TYPE 4

INTRO TO THE TARO

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AN INTRODUCTION TO THE TAROT.

Research by Unicorn & Pagan of Coven of the Wheel. Part One.

According to Jane Lyle:

The standard modern Tarot deck consists of 78 cards, these are divided into

two sections;

The Major Arcana meaning " Greater Secrets" consisting of 22 cards & the

Lesser Arcana meaning " Lesser Secrets" consisting of 56 cards.

It is these former cards, the greater secrets, that have intrigued, enraged &

puzzled scholars, moralists & a mixed bag of other seekers of truth,

including mystics, psychologists & occultists.

The Tarot cards are still considered by some as " the rungs of a ladder

leading to the depths of Hell", Tarot cards have fascinated people for

centuries. Prized by Gypsies, Temple Magicians, Rosicrucians, Masons, linked

with ancient Witchcraft & mode rn Wicca, & denounced as heretical by medieval

churchmen, the Tarot has survived every twist & turn of fortune.

Today mainly due to the New Age movement Tarot decks are widely available &

now enjoys unprecedented popularity with the masses, despite the " Born Again

" type Christian movement & others.

The Minor Arcana contains its own mysteries. At first glance it clearly

resembles the deck of playing cards most people are familiar with. It is

divided into 4 suits:

Wands correspond to the element Air & Clubs / Staves / Bune Wands / Batons.

Pentacles correspond to the element Earth & Coins / Discs / Diamonds.

Swords correspond to the element Fire & Athames / Spades.

Cups correspond to the element Water & Cauldrons / Hearts.

Each of these suits consist of numbered cards, from Ace to ten, & 4 court

cards.

Today's playing cards are clearly related to the Minor Acarna of ancient

times, indeed the name " playing " cards may have been coined to clarify the

difference between these cards & the ever mysterious Major Arcana.

In modern Italy they still play a game called Tarrochi with the Minor Arcana

of the Ancient Tarot deck.

The actual symbols representing each of the minor suits also appear elsewhere

in myths & legends.

In Ireland, the legendary people of the Great Goddess Dana / Danu, the Tuatha

De Dannan spoke of 4 magical treasures:

A cauldron, a spear, a stone & a sword. [ Water, Air, Earth & Fire.]

Similar symbols are found in Hindu art:

The cup, a Wand, Sceptre, A Ring & Sword.

Perhaps the most thought provoking link is the Greek Goddess of Fate Herself,

Nemesis, whose symbols include a cup, a wand of apple wood, a wheel & a

sword.

Such symbols are also linked with the 4 elements of the ancient world; fire,

earth, air & water. In turn, these form one of the foundation of Western

Astrology, which groups the 12 signs of the Zodiac into 4 groups, each

governed by an element. The 4 elements also form the basics of all magical &

healing work.

The Major Arcana remains elusive for it does not obviously correspond to

anything we recognise today. Like the enigmatic Standing Stones of ancient

times these 22 cards have spawned an imaginative range of theories regarding

their origins & meanings .

Ancient Egypt is a popular background for speculation; some theories connect

the cards with the writings of Hermes Trismegistus, legendary mystic, sage &

supposed author of the " Emerald Tablet", & other magical manuscripts.

Gypsies, a word believed to derive from Egyptians, are thought by some

sources to have carried the cards with them from India during their travels.

Others claim that when the Great library at Alexandria was destroyed, the

ancient city of Fez became a centre for mystics & philosophers who travelled

there from the 4 corners of the earth. These wise men had a little trouble

communicating with one another, since they all spoke different languages.

So, the story goes, they created a symbolic pictoria l language of their own

which was designed to encapsulate universal knowledge & spiritual truth.

Colourful speculation aside, the idea that the Major Arcana is a book of

esoteric teaching is probably not far from the truth. The reason for this

conclusion is based on what is known of the Tarots history.

What seems to be the earliest existing Tarot cards, of which 17 remain, date

from 1392. Thirty years later, an Italian artist called Bonifacio Bembo

painted the full deck which survives from those times. These were

commissioned by the Duke of Milan, & are known as the Visconti deck after his

family name.

