Tarot card reading

Tarot card readingis a form ofcartomancywhereby practitioners usetarotcards to purportedly gain insight into the past, present or future. They formulate a question, then draw cards to interpret them for this end. A traditional tarot deck consists of 78 cards, which can be split into two groups, theMajor ArcanaandMinor Arcana.French-suited playing cardscan also be used; as can any card system with suits assigned to identifiable elements (e.g., air, earth, fire, water).

History

See also:Tarot § History

The first written references to tarot packs occurred between 1440 and 1450 in northern Italy, for example inMilanandFerrara,when additional cards with allegoricalillustrationswere added to the common four-suit pack. These new packs were calledcarte da trionfi,triumph packs, and the additional cards known simply astrionfi,which became "trumps" in English.

One of the earliest references totarottriumphs is given c. 1450–1470 by aDominicanpreacherin a sermon against dice, playing cards and 'triumphs'.References to the tarot as a social plague or indeed as exempt from the bans that affected other games, continue throughout the 16th and 17th centuries, but there are no indications that the cards were used for anything butgames.As philosopher and tarot historianMichael Dummettnoted, "it was only in the 1780s, when the practice of fortune-telling with regular playing cards had been well established for at least two decades, that anyone began to use the tarot pack for cartomancy."

Claims by the early French occultists that tarot cards had esoteric links toancient Egypt,theKabbalah,IndicTantra,or theI Chinghave been frequently repeated by authors on card divination. However, scholarly research reveals that, having been invented in Italy in the early 15th century for playing games, there is no evidence of any significant use of tarot cards for divination until the late 18th century.In fact, historians have described western views of the Tarot pack as "the subject of the most successful propaganda campaign ever launched... An entire false history and false interpretation of the Tarot pack was concocted by the occultists; and it is all but universally believed".

The belief in thedivinatory meaningof the cards is closely associated with a belief in theiroccultproperties, a commonly held belief inearly modern Europepropagated by prominentProtestant ChristianclericsandFreemasons.

From its uptake as an instrument of divination in18th-century France,the tarot went on to be used inhermeneutic,magical,mystical,semiotic,and psychological practices. It was used byRomani peoplewhen telling fortunes,as aJungianpsychological apparatus for tapping into "absolute knowledge in the unconscious",a tool forarchetypalanalysis,and even a tool for facilitating the Jungian process ofindividuation.

Court de Gébelin

Court de Gébelin

Many involved in occult and divinatory practices attempt to trace the tarot toancient Egypt,divine hermetic wisdom,and themysteries of Isis.

The first wasAntoine Court de Gébelin,a French clergyman, who wrote that after seeing a group of women playing cards he had the idea that tarot was not merely a game of cards but was in fact of ancient Egyptian origin, of mysticalQabalisticimport, and of deep divine significance. Court de Gébelin published a dissertation on the origins of the symbolism in the tarot in volume VIII of workLe Monde primitifin 1781. He thought the tarot representedancient Egyptian Theology,including Isis, Osiris, and Typhon. For example, he thought the card he knew as the Papesse and known in occult circles today as theHigh PriestessrepresentedIsis.He also related four tarot cards to the four ChristianCardinal virtues:Temperance,Justice,StrengthandPrudence.He relatedThe Towerto a Greek fable aboutavarice.

Although the ancientEgyptian languagehad not yet been deciphered, Court de Gébelin asserted the name "Tarot" came from the Egyptian wordsTar,"path" or "road", and the wordRo,Ros,orRog,meaning "King" or "royal", and that the word literally translated to "the Royal Road of Life".Subsequent research byEgyptologistsfound nothing in the Egyptian language to support Court de Gébelin'setymologies.Despite this lack of any evidence, the belief that the tarot cards are linked to the EgyptianBook of Thothcontinues to the present day.

