An Introduction to Tarot
© 2006 Honora Finkelstein
Tarot cards have an uncertain origin. Most
researchers will agree that they first appeared as symbols on pieces
of cardboard or sturdy paper in about the 14th century in
Europe. But the symbols themselves go back at least as far as the
temples of the ancient Egyptians, where similar images appeared.
Some researchers believe they were created in the town of Fez in
Egypt after the Library of Alexandria burned for the last time;
their origin as a “game” is said to have been a ruse to hide the
wisdom teachings they contained. There’s also a tradition that they
were brought to the West by the Gypsies—hence, the connection with
Gypsy fortunetellers. But there’s a whole school of thought
suggesting that their true significance is to teach a mystical path
to spiritual awakening—this school also ties the cards to the Hebrew
mystical tradition of Kabbalah.
Sometimes called “The Book of Books,” the cards
are believed by many to be the symbolic keys to deep wisdom. There
are two parts to a Tarot deck, what are called the Greater Arcana,
which are 22 pictures or “paths of wisdom,” and the Lesser Arcana,
which are 56 cards numbered into four suits. These are actually the
basis for the 52 cards of modern playing card decks.
The famous father of modern psychology, Carl
Jung, believed the 22 pictures of the Greater Arcana were what he
called archetypes, or universal roles that all humans in all
cultures in all ages have played or must play in order to become
psychologically whole.
The Lesser Arcana cards are in four suits that
represent the physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual aspects of
human life. The coins are the physical, since metal is dug out of
the earth, and also perhaps because money makes the physical world
go round. The swords are the mental, since the way we think is often
a two-edged sword. The cups are our emotional side, since water is
often interpreted as our emotional nature. And the wands, or wooden
staffs, are our spiritual nature—wood burns, and fire represents the
spirit. The Lesser Arcana cards also use numerology or number
symbolism to look at life’s events. Each suit has 10 numbered cards
plus 4 court cards, a page, a knight, a queen, and a king. Each of
these cards has numerological significance or, in the case of the
court cards, personality significance for the individual. Coins and
cups are considered to be feminine suits; swords and wands are
considered to be masculine suits.
In the modern playing deck, there are 10
numbered cards, plus three face cards in each suit: a jack, a queen,
and a king. The knights are what dropped out. In the modern deck,
the suit of coins has become the suit of diamonds, another valuable
item of exchange from the earth. Swords have become spades. Cups
have become hearts. And wands have become clubs. All the Greater
Arcana cards have dropped away except the Fool or Jester, which
became the Joker of the modern pack.
As a Jungian reader, I like to think that the
cards have a “psychodynamic” quality about them. I ask the people I
read for to pull a certain number of cards, and I believe their
psyches or subconscious minds will be more aware than their
conscious minds of what they need to know and hear from me as their
“reader.” So they'll pull those cards that most reflect what is
going on in their own psyches. And it is my job to tell them, based
on what they’ve drawn, what I think is going on within. In other
words, a $25.00 card reading is a really inexpensive way to get a
psychotherapy session!
Other more gifted psychic readers may use the
cards simply as a way of accessing their own psychic abilities—sort
of as a psychic springboard to internal vision. Either way, the
person being read will probably get some therapeutic insights.
Ariel Quigley does a lot of Tarot readings for
other characters in The Chef Who Died Sautéing. And she ties
the cards to the study of Kabbalah in several places in the book. We
will be looking more deeply at both Tarot and Kabbalah in the next
several issues of our newsletter. |
