit in games played with the tarot deck, and are distinguished from the four standard suits collectively known as the Minor Arcana...
are a set of twenty-two cards
Playing card
A playing card is a piece of specially prepared heavy paper, thin cardboard, plastic-coated paper, cotton-paper blend, or thin plastic, marked with distinguishing motifs and used as one of a set for playing card games...
in the tarot
Tarot
The tarot |trionfi]] and later as tarocchi, tarock, and others) is a pack of cards , used from the mid-15th century in various parts of Europe to play a group of card games such as Italian tarocchini and French tarot...
deck, with no suit. They serve as permanent trumps in games played with the tarot deck
Tarot, tarock and tarocchi games
Tarot, tarock, tarocchi, etc., are a group of card games played with the tarot deck. The first basic rules appear in the manuscript of Martiano da Tortona written before 1425...
, and are distinguished from the four standard suits collectively known as the Minor Arcana
Minor Arcana
|thumb|[[King of Swords]] card from a Minor Arcana deckThe Minor Arcana of occult or divinatory tarot refers to the portion of a Tarot deck that consists of 56 cards. The Minor Arcana are roughly similar to the cards found in a common deck of playing cards...
. The terms "Major" and "Minor Arcana" are used in the occult and divinatory
Divination
Divination is the attempt to gain insight into a question or situation by way of an occultic standardized process or ritual...
applications of the deck, and originate with Paul Christian
Jean Baptiste Pitois
Jean Baptiste Pitois, also known as Jean Baptiste or Paul Christian was a French author, known for The History and Practice of Magic, first published in France in 1870.-Life:...
.
Each Major Arcanum depicts a scene, mostly featuring a person or several people, with many symbolic elements. In many decks, each has a number (usually in Roman numerals
Roman numerals
The numeral system of ancient Rome, or Roman numerals, uses combinations of letters from the Latin alphabet to signify values. The numbers 1 to 10 can be expressed in Roman numerals as:...
) and a name, though not all decks have both, and some have only a picture. These cards are often interpreted as describing the normal progression of a truly holy life (or the path to enlightenment of the Initiate through the Mysteries), and often tell where a person is along their journey, or if they have strayed. Such an interpretation is called the "Fool's Journey" and it originated with Eden Gray
Eden Gray
Eden Gray , was the professional name of Priscilla Pardridge, an American actress, and writer on the esoteric meanings of Tarot cards and their use in fortune-telling...
.
Rider Waite Smith Tarot
Many of the images of the Rider-Waite-Colman Smith (RWS or WCS) deck are derived from the Tarot de Marseille. However, the influence of other decks is also apparent in the RWCS deck, e.g., the 17th century Jacques Viéville deck for the Sun card and the 16th century Sola Busca deck for certain pip cards, notably the 3 of Swords and 7 of Swords. The 19th century deck of Swiss-French occultist Oswald Wirth was also influential for certain of the iconographic features of the Atouts or major arcana cards of the RWCS deck. The Rider-Waite-tarot deck has been extremely influential in the development of later divinatory tarot decks to the extent that many are called "Rider-Waite clones" to indicate that they are easily read by those familiar with Rider-Waite.As a mnemonic device
Some schools of occult thought or symbolic study, such as the Hermetic Order of the Golden DawnHermetic Order of the Golden Dawn
The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn was a magical order active in Great Britain during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, which practiced theurgy and spiritual development...
, consider the tarot to function as a textbook and mnemonic device for their teachings. This may be one cause of the word arcana being used to describe the two sections of the tarot deck: arcana is the plural form of the Latin
Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
word arcanum, meaning "closed" or "secret."
Tarot is often used in conjunction with the study of the Hermetic Qabalah
Hermetic Qabalah
Hermetic Qabalah is a Western esoteric and mystical tradition...
. In these decks all the cards are illustrated in accordance with Qabalistic principles, most being under the influence of the Rider-Waite-Smith deck and bearing illustrated scenes on all the suit cards. The images on the 'Rider-Waite' deck were drawn by artist Pamela Colman-Smith
Pamela Colman Smith
Pamela Colman Smith , also nicknamed Pixie, was an artist, illustrator, and writer. She is best known for designing the Waite-Smith deck of divinatory tarot cards for Arthur Edward Waite.-Biography:Smith was born in Pimlico, Middlesex , England the only child of an...