So, if the Tarot existed prior to the 1300s there is a slender evidence to

support this theory. But that is not to suggest that the ideas & beliefs

behind the Tarot's powerful images are as recent as the cards themselves.

Certainly, a number of images found in the Major Arcana seem to be

essentially medieval, drawing on key figures & concepts of the time. The

Pope, the Magician or Juggler, the Fool & the Day of Judgement would all have

been familiar concepts, very muc h every day features of the Medieval world &

mind & seem to suggest that the Tarot is a purely Medieval invention.

But what about the surreal landscape shown on the Moon? And how can we

explain the presence of a High Priestess, a concept which is still an

anathema to some Christians today, or the topsy-turvy figure of the Hanged

man who remains serenely alive? Th ese images point to a much older system of

beliefs, for they have their roots in pre- Christian times.

Picture this, Medieval Europe was a dangerous place for heretics. By

recording secret philosophies & teaching visually, those who disagreed with

prevailing doctrines may have thought they had found a safe way to pass on

their knowledge without incurr ing persecution.

The Renaissance practise of using what are called ars memorativa, that is

pictorial memory systems, was an integral part of the whole occult movement

at the time. This idea, intended as a meditation aid, was adopted from

ancient Greece; examples are found on talismans & amulets of the period. The

Tarot could easily have been a highly sophisticated pictorial memory system,

tapping deep levels of consciousness & is still used as a focus today.

According to Angeles Arrien the symbols of the Tarot may well be creative

ideas that function as a universal language in that area where an

individual's internal & external worlds intersect & attempts to dialogue

with each other. In any kind of inner work, whether it be dreams,

divination, meditation, contemplation, guided imaginary, or creative

visualisations, symbols appear to us as sign posts or Keys & they function

as containers, revealers, or concealers of meaning to enable us " to

penetrat e into the mystery of life."

The Tarot can be seen as a symbolic map of consciousness & an ancient book of

wisdom that reveals to us visually & symbolically the creative ideas & states

of consciousness that appear in multiple existence in all cultures. The 78

cards can be seen a s symbols or archetypes of inner & outer experiences that

are prevalent within human experience.

According to Angeles Arrien the best description of the origins & the use of

the Tarot have been offered by Alfred Douglas;

" Historians have turned to the word, Tarot, to attempt to solve its origin.

Some have suggested that Tarot comes from the ancient Egyptian word, Ta-rosh,

meaning the royal way, others have asserted that it is an anagram of the

Latin word, Rota, mean ing Wheel, the cards then symbolising the circle of

life from birth to death.

Others felt that the Hebrew word Torah, which means Law may links the cards

with the mystical system of the Cabalah, forgetting that the Cabalah

originated in Spain, a country which had never known the Tarot major trumps.

Some have seen in it a corruption of the name Thoth, the ancient Egyptian God

of Magic & Wisdom, an attempt to reaffirm the legend that the cards were

created in the initiation temples of the mysterious East. It may, perhaps,

be derived from the Hu ngarian Gypsy word Tar, meaning a deck of cards, which

in turn derives from Sanskrit, Taru. The word Gypsy itself, is old English

abbreviation of Egyptian."

BLESSED BE.

INTRODUCTION TO THE TAROT. Part Two.

Research by Unicorn & Pagan of Coven of the Wheel.

According to Alfred Duglas the history of the Tarot is as follows;

It is generally excepted by scholars that the earliest playing cards

originated in China & Korea, where examples have been found dating back to at

least the 11th century. The design of these cards appears to have been based

on paper money, which evo lved during the T'ang dynasty [ C E 618-908.] A

Chinese dictionary, Ching-tze-tung, claims that playing cards were invented

in C E 1120 for the amusement of the Emperor's concubines.

Some believe the cards originated in India. The four armed Hindu deity,

Ardhanarishvara, an androgynous figure combining the right half of the deity

is Shiva, with the left half being Shakti / Parvati is sometimes depicted

holding a cup, a sceptre, a sword & a ring. The monkey God, Hanuman, is also

at times shown holding these same emblems, which bear a close resemblance to

the 4 suit signs of the Tarot; cups, wands, swords & discs.

