Little is
known about the exact origins of the Tarot but the word Tarot derives from
the Italian word 'Tarrochi'.
It is believed
to have been practiced by gypsies and came into popular knowledge when
the French upper classes began using it as a parlour game in a similar
way that we use playing cards today.
The Tarot
had a lapse in popularity but was brought back into fashion during the
early part of this century by the spiritualist movement. Crowley in particular
who brought several new thoughts to the Tarot. I have not used his
interpretations in this site however if you go to the choosing
decks section you will find something written of him there.
No one is
sure exactly when the Tarot was first used for divining however it must
be said that although the Tarot was used as a parlour game in France, it
is also possible to use the normal playing cards that we use for divination
purposes.
The Tarot
is an interesting tool to use to help with understanding our intuition.
There are
several other ways in which to do this other than the Tarot and it is important
to remember that as interesting as the Tarot is they are no more magical
and spiritual in origin than our playing cards.
An additional
thought on this and one that I think is worth mentioning - the Tarot has
nothing to do with Satan/Ghosts/Vampires/the Undead/Ouijia Board or anything
else like that. They are simply cards and don't need to be feared
any more than normal playing cards. And as unfortunate as it is that
many people use the Tarot as a scam to lure money out of people - one hell
of a lot more people lose their money on normal playing cards.
The Tarot
is a tool, and used properly, it can be a powerful one.
And an extremely
positive and helpful one.
© Tanja's
Tarot 1999
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