"Wisest Ashataroth, please send,
Your guidance and your wisdom lend.
Help me read with clarity,
And speak the truth,
-So mote it be."
(This is my oldest and very first tarot deck that I was ever to purchase, at the tender age of 14. The cards are stained, and bent, corners furling, over used, and much loved. The jewelry is a tiny little ethically sourced real bat skull, painted in a jade green.)
The tarot card was first invented during the 15th Century, originally as part of numerous card games. They did indeed begin life, as a simple pack of playing cards.
First making an appearance in Europe, the cards were most commonly associated with France and Italy.
Later on in life, Romania took the art of Tarot as a form for trade.
It is hard for us to picture a gypsy clan, without a wonderful old woman, covered in shawls, at her caravan doorstop, beckoning you inside to have your cards or your palm read.
There is evidence in written form that some sort of divination was placed into these cards in 1540, But it wasn't until the 18th Century, they became a common symbol of the occult and began to be used in divination and magic routinely.
Some of the french free-masons make connections with the pictograms on the cards to the ancient egyptian gods. For example they believed the card we now commonly know as 'The High Priestess' was a representation of Isis.
They also believe that the very word 'Tarot' comes from the Egyptian words 'Tar' and 'Ro' - literally translating to the Royal Road of Life.
The Tarot deck has been used worldwide, and can be found in documentation dating back through many famous characters.
Casanova stated in 1765 that one of his Russian mistresses was constantly using her own deck for divining life's intentions.
A typical tarot deck is made up of 78 cards, and is split into two parts.
The Major and Minor Arcana.
There are hundreds of decks out in the world, and the best way to learn is to find a deck that suits you, read through the accompanying book, and then teach yourself the cards. Feel them out for yourself.
There is a lot of bad press for tarot, with cards such as 'The Devil', 'Death', and 'Judgement', unknowing people tend to see tarot and in fact divination as a whole, as communing with the dead. Which is not the case.
Most divination is no more dangerous than reading your horoscope. Something most people (even the most judgmental of witchcraft) will do everyday, whilst reading the daily paper.
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Happy fortune telling, my gypsy sisters!
Feel free to share your decks with me, I love to see other peoples tools.