Unfortunately, there is no evidence to reveal how old these symbols are or if

they ever appeared on Indian playing cards, which are generally circular &

bear little resemblance to European cards.

From the time of the Islamic Empire, roughly C E 900 - 1100, Egypt had been

singled out in many wizard's minds as the place where the most potent magical

secrets had originated. The word alchemy itself derives from Arabic, meaning

the " Art of Khem" or Egypt. Egyptian origin is the oldest theory, & was

actively evolved by 18th century occultists who rediscovered the Tarot. [ N.

B. Dear Reader, Please refer to the lesson " Tarot found at the Temple of

Serapis in Italy, Report by the French Instit

ute of Archaeology in Cairo." Pagan. ]

It is possible that the 4 suits refer to the 4 casts of Hinduism: Cups, being

priests / Bramins, Swords being warriors overlords / Kshatriyas, Coins being

merchants or Vaisyas, & Batons / Staffs / Wands being serfs or Sundras.

Both Chinese or Indian notions are fine theories, but when one compares the

decks, one finds very little symbolism in common, especially where the Major

Arcana is concerned. Any similarity is limited to 56 cards of the Minor

Arcana.

The general climate in Europe in the 14 th century, when Tarot made its first

appearance, was one in which Christianity reigned supreme, but Paganism still

lurked in obvious forms, resulting in terrible persecution of heretics. There

was a rise of he retical Christian sects, which today are grouped under the

collective title of Gnosticism.

The word Gnostic is derived from Greek & implies much the same as the Anglo-

Saxon words wizard or witch, or someone who knows, a wise man / woman, or

initiate.

Gnosticism mixed together Indian, Chaldean, Persian, & Egyptian magical

doctrines & seasoned them with Greek philosophy & Hebrew Cabalistic beliefs.

These unorthodox Christian sects were called Waldenses, Cathari, Aligenses,

Bogornils, & the monastic order known as the Knights Templar.

Alexandria became the centre for Gnostic learning around 2nd century C E. &

Coptic Christianity absorbed many of the Gnostic symbols dating from that

period. It is from this welter of Gnostic cults that the occult arts of the

West appear to derive: a lchemy, astrology, & the images of the Tarot

themselves.

Popular demand for the cards far outweighed religious opposition to them, &

by the mid- 15th century, card making workshops were thriving in many cities

of Italy, France, Germany & Belgium

In 1781- eight years before the French Revolution- Antoine Court de Gebelin,

a French occultist & archaeologist, proposed the theory that the Gypsy Tarot

was the remains of an ancient Egyptian book of magical wisdom, still

treasured by the Romany pe oples since their exodus from their native land of

Egypt. He published a nine volume book: " The Primitive World Analysed &

Compared To The Modern World." The effect of this work was to almost

overnight cause the Tarot to become the tool of the Rosi crucian sages, & it

was feted as the bible of all true occultists.

Eliphas Levi, a French Rosicrucian writer & Cabalist, inspired an 18th

century occult revival. He discovered an apparent link between 22 letters of

the Hebrew alphabet & the cards of the Major Arcana & he was first to give

elements to the suits. There evolved a secret society, The Golden Dawn which

was a blend of Christianity, Theosophy, Eliphas Levi's magical Cabala &

Egyptian Rosicrucian ceremonies typical of the 17th & 18th centuries. The

purpose was basically for the achievement of mysti cal illumination & magical

power. The chief symbol that the group used for its teachings was the

Cabalistic glyph known as the Tree Of Life, based on the Medieval philosophy

of Spanish Judaism known as Cabala. Their tool was the Tarot.

The Golden Dawn a short lived but powerful magic order, was particularly

notable for mixing Astrology, Mysticism, Gnosticism, Christianity, Paganism,

Ritual Magic & the complex Hebrew Kabala & linked all the above with the

Tarot & have influenced all later decks with their correspondences. Many of

these correspondences were devised & refined during this occult revival.

Arthur Edward Waite 's book, " The pictorial Key to the Tarot " was published

in 1910. Another former member, self styled Great Beast & controversial

magician Aleister Crowley also published a guide to the Tarot. The deck

appeared 22 years after his death 1969.

BLESSED BE.