| Tarot - A picture says more than a thousand words |
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| Serena Brink | |||
| Monday, 29 August 2005 | |||
The tarot are a set of cards that contain a visual system of knowledge, every picture within it being symbolic, each containing very complex and valuable information, if you know how to decode it. We all face a range of these difficulties at some time in our lives and the tarot helps us make decisions or see things a bit differently because it gives us a visual image of the issue, problem, event or person. This visual image can invoke our intuitive powers and give us a different perspective. Weighing up the pro's and con's of a situation can sometimes lead us in circles, whereas a picture can give us a definite focus. My approach to tarot is to act as a guide during this process so that the client can come to a much clearer understanding of what their choices are and what they want to do. I am more of a tarot counsellor than a fortune-teller. Of course, there are those tarot readers who use tarot cards as a psychic trigger and they often know very little about the symbolism of the cards or their metaphysical significance. When tarot cards are used in this way the information given to the inquirer may not have anything to do with the traditional range of meanings associated with the card, rather the cards evoke psychic impressions which the reader then relays to the client. Historical background The earliest historical accounts of the tarot occur in the fifteenth century in Europe. Tarot historians have been unable to discover the exact origins of the tarot and as a result there has been much speculation. Some say the tarot came from ancient Greece or Egypt, others are convinced that the gypsies invented them, whilst some believe in the legend that the tarot is a symbolic visual encoding of ancient knowledge and wisdom that was put together to resemble a game. This legend recounts that a group of sages (in the aftermath of the burning of the libraries of Alexandria) decided that a game might be overlooked by rampant book burning enthusiasts. Although there is no evidence to support these views, esoteric tarot packs such as the Rider/Waite Tarot, depict the symbols of the ancient civilisations of Egypt and Greece, thereby pointing the way to the ancient mystery religions and the hermetic philosophy that has influenced the Western Magical Tradition. Playing cards and the Tarot The four suits of modern playing cards are similar to the minor arcane or 'pip' cards in the Tarot. Spades for instance are the equivalent of Swords in tarot cards, and Hearts of Cups. The Joker is the equivalent of the Fool in the Tarot, and is the only major arcana card found in modern playing cards. The main difference between an ordinary pack of cards and the tarot are the twenty-two major arcana cards. The major arcana depict roles people played in medieval society e.g. Emperor, Empress, Pope; events e.g. Death, the Hanged Man, the Tower; qualities or virtues e.g. Temperance, Strength, Justice; and the religious beliefs and legends of the time e.g. The Papess (based on the story of Pope Joan) Judgement Day, and the Devil. Modern Tarot The most famous and revolutionary change in tarot packs was first published in 1910 by Rider. Created by Arthur Waite and painted by Pamela Coleman Smith it is known as the Rider/Waite tarot pack. This pack introduced an additional difference between an ordinary pack of cards and the tarot by interpreting the pip cards as scenes e.g. the 6 of pentacles (diamonds) depicted the scene of a man acting as a benefactor to the poor. This revolutionised tarot and made it more accessible and popular as it was far easier to interpret pictures than the simple symbols of the pips. Modern approaches to the tarot Before the dawn of the twentieth century the metaphysical approach to the tarot was primarily informed by a magical view of the universe in which everything was interconnected and coincidences were therefore meaningful. The tarot was a powerful way of tapping into the influences affecting an inquirer's life at the moment of the reading. Carl Jung's theory of the psyche and the archetypes, that he developed in the early twentieth century provided a different perspective of tarot symbolism and has now become a more popular approach to the tarot than the traditional psychic readings. This more psychological approach to using tarot cards has resulted in what is now called 'tarot counselling'. In this use the tarot can function as a kind of Rorschach test (the set of inkblot images used by psychologists) where the reader facilitates the interactions between the client and the tarot cards so that the client's unconscious conflicts and beliefs can emerge. As a result the client can develop an awareness of how their unconscious beliefs and conflicts are influencing their present problems and issues. Once the client is conscious of these influences then he or she can make different choices and not compulsively repeat old destructive patterns.
Disclaimer: Harmonious Living is written for and read by a community of individuals with strong and independent opinions. While the publishers of Harmonious Living are dedicated to providing a forum in which views can be openly expressed, those views do not necessarily reflect those of the publishers.
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