Friday 22 February 2019

A Historical Overview Of Tarot Card Readings

By Christopher Hill


The first tarot decks originally appeared as far back as 1440 in Italy. In this case, the deck contained the 22 cards now considered to be the Major Arcana. During that time, these cards were often referred to as Visconti Trumps. Whereas, most psychic and tarot card readings are now performed with a variety of different decks.

Rumor has it that these cards were originally designed and created for Nobles. Whereas, it was centuries later in which the cards once again became popular. It was at this point and time when tarot cards were first used as tools of divination.

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 only using the cards in game play, the Friar suggested that the devil was merely using the cards in an attempt to steal the souls of those whom played such games. As such, while the sermon condemned the use of the cards whether being used for games or other purposes, religious leaders failed to banish the cards which have since become popular with psychics and spiritualists around the globe.

Tarot readings and the use of decks for divination was in large part brought about by Antoine Court de Gebelin in the late 1700s. For, de Gebelin believed the cards to be of Egyptian origin while containing knowledge of Egyptian mystical lore. In addition, Antoine believed that the imagery was intentionally included and placed on specific cards in association with this lore and wisdom. For, unlike the Friar, Antoine saw no connection between tarot and Satan.

Antoine held a strong belief that tarot cards were keys to the lost mystical wisdom of the ages, originally produced and written by the Egyptian God of writing, Thoth. It was from this point that the Major Arcana started to evolve into cards which would later be produced and distributed by secret societies. Since that time, a number of psychics, mediums, mystics, and spiritualists have created decks on a number of topics.

In the beginning of tarot, regular playing cards were often used as a means of separating the suits. Whereas, later there were several decks which only used the Trumps or Major Arcana. Whereas, there are so many different creators and decks available now that it can often be difficult for readers to know which one to choose. While this is the case, as most readers believe cards should be a gift rather than purchased, the decision is often made by someone other than the reader.




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