Tarot Cards - A Short History And Introduction
The history of Tarot cards has been shrouded in mystery. The popular version of the history of Tarot is that the cards had a mysterious origin in Egypt. That version then goes on to state that the Gypsies then took those cards all around the world.
As much as I would like to believe the mysterious and appealing version, I must say that it is not true! The Gypsies may have used cards (and most probably the playing cards) for their various fortune telling enterprises. But the cards themselves never originated in Egypt.
Probably one of the first sets of Tarot card decks were printed in Italy. The Tarot of Marseilles deck which was printed in the early 1500s in the city of Marseilles was one of the first Tarot card decks available in the market. And these cards were typically used for playing a card game called "Tarocchi".
It was in the late 1700s that Egyptian hieroglyphics had caught the fancy and imagination of the world at large. During that time, a writer by the name of Antoine Court de Gebelin printed a few essays about these fascinating cards in his journal Monde Primitif.
Apparently, he had visited the house of an unnamed Countess who showed him a deck of cards, and when he saw them, he declared that these cards had originated in Egypt. The essays he wrote in his journals and his declaration managed to capture the fancy of many people and the perception stayed on.
During the later part of the 1800s several secret societies devoted to practicing the occult arts often studied Tarot as part of their study curriculum. One such secret society was the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. Both Arthur Edward Waite and Aleister Crowley were part of this occult society and they went on to produce two different Tarot decks: the deck known as the "Rider-Waite" and the deck known as the "Book of Thoth" respectively.
Today, both these decks are as popular in the market as they were back in the 1900s. They are fascinating and contemporary - with vivid and beautiful images, which do not appear dated at all!
What is the structure of a Tarot card deck?
A typical Tarot card deck contains a total of seventy eight cards. All these cards are divided into two basic parts - the Major Arcana and the Minor Arcana.
The word "Arcana" is derived from the Latin word "arcanum" which means "secret". So, Major Arcana would mean 'More Important Secret' and Minor Arcana would mean 'Less Important Secret'.
There are a total of twenty two cards in the Major Arcana. These cards begin with a card numbered 0 (Zero) and go on straight till twenty one.
Thus, the remaining fifty six cards fall into the Minor Arcana. These cards are further sub-divided into four parts, which are referred to as "Suits". These four suits are: Wands (or Staves, or Rods), Cups (or Chalices), Swords, Pentacles (or Discs, or Coins).
There are a total of fourteen cards in each suit. These cards are further divided into ten Suit or "Pip" cards, and four Court Cards. The ten Pip cards begin with a card called an Ace (which is numbered as 1) and go on straight till a card numbered 10. The four court cards are: Page, Knight, Queen and King. In some decks, the court cards are named as: Prince, Princess, Queen and King.
Each of these suits corresponds to an element. Different decks may assign different elements to each suit, but commonly held elemental attributions are: Wands - Fire, Cups - Water, Swords - Air, Pentacles - Earth.
This is basically how the Tarot cards are structured in a deck. The cards of the Major Arcana tend to have a deeper meaning and symbolism, and represent deep truths on various practical, mental and spiritual levels. They embody several psychological archetypes and are considered to carry more weight in a reading because they portray a very involved state of events happening in the individual's life.
The cards of the Minor Arcana show regular, day-to-day events happening in the person's life. This does not mean that their importance is less, rather, that the events happening are very much in transition and often on a practical level of life.
The Court Cards depict people - their personalities, their motivations and their sensibilities. In a reading, these court cards can therefore stand for the individual himself / herself, or for people in the person's life.
Thus, all together, the entire Tarot deck comprises of different cards which talk of the numerous levels of events and experiences that a person may undergo during his life.
Andrew Tomkinson is a writer of Articles on Magic and Fantasy. For more information on Tarot Cards, their meanings and how to use them, please click on the link.
http://budurl.com/UltimateTarotTrainer
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