HISTORY OF TAROT CARDS![]() The tarot card deck consists of 78 cards, which have been used for fortune telling for centuries. Some say the Tarot cards dates back to the early 1400s. Some say the Tarot Cards are Italian origin, other say China, or Egypt. And of course the gypsies, long associated with them. The mystery is further stirred when the correspondence of the cards with Cabalistic or Kabalistic philosophy is considered. Although agreement of the history and origin of the cards is not to be found, it can be agreed that the tarot is a very popular mysterious oracle.
The Tarot deck is comprised of 78 cards: 22 major arcane and 56 minor arcane. The 22 major arcane cards are supposed to depict a journey through one's life.
Tarot Cards were originally used for playing a card game called tarochee, and had no more (or less) to do with foretelling the future that did other types of playing cards. The major arcane cards did hold secret symbolic meanings for Sufis, who influenced the Kabala ,this is why correlations are sometime drawn between the kabala and tarot cards. In card games, the 22 major arcane cards in four suits are similar to today standard deck of 52 cards in four suits, with the obvious difference being that the tarot deck has fourteen cards in each suit.
Centuries later, Devotees of the occult arts France and England encountered the tarot and saw mystical and magical meaning in the enigmatic symbolism of he cards. Their fascination with the cards led to the reputation tarot presently has a divination and occult artifact.
Tarot Cards has undergone many changes through the centuries, as they were taken to different locales and redesigned by different artists and card makers.
Tarot cards are an early form of today's playing cards. The minor arcane is the part of the deck that most closely resembles our playing cards of today. The minor arcane contains four suites, which correspond to any game deck. The suits are Cups (Hearts) , Pentacles (Diamonds) Swords (Spades) Wands (clubs) Also the Queen, King and Jack.of each suit. Plus pages which resemble young men , or women of court, which are not represented in the modern playing deck.
Nowadays, most modern tarot cards are used for divination or as a symbol system for personal growth and development. Tarot cards are often used as vehicles for artistic expression as well, and numerous artists have used the symbolism of the tarot as a means of creative expression.
Actually, all playing cards have been used for divinatory purposes. Tarot cards, with more intricate designs and an older pedigree than modern decks, tend to look the part more.
CARTOMANCY CARDS (Reg. Deck Of