The actual source of the occult tarot can be traced to two articles in volume eight, one written by Court de Gébelin, and one written by M. le C. de M.***,who has been identified as Major General Louis-Raphaël-Lucrèce de Fayolle, Comte de Mellet.This second essay is "considerably more impressive" than de Gébelin's, albeit "as full of assertions with no basis in truth",and has been even more influential than Court de Gébelin's.The author makes no acknowledgement of de Gébelin and, although he agrees with all his main conclusions, he also contradicts de Gébelin over such details as the meaning of the word "Tarot" and in how the cards spread across Europe.Morever, he takes de Gébelin's speculations even further, agreeing with him about the mystical origins of the tarot in ancient Egypt, but making several additional, and influential, statements that continue to influence mass understanding of the occult tarot even to this day.He made the first statements proposing that the tarot was "TheBook of Thoth"and made the first association of tarot with cartomancy. Meanwhile Court de Gébelin was the first to imply the existence of a connection between the Tarot andRomani people,although this connection did not become well established in the public consciousness until other French authors such as Boiteau d'Ambly and Jean-Alexandre Vaillant began in the 1850s to promote the theory that tarot cards had been brought to Europe by the Romani.In fact, there is "virtually no evidence" that Romani people used any form of playing card for telling fortunes until the 20th century.

Etteilla

The first to assign divinatory meanings to the tarot cards was cartomancerJean-Baptiste Alliette(also known asEtteilla) in 1783.

According to Dummett, Etteilla:

• devised a method of tarot divination in 1783,
• wrote a cartomantic treatise of tarot as the Book of Thoth,
• created the first society for tarot cartomancy, the Société littéraire des associés libres des interprètes du livre de Thot.
• created the first corrected tarot (supposedly fixing errors that resulted from misinterpretation and corruption through the mists of antiquity), The Grand Etteilla deck
• created the first Egyptian tarot to be used exclusively for tarot cartomancy, and
• published, under the imprint of his society, theDictionnaire synonimique du Livre de Thot,a book that "systematically tabulated all the possible meanings which each card could bear, when upright and reversed."

Etteilla also suggested that tarot was:

• a repository of the wisdom ofHermes Trismegistus
• a book of eternal medicine
• an account of the creation of the world, and
• argued that the first copy of the tarot was imprinted on leaves of gold.

In his 1980 book,The Game of Tarot,Michael Dummett suggested that Etteilla was attempting to supplant Court de Gébelin as the author of the occult tarot.Etteilla in fact claimed to have been involved with tarot longer than Court de Gébelin.

Marie Anne Lenormand

Mlle Marie-Anne Adelaide Lenormandoutshone even Etteilla and was the first cartomancer to people in high places, through her claims to be the personal confidant ofEmpress Josephine,Napoleonand other notables.Lenormand used both regular playing cards, in particular thePiquet pack,as well as tarot cards likely derived from theTarot de Marseille.Following her death in 1843, several different cartomantic decks were published in her name, including theGrand Jeu de Mlle Lenormand,based on the standard 52-card deck, first published in 1845, and thePetit Lenormand,a 36-card deck derived from the German gameDas Spiel der Hoffnung,first published around 1850.

Éliphas Lévi

The concept of the cards as a mystical key was extended byÉliphas Lévi.Lévi (whose actual name was Alphonse-Louis Constant) was educated in the seminary of Saint-Sulpice, and was ordained as a deacon, but never became a priest. Michael Dummett noted that it is from Lévi's bookDogme et rituelthat the "whole of the modern occultist movement stems."Lévi's magical theory was based on a concept he called the Astral Lightand according to Dummett, he claimed to be the first to:

"have discovered intact and still unknown this key of all doctrines and all philosophies of the old world... without the tarot", he tells us, "the Magic of the ancients is a closed book...."

Lévi accepted Court de Gébelin's claims that the deck had an Egyptian origin, but rejected Etteilla's interpretation and rectification of the cards in favor of a reinterpretation of theTarot de Marseille.He called itThe Book of Hermesand claimed that the tarot was antique, existed before Moses, and was in fact a universal key of erudition, philosophy, and magic that could unlockHermeticand Qabalistic concepts.According to Lévi, "An imprisoned person with no other book than the Tarot, if he knew how to use it, could in a few years acquire universal knowledge, and would be able to speak on all subjects with unequaled learning and inexhaustible eloquence."

According to Dummett, Lévi's notable contributions included the following:

• Lévi was the first to suggest that the Magus (Bagatto) was to be depicted in conjunction with the symbols of the four suits.
• Inspired by de Gébelin, Lévi associated the Hebrew alphabet with theMajor Arcana(tarot trumps) and attributed an "onomantic astrology" system to the "ancient Hebrew Qabalists."
• Lévi linked the ten numbered cards in each suit to the tensefiroth.
• He claimed the court cards represented stages of human life.
• He also claimed the four suits represented theTetragrammaton.