, to the instructions of Christian mystic and occultist Arthur Edward Waite
Arthur Edward Waite
Arthur Edward Waite was a scholarly mystic who wrote extensively on occult and esoteric matters, and was the co-creator of the Rider-Waite Tarot deck. As his biographer, R.A...
, and were originally published by the Rider Company in December 1909. This deck is considered a simple, user friendly one but nevertheless its imagery, especially in the Major Arcana, is complex and replete with esoteric symbolism. The subjects of the Major Arcana are based on those of the earliest decks, but have been significantly modified to reflect Waite and Smith's view of Tarot. An important difference from Marseilles style decks is that Smith drew scenes with esoteric meanings on the suit cards. However the Rider-Waite wasn't the first deck to include completely illustrated suit cards. The first to do so was the 15th century Sola-Busca deck.
Tarot reading
Tarot reading revolves around the belief that the cards can be used to gain insight into the current and possible future situations of the subject (or querentQuerent
Querent as "one who seeks" is derived, according to the Oxford English Dictionary, from the Latin quærēns "seeker," the present participle of quærere "to seek, gain, ask."...
), i.e. cartomancy
Cartomancy
Cartomancy is fortune-telling or divination using a deck of cards. Forms of cartomancy appeared soon after playing cards were first introduced into Europe in the 14th century...
. Some believe they are guided by a spiritual force, such as Gaia, while others believe the cards help them tap into a collective unconscious or their own creative, brainstorming
Brainstorming
Brainstorming is a group creativity technique by which a group tries to find a solution for a specific problem by gathering a list of ideas spontaneously contributed by its members...
subconscious
Subconscious
The term subconscious is used in many different contexts and has no single or precise definition. This greatly limits its significance as a definition-bearing concept, and in consequence the word tends to be avoided in academic and scientific settings....
. Though certain core themes persist seemingly unchanged, the divinatory meanings of the cards are derived from many sources and can vary significantly based on the time period and culture which produced the deck. It is generally accepted that the Reader is required to develop their own personal understanding of the meanings of the cards, using the commonly recognized meanings as a rough guide.
Common card interpretations
Though core themes and general meanings have remained unchanged for some cards, the tone and specific depiction of each card can vary wildly depending on the time period, culture, and personal interpretations of the Author/Artist. As a result and similar to most other systems of symbolism, the common meanings are intended to be a general guide to assist the individual in working out their own understanding.Each card has several meanings, and the reader determines which meaning to apply based on the card's location in the spread and which cards are turned up around it. Common sense is also used to discard meanings which have no relevance to the question asked.
Spreads
To perform a Tarot reading, the Tarot deck is typically shuffled by either the subject or a third-party reader, and is laid out in one of a variety of patterns, often called "spreads". They are then interpreted by the reader or a third-party performing the reading for the subject. These might include the subject's thoughts and desires (known or unknown) or past, present, and future events. Generally, each position in the spread is assigned a number, and the cards are turned over in that sequence, with each card being contemplated/interpreted before moving to the next. Each position is also associated with an interpretation, which indicates what aspect of the question the card in that position is referring to.Sometimes, rather than being dealt randomly, the initial card in a spread is intentionally chosen to represent the querent or the question being asked. This card is called the significator.
