Thus preached Hermes: “O people of the earth, men born and made of the elements, but with the spirit of the Divine Man within you, rise from your sleep of ignorance! Be sober and thoughtful. Realise that your home is not of the Earth but of the Light. Why have you delivered yourselves over unto Death having power to partake in Immortality? Repent and change your minds. Depart from the dark light and forsake corruption forever. Prepare yourselves to climb through the Seven Rings and to blend your beings with the eternal Light.”— An excerpt from the Hermetic Writings
The powerful little box of perfection known as the Tarot, the deck of 78 cards divided into 22 cards of the Major Arcana and 56 cards of the Minor Arcana, is one of the most profound Divination tools passed to us. The origin of its name has been traced to two Egyptian words, Tar translating to “Road” and Ro meaning “Royal.” Thus, the Tarot constitutes the Royal Road and when understood correctly, the cards themselves herald the Truth Seekers Quest, the complete and significant journey towards Awakening. The archetypal images found in the Tarot, like all valuable symbols resound spontaneous expressions from the psyche’s deepest springs. For that very reason they hold up magic mirrors. Like all sincere artistic creations, the Tarot is ultimately a Mystery and frequently appreciated for it.
History
The precise origin of the Tarot is masked in Myth and Legend. We do not know what the most ancient original Tarot Cards looked like, precisely where they came from or who created them first. We don’t even know how many were contained in the earliest sets.
Tarot as we know it today is a collection of images and symbols from a wide variety of cultures and civilizations, from the Ancient Greeks to the prehistoric Norse peoples, from the Ancient practices of India and Egypt to the medieval courts of Italy, Spain and France. Some believe that a form of Tarot goes back to ancient China; some even trace it to the glories of the once was Atlantis. In my opinion, all Ancient civilizations developed their own systems of divination based on similar symbolism and archetypes which had evolved to suit specific cultures.
The earliest Tarot Cards we have in fragments have been dated to around 1392. There are Cards that too were said to have been commissioned by Charles VI. The first full deck to be recorded in history is the Visconti Deck, dated to the early 15th Century. Though these are the first Tarot Cards of which we have full knowledge, it’s not possible that these were the starting point of the tradition—the artists and creators must have been inspired by the work of those who came long before. We also know that cards were used for divination in the Ancient Arabian world and that cards depicting deities and their attributes as well as cards showing Christian Saints antedate some of these early decks.
A curious and significant story in Folklore relates that after the destruction of the Ancient Library of Alexandria, a large body of attendant priests and priestesses united to preserve the secrets of the rites of the Greco-Egyptian god Serapis. Their descendants, the Gypsies, carrying with them the most precious of the volumes saved from the burning library–the Book of Thoth (the Tarot)–became wanderers upon the face of the Earth, remaining a people apart with an ancient language and a birthright of Magic and Mystery. In this view, the Gypsies disseminated the Tarot Cards into Europe and elsewhere.
The opinion has also been advanced that the cards reached Europe from India by way of Arabia. It is probable that the Tarot Cards were part of the Magical and Philosophical lore secured by the Knights Templar from the Saracens or one of the mystical orders flourishing then. In support of these contentions, researcher and author May King Van Rensselaer states: “That cards were brought by the home-returning warriors, who imported many of the newly acquired customs and habits of the Orient to their own countries, seems to be a well-established fact; and it does not contradict the statement made by some writers who declared that the Gypsies–who about that time began to wander over Europe–brought with them and introduced cards, which they used, as they do at the present day for divining the future.”
Deep Origins
It is in one of my beliefs that the Tarot we have is a form of the most sacred of the ancient Hermetic teachings.
Hermes Trismegistus may in himself represent the unification of the Greek god Hermes and the Egyptian god Thoth. Both were Gods of writing, scripture and beneficial magic. While Hermes Trismegistus walked the Earth with men, he entrusted to his chosen successors the sacred Book of Thoth. This work contained the secret processes by which the regeneration of humanity was to be accomplished and also served as the key to his other writings. Nothing definite is known about the contents of the Book of Thoth other than that its pages were covered with strange hieroglyphic figures and symbols. The secret processes of the Mysteries stimulate key parts of the heart and therefore the consciousness of man is extended and he is permitted to behold the Immortals and enter into the presence of the so-called superior/true realms. The Book of Thoth described the method whereby this stimulation/activation was accomplished and therefore it was something like a: “Key to Immortality.”
It has been asserted that the Book of Thoth is, in reality, the mysterious Tarot–a strange emblematic book of seventy-eight leaves that has been in possession of the Gypsies since the time when they were driven away from the Ancient Library of Alexandria. There are a few who feel quite confident that what we currently call Tarot Cards is in fact an evolution of the mysterious Book of Thoth.
Meaning
There is a vast body of writing on the significance of the Tarot. In the many systems of interpretation based on the Golden Dawn, the four suits are associated with the four elements: Swords with Air, Wands with Fire, Cups with Water and Pentacles with Earth. There is considered to be numerological significance hidden in the Tarot and it is thought that elements in the cards correspond to various systems such as Astrology, Pythagorean beliefs, the Kabbalah, the I Ching, and others.
The symbolism and the journey of the Tarot are deeply linked to the path of the initiate in the ancient mystery religions. The Fool in the Major Arcana can be seen as the Initiate, the Truth Seeker, going through the stages of birth, life, death and rebirth, his path frequently marked by the symbols of the cards. The aim for the initiates quest is gnostic completion-a state of wholeness which is depicted in the end.
Other theories suggest that Tarot Cards are:
- Allegories of Sufi masters
- Depictions of Holy Grail legends
- Indian Holy Texts
- Gypsy Mystical Heritage
- Representations of Greek Philosophy
- Symbols handed down from Prehistoric Oral Traditions
- Wisdom of Prehistoric Matriarchal Cultures
- A creation of alchemists, the Tarot containing hidden alchemical imagery
At its essence, the Tarot is a treasure trove of symbolism, truth and meaning, a work of immense magical richness. The power of the Tarot can be experienced by anyone from the simplest to the most sophisticated and its appearance provides a doorway to the deepest heart of what it signifies to be human-as well as to all that is possible for us to attain.