French Tarot divination after Lévi

Occultists, magicians, and magi all the way down to the 21st century have cited Lévi as a defining influence.Among the first to seemingly adopt Lévi's ideas wasJean-Baptiste Pitois.Pitois wrote two books under the name Paul Christian that referenced the tarot,L'Homme rouge des Tuileries(1863), and laterHistoire de la magie, du monde surnaturel et de la fatalité à travers les temps et les peuples(1870). In them, Pitois repeated and extended the mythology of the tarot and changed the names for the trumps and the suits (see table below for a list of Pitois's modifications to the trumps).Batons (wands) become Scepters, Swords become Blades, and Coins become Shekels.

However, it wasn't until the late 1880s that Lévi's vision of the occult tarot truly began to bear fruit, as his ideas on the occult began to be propounded by various French and English occultists. In France, secret societies such as the FrenchTheosophical Society(1884) and theKabbalistic Order of the Rose-Cross(1888) served as the seeds for further developments in the occult tarot in France.

The French occultistPapuswas one of the most prominent members of these societies, joining the Isis lodge of the French Theosophical Society in 1887 and becoming a founding member of the Kabbalistic Order of the Rose-Cross the next year.Among his 260 publications are two treatises on the use of tarot cards,Le Tarot des Bohémiens(1889), which attempted to formalize the method of using tarot cards in ceremonial magic first proposed by Lévi in hisClef des grands mysteries(1861),andLe Tarot divinatoire(1909), which focused on simpler divinatory uses of the cards.

Another founding member of the Kabbalistic Order of the Rose-Cross, theMarquis Stanislas de Guaita,met the amateur artistOswald Wirthin 1887 and subsequently sponsored a production of Lévi's intended deck. Guided entirely by de Guaita, Wirth designed the first neo-occultist cartomantic deck (and first cartomantic deck not derived from Etteilla's Egyptian deck).Released in 1889 asLes 22 Arcanes du Tarot kabbalistique,it consisted of only the twenty-two major arcana and was revised under the title ofLe Tarot des imagers du moyen âgein 1926.Wirth also released a book about his revised cards which contained his own theories of the occult tarot under the same title the year following.

Outside of the Kabbalistic Order, in 1888, French magusÉly StarpublishedLes mystères de l'horoscopewhich mostly repeats Christian's modifications.Its primary contribution was the introduction of the terms 'Major Arcana' and 'Minor Arcana', and the numbering of the Crocodile (the Fool) XXII instead of 0.

The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn and its heirs

The late 1880s not only saw the spread of the occult tarot in France, but also its initial adoption in the English-speaking world. In 1886,Arthur Edward WaitepublishedThe Mysteries of Magic,a selection of Lévi's writings translated by Waite and the first significant treatment of the occult tarot to be published in England.However, it was only through the establishment of theHermetic Order of the Golden Dawnin 1888 that the occult tarot was to become established as a tool in the English-speaking world.

Of the three founding members of the Golden Dawn, two,Samuel Liddell MathersandWilliam Wynn Westcott,published texts relating to the occult tarot prior to the founding of the order. Westcott is known to have made ink sketches of tarot trumps in or around 1886and discussed the tarot in his treatiseTabula Bembina, sive Mensa Isiaca,published in 1887,while Mathers had published the first British work primarily focused on the tarot in his 1888 booklet entitledThe Tarot: Its Occult Signification, Use in Fortune-Telling and Method of Play.

Folio 32 of theCipher Manuscripts,which gives the correspondences for the Major Arcana

The tarot was also mentioned explicitly in theCipher Manuscriptsthat served as the founding document of the Hermetic Order, both implicitly and in the form of a separate essay accompanying the manuscript.This essay was to serve as the basis for most of tarot interpretations by the Golden Dawn and its immediate successors, including such features as:

• placing The Fool before the other 21 trumps when determining the Qabalistic correspondence of the Major Arcana to the Hebrew alphabet
• attributing the Hebrew alphabet correspondences to pathways in theTree of Life
• swapping the positions of the eighth and eleventh arcana (Justice and Strength), and
• reassigning Qabalistic planetary associations to accord with the re-ordered trumps.

The Golden Dawn also:

• renamed the suits of Batons and Coins to Wands and Pentacles
• swapped the order of the King and the Knight among the court cards, renaming them the Prince and the King, respectively
• changed the Page to become the Princess
• assigned each of the court cards to the letters of theTetragrammaton,thus associating both the court cards and suits to the fourclassical elements,and
• associated each of the 36 cards ranked from 2 to 10, inclusive, with one of the 36astrological decans.

The Hermetic Order never released its own tarot deck for public use, preferring instead for members to create their own copies of a deck designed by Mathers with art by his wife,Moina Mathers.However, many of these innovations would make their first public appearance in two influential tarot decks designed by members of the order: theRider–Waite–Smith deckand theThoth deck.In addition, occultistIsrael Regardieinvolved himself in two separate recreations of the original Golden Dawn deck, theGolden Dawn Tarotof 1978 with art by Robert Wang, and theNew Golden Dawn Ritual TarotbyChicandSandra Cicero,released, after Regardie's death, in 1991.The central document containing the Golden Dawn's Tarot interpretations, "Book T", was first published openly, if not under that title, byAleister Crowleyin his occult periodicalThe Equinoxin 1912.The volume was later republished independently in 1967.

Golden Dawn correspondences of the Major Arcana

Tarot card	Hebrew letter	Element/planet/sign
0The Fool	אAleph	🜁Air
IThe Magician	בBet	☿Mercury
IIThe High Priestess	גGimel	☾Moon
IIIThe Empress	דDalet	♀Venus
IVThe Emperor	הHe	♈︎Aries
VThe Hierophant	וVau	♉︎Taurus
VIThe Lovers	זZayin	♊︎Gemini
VIIThe Chariot	חHeth	♋︎Cancer
VIIIStrength	טTeth	♌︎Leo
IXThe Hermit	יYod	♍︎Virgo
XWheel of Fortune	כKaph	♃Jupiter
XIJustice	לLamed	♎︎Libra
XIIThe Hanged Man	מMem	🜄Water
XIIIDeath	נNun	♏︎Scorpio
XIVTemperance	סSamekh	♐︎Sagittarius
XVThe Devil	עAyin	♑︎Capricorn
XVIThe Tower	פPe	♂Mars
XVIIThe Star	צTsade	♒︎Aquarius
XVIIIThe Moon	קQoph	♓︎Pisces
XIXThe Sun	רResh	☉Sun
XXJudgement	שShin	🜂Fire
XXIThe World	תTaw	♄Saturn

Waite and Crowley

The Celtic Cross spread using the Universal Waite deck, a recolored variation of the original Rider–Waite deck

TheRider–Waite–Smith deck,released in 1909, was the first complete cartomantic tarot deck other than those derived from Etteilla's Egyptian tarot.(Oswald Wirth's 1889 deck had only depicted the major arcana.) The deck, designed byArthur Edward Waite,was executed byPamela Colman Smith,a fellow Golden Dawn member, and was the first tarot deck to feature complete scenes for each of the 36 suit cards between 2 and 10 since theSola Busca tarotof the 15th century, with certain designs likely based in part on a number of photographs of them held by the British Museum.The deck followed the Golden Dawn in its choice of suit names and in swapping the order of the trumps of Justice and Strength, but essentially preserved the traditional designations of the court cards. The deck was followed by the release ofThe Key to the Tarot,also by Waite, in 1910.

TheThoth deck,first released as part of Aleister Crowley'sThe Book of Thothin 1944,represent a somewhat different evolution of the original Golden Dawn designs. The deck, executed byLady Frieda Harrisas a series of paintings between 1938 and 1942,owes much to Crowley's development ofThelemain the years following the dissolution of the Hermetic Order. While the deck follows Golden Dawn teachings with respect to the zodiacal associations of the major arcana and the associations of the minor arcana with the various astrological decans, it also:

• reverted to the traditional Marseille numbering of Justice and Strength as arcana 8 and 11, respectively (though it retained the swapped associations with respect to the Hebrew alphabet)
• swapped the Hebrew alphabet associations of the fourth and seventeenth arcana (The Emperor and The Star, respectively), in accordance with Crowley'sLiber Legisof 1913
• renamed several of the major arcana
• renamed the suits of Batons and Coins to Wands and Disks (the latter instead of the Golden Dawn's "Pentacles" ), and
• adopted the Golden Dawn's court cards, except that the Knight was not renamed.