Some common spreads include:
| Name | Description | Spread |
|---|---|---|
| Celtic Cross Celtic cross A Celtic cross is a symbol that combines a cross with a ring surrounding the intersection. In the Celtic Christian world it was combined with the Christian cross and this design was often used for high crosses – a free-standing cross made of stone and often richly decorated... |
This is probably the most common spread. Ten cards are used, with five arranged in a cross and four placed vertically beside the cross. Another card is placed horizontally across the central cards of the cross to make a total of 10. The first central card of the cross is frequently the significator and the second card which is placed over the first represents the conditions surrounding the question; or the crossing card often represents an obstacle they must face, an aspect of the question they have not yet considered. The third card which is placed above the first represents what the person hopes for in relation to the question being asked. The fourth card which is placed below the first is what the subject has already experienced in relation to the whole spread. The fifth card is placed to the left of the first card and shows what was in the past. The sixth card is placed to the right of the first card and shows the influence that will come in the future. Then on the right of these cards are the remaining 4 cards, which are placed from bottom to top. So the seventh card represents the attitude of the question being asked. The eighth card is how family or friends will influence the question. The ninth card shows the hopes and fears in relation to the question and the final card, the tenth card, is the Culmination Card which shows the end result of all of the previous nine cards. | |
| Horse-shoe | Another very common question asking spread. Seven cards are arranged in a semicircle or 'V' shape. The cards, from left to right, represent the past, present, influences, obstacles, expectations (or hopes/fears), best course of action and likely outcomes. Some variations of this spread swap the expectations and inspiration cards around. | |
| 3-card spread | Three cards are used, with the first representing the past, the second the present, the third the future. | |
| Astrological spread | Twelve cards are spread in a circle, to represent the twelve signs of the zodiac. A thirteenth card is placed in the middle; often the significator. | |
| 1-card spread | It should be noted that a single card can constitute a spread. | |
| Tetractys Tetractys The tetractys , or tetrad, is a triangular figure consisting of ten points arranged in four rows: one, two, three, and four points in each row... |
Ten cards arranged in a four-rowed pyramid. Each row represents earth, air, fire or water and each card within the row has a very specific meaning. The single card in the top row is the significator. | |
| Star spread | starts in the lower left part and follows the star pattern. The first being what you see. The second, what you can't see. The third what you can change. The fourth what you cannot change, and the fifth, what you can expect | |
| Mirror Spread | This Spread works primarily on existing relationships, but can assess anything from a budding love affair to an established partnership. It will often reveal inconsistencies between viewpoints—for example, if the cards at 2 and 3 contradict one another, there is need to reassess and readjust points of view, or take into account the input of the other person. Obstacles will sometimes produce very positive cards. The Probable result card is drawn with circumstances as they currently are—but if changes recommended by the reading are effected, then this final card can change. |
Love spread.
The love tarot is a five card reading: past, present, future, other person and obstacles/positives. It is a thorough tarot card reading that looks at the influences of the past the current situation and how it may effect the future in relation to love. The future possibilties and advise on how to acheive them. The other person's trait's and feelings and the postive or negative influences. It can elaborate on the people or person currently in your life a person of your past or someone in your future or the possibilties surrounding the three.
Reversed cards
Some methods of interpreting the tarot consider cards to have different meanings depending on whether they appear upright or reversed. A reversed card is often interpreted to mean the opposite of its upright meaning. For instance, the Sun card upright may be associated with satisfaction, gratitude, health, happiness, strength, inspiration, and liberation; while in reverse, it may be interpreted to mean a lack of confidence and mild unhappiness. However, not all methods of card reading prescribe an opposite meaning to reversed cards. Some card readers will interpret a reversed card as either a more intense variation of the upright card, an undeveloped trait or an issue that requires greater attention. Other interpreters point out that card reversal is dependent on the order of the cards before shuffling, so is of little bearing in the scope of a reading.Virtual Tarot Readings
Many software applications have been developed which generate automated tarot card readings-- so-called 'virtual tarot' readings. Both desktop and online software applications are available for doing virtual tarot readings.Automated tarot readings typically invite the Reader to type a question into the software application, and usually, to choose a tarot card spread. The software application assigns a tarot card to each position in the spread. Many applications offer interpretations for the cards selected during the reading, as well as a summary of what a given position in the tarot spread means.
Traditional tarot readings done with a physical deck rely on the idea that the tarot card reader is able to gain insight into the past, present or future through a personal connection to the tarot cards. Similarly, virtual tarot software allow various levels of interaction between the human seeking answers and the software program generating the tarot reading. Some applications only allow the seeker to type in a question, and launch the automated reading by clicking a button. Other applications additionally allow the user to click on each card in the spread generated, at which time that card is revealed-- mimicking the more traditional process of revealing the tarot card by turning it over.
There are currently hundreds of virtual tarot reading software applications available.