Original Major Arcana And Tarot Card Readings

By Christopher Hill


Tarot cards originated as far back as 1440 in Italy with the original 22 cards of the Major Arcana when the first deck appeared. In most cases, the Italian decks were called "Visconti Trumps" and are often considered the forefathers of the decks which are now available. Whereas, readers often now use a number of different decks to gain as much insight out of tarot card readings as possible.

Rumors have suggested that the Italian cards with all the beauty and symbolism were created with royalty in mind. Whereas, it was not until much later that the cards became popular and associated with psychic readings and divination. Once the cards were more accepted and used for divination, readings and personal insight became associated with entertainment as much as the occult.

Later, the Trump cards became standardized in the second half of the fifteenth century in France. Before this standardization, those whom played with the Trumps could decide to include, exclude or substitute cards as needed. Whereas, the Devil, Death and Tower cards were often discarded as these were often offensive to Nobles.

It was not so much the meaning tied to the cards but the images which caused religious leaders of the time to attempt to banish the Trump cards. In fact, the first specific reference to these cards was in a sermon. The sermon provided by an Italian Franciscan Friar some time in the mid-1400s contended that the Tower, Death and Devil cards were invented and named by the devil, with the latter being a namesake.

Even when using the cards for a simple game, the Friar suggested the devil was using the cards to win the souls of the people who played games with the Trump cards. As such, the sermon condemned the use of the cards whether for games or other purposes.

The rebirth of Tarot and the use of decks in divination is attributed to Antoine Court de Gebelin in the late 1700s. For, Antoine believed the cards to be of Egyptian origin which contained knowledge of a mystical nature. De Gabelin also believed the symbols were purposefully included in the Major Arcana, also known as the Trumps. Unlike the Friar, Antoine saw no association between the Devil and the art of tarot.

In theory, de Gebelin believed that the cards were keys to the lost magical wisdom of the Egyptians, originally written by Thoth, the Egyptian God associated with written knowledge. It was from this point that the Major Arcana began to evolve into cards which would later be changed by secret societies which produced a number of decks. Whereas, there are now a number of artists, mediums, psychics and spiritualists whom have designed custom decks which are now being read around the globe.

Originally regular playing cards were often used in place of the Trumps or full decks. In fact, the symbolism in most modern decks is actually based on the face and suit cards of regular decks. As such, regardless of whether playing with a regular deck or one authored by an artist or writer, the meaning behind the different suits are often the same, if not similar in nature.




About the Author:



Aucun commentaire:

Enregistrer un commentaire