While Crowley managed to print a partial test run of the standalone deck using seven color plates included inThe Book of Thoth,it was not until the 1960s, after Crowley and Harris's deaths, that the deck was first printed in its entirety.

Tarot divination in the United States

Two of the earliest publications on tarot in the English language were published in the United States, including a book by Madame Camille Le Normand entitledFortune-Telling by Cards; or, Cartomancy Made Easy,published in 1872,and an anonymous American essay on the tarot published inThe Platonistin 1885 entitled "The Taro".The latter essay is implied by Decker and Dummett to have been written by an individual with a connection to the occult order known as theHermetic Brotherhood of Luxor.While it is not clear to what extent the Hermetic Brotherhood used tarot cards in its practices,it influenced later occult societies such as Elbert Benjamine'sChurch of Light,which had tarot practices (and an accompanying deck) of its own.

Adoption of the esoteric tarot practices of the Golden Dawn in the United States was driven in part by the American occultistPaul Foster Case,whose 1920 bookAn Introduction to the Study of the Tarotmade use of the Rider–Waite–Smith deck and assorted esoteric associations first adopted by the Golden Dawn.By the 1930s, however, Case had formed his own occult order, theBuilders of the Adytum,and began to promote the Revised New Art Tarot,byManly P. Hallwith art byJ. Augustus Knapp,as well as Case's own deck. Executed byJessie Burns Parke,the artwork of Case's deck, theB.O.T.A. Tarot,generally resembles that of the Rider–Waite–Smith deck, but the deck also shows influences fromOswald Wirthand the original design of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn tarot.Case promoted the deck in his 1947 bookThe Tarot: A Key to the Wisdom of the Ages,which also marked one of the first references to the work ofCarl Jungby a tarotist.

Esoteric use of the Rider–Waite–Smith Tarot was also promoted in the works ofEden Gray,whose three books on the tarot made extensive use of the deck. Gray's books were adopted by members of the 1960s counter-culture as standard reference works on divinatory use of tarot cards,and her 1970 bookA Complete Guide to the Tarotwas the first work to use the metaphor of the "Fool's Journey" to explain the meanings of the major arcana.

Tarot divination since 1970

The work of Eden Gray and others in the 1960s led to an explosion of popularity in tarot card reading beginning in 1969.Stuart R. Kaplan'sU.S. Games Systems,which had been founded in 1968 to import copies of theSwiss 1JJ Tarot,was well positioned to take advantage of this explosion and reissued the then out-of-print Rider–Waite–Smith Tarot in 1970, which has not gone out of print since.Tarot card reading quickly became associated with New Age thought, signaled in part by the popularity ofDavid Palladini'sRider–Waite–Smith-inspired Aquarian Tarot, first issued in 1968.Artists soon began to create their own interpretations of the tarot for artistic purposes rather than purely esoteric ones, such as the Mountain Dream Tarot ofBea Nettles,the first photographic tarot deck, released in 1975.

The 1980s and 1990s saw the rise of a new generation of tarotists, influenced by the writings of Eden Gray and the work of Carl Jung andJoseph Campbellon psychological archetypes. These tarotists sought to apply tarot card reading to personal introspection and growth, and includedMary K. Greer,the author ofTarot for Your Self: A Wookbook for the Inward Journey(1984), andRachel Pollack,the author ofSeventy-Eight Degrees of Wisdom(1980/1983).Tarot cards also began to gain popularity as a divinatory tool in countries like Japan, where hundreds of new decks have been designed in recent years.The democratization of digital publishing in the 2000s and 2010s led to a new explosion of tarot decks as artists became increasingly able to self-publish their own, with the contemporaneous empowerment of feminist, LGBTQ+ and other marginalized communities providing a ready market for such work.

Use

Tarot is often used in conjunction with the study of theHermetic Qabalah.In these decks all the cards are illustrated in accordance with Qabalistic principles, most being influenced by theRider–Waitedeck. Its images were drawn by artistPamela Colman Smith,to the instructions of Christian mystic and occultistArthur Edward Waite,and published in 1911.

A difference fromMarseilles-style decks is that Waite and Smith use scenes withesotericmeanings on the suit cards. These esoteric, or divinatory meanings were derived in great part from the writings of theHermetic Order of the Golden Dawngroup, of which Waite had been a member. The meaningsand many of the illustrationsshowed the influence ofastrologyas well as Qabalistic principles.

Trumps

The following is a comparison of the order and names of theMajor Trumpsup to and including the Rider–Waite–Smith and Crowley (Thoth) decks:

Tarot de Marseille	Court de Gébelin	Etteilla	Paul Christian	Oswald Wirth	Golden Dawn	Rider–Waite–Smith	Book of Thoth (Crowley)
I. The Juggler	I. The Thimblerig, orBateleur	15. Illness	I. The Magus	1. The Magician	I. The Magician	I. The Magician	I. The Magus
II. The Popess	II. The High Priestess	8. Etteilla /Female questioner	II. The Gate of the Sanctuary (of the occult Sanctuary)	2. The Priestess	II. The High Priestess	II. The High Priestess	II. The Priestess
III. The Empress	III. The Queen	6. Night /Day	III. Isis-Urania	3. The Empress	III. The Empress	III. The Empress	III. The Empress
IV. The Emperor	IV. The King	7. Support /Protection	IV. The Cubic Stone	4. The Emperor	IV. The Emperor	IV. The Emperor	IV. The Emperor
V. The Pope	V. The Lead Hierophant, or the High Priest	13. Marriage /Union	V. The Master of the Mysteries (of the Arcana)	5. The Pope	V. The Hierophant	V. The Hierophant	V. The Hierophant
VI. The Lovers	VI. The Marriage	(none)	VI. The Two Roads	6. The Lover	VI. The Lovers	VI. The Lovers	VI. The Lovers
VII. The Chariot	VII. Osiris Triumphant	21. Dissension	VII. The Chariot of Osiris	7. The Chariot	VII. The Chariot	VII. The Chariot	VII. The Chariot
VIII. Justice	VIII. Justice	9. Justice /Jurist	VIII. Themis (the Scales and Blade)	8. Justice	XI. Justice	XI. Justice	VIII. Adjustment
IX. The Hermit	IX. The Sage, or the Seeker of Truth and Justice	18. Traitor	IX. The Veiled Lamp	9. The Hermit	IX. The Hermit	IX. The Hermit	IX. The Hermit
X. The Wheel of Fortune	X. The Wheel of Fortune	20. Fortune /Increase	X. The Sphinx	10. The Wheel of Fortune	X. The Wheel of Fortune	X. Wheel of Fortune	X. Fortune
XI. Strength	XI. Strength	11. Strength /Sovereign	XI. The Muzzled Lion (the Tamed Lion)	11. The Strength	VIII. Strength	VIII. Strength	XI. Lust
XII. The Hanged Man	XII. Prudence	12. Prudence /The People	XII. The Sacrifice	12. The Hanged Man	XII. The Hanged Man	XII. The Hanged Man	XII. The Hanged Man
XIII. Death	XIII. Death	17. Mortality /Nothingness	XIII. The Skeleton Reaper (the Reaper, the Scythe)	13. Death	XIII. Death	XIII. Death	XIII. Death
XIV. Temperance	XIV. Temperance	10. Temperance /Priest	XIV. The Two Urns (the Genius of the Sun)	14. Temperance	XIV. Temperance	XIV. Temperance	XIV. Art
XV. The Devil	XV. Typhon	14. Great Force	XV. Typhon	15. The Devil	XV. The Devil	XV. The Devil	XV. The Devil
XVI. The House of God	XVI. God-House, or Castle of Plutus	19. Misery /Prison	XVI. The Beheaded Tower (the Lightning-Struck Tower)	16. The Tower	XVI. The Blasted Tower	XVI. The Tower	XVI. The Tower
XVII. The Star	XVII. The Dog Star	4. Desolation /Air	XVII. The Star of the Magi	17. The Star	XVII. The Star	XVII. The Star	XVII. The Star
XVIII. The Moon	XVIII. The Moon	3. Comments /Water	XVIII. The Twilight	18. The Moon	XVIII. The Moon	XVIII. The Moon	XVIII. The Moon
XIX. The Sun	XIX. The Sun	2. Enlightenment /Fire	XIX. The Blazing Light	19. The Sun	XIX. The Sun	XIX. The Sun	XIX. The Sun
XX. Judgement	XX. The Last Judgment	16. Judgment	XX. The Awakening of the Dead (the Genius of the Dead)	20. Judgment	XX. Judgement	XX. Judgement	XX. The Aeon
XXI. The World	XXI. Time	5. Voyage /Earth	XXI. The Crown of the Magi	21. The World	XXI. The Universe	XXI. The World	XXI. The Universe
— The Fool	0. The Fool	78 (or 0). Folly	0. The Crocodile	— The Fool	0. The Fool	0. The Fool	0. The Fool

Personal use

Next to the usage of tarot cards to divine for others by professionalcartomancers,tarot is also used widely as a device for seeking personal guidance and spiritual growth. Practitioners often believe tarot cards can help the individual explore one's spiritual path.

People who use the tarot for personal divination may seek insight on topics ranging widely from health or economic issues to what they believe would be best for them spiritually.Thus, the way practitioners use the cards in regard to such personal inquiries is subject to a variety of personal beliefs. For example, some tarot users may believe the cards themselves are magically providing answers, while others may believe a supernatural force or a mystical energy is guiding the cards into a layout.

Alternatively, some practitioners believe tarot cards may be utilized as a psychology tool based on theirarchetypalimagery, an idea often attributed toCarl Jung.Jung wrote, "It also seems as if the set of pictures in the Tarot cards were distantly descended from the archetypes of transformation, a view that has been confirmed for me in a very enlightening lecture by Professor Bernoulli."During a 1933 seminar onactive imagination,Jung described the symbolism he saw in the imagery:

The original cards of the Tarot consist of the ordinary cards, the king, the queen, the knight, the ace, etc., only the figures are somewhat different, and besides, there are twenty-one [additional] cards upon which are symbols, or pictures of symbolical situations. For example, the symbol of the sun, or the symbol of the man hung up by the feet, or the tower struck by lightning, or the wheel of fortune, and so on. Those are sort of archetypal ideas, of a differentiated nature, which mingle with the ordinary constituents of the flow of the unconscious, and therefore it is applicable for an intuitive method that has the purpose of understanding the flow of life, possibly even predicting future events, at all events lending itself to the reading of the conditions of the present moment.

Criticism

SkepticJames Randionce said that:

For use as a divinatory device, the tarot deck is dealt out in various patterns and interpreted by a gifted "reader." The fact that the deck is not dealt out into the same pattern fifteen minutes later is rationalized by the occultists by claiming that in that short span of time, a person's fortune can change, too. That would seem to call for rather frequent readings if the system is to be of any use whatsoever.

Tarot historian Michael Dummett similarly critiqued occultist uses throughout his various works, remarking that "the history of the esoteric use of Tarot cards is an oscillation between the two poles of vulgar fortune telling and high magic; though the fence between them may have collapsed in places, the story cannot be understood if we fail to discern the difference between the regions it demarcates."As a historian, Dummett held particular disdain for what he called "the most successful propaganda campaign ever launched", noting that "an entire false history, and false interpretation, of the Tarot pack was concocted by the occultists; and it is all but universally believed."

Many Christian writers discourage divination, including tarot card reading, as deceptive and "spiritually dangerous", citing, for example, Leviticus 19:26 and Deuteronomy 18:9–12 asproof texts.

See also

• Psychic reading
• Parrot astrology

Bibliography

• Alexander, Skye and Mary Shannon (2019).The Only Tarot Book You'll Ever Need.Avon, MASS: Simon & Schuster.
• Case, Paul Foster (August 2012) [first published 1920].An Introduction to the Study of the Tarot.Ancient Wisdom Publications.ISBN9781936690831.
• Case, Paul Foster (1947).The Tarot: A Key to the Wisdom of the Ages.New York: Macoy Publishing Company.
• Christian, Paul (1863).L'homme rouge des Tuileries.Paris: Paul Christian.
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External links

• Images from the Grand Etteilla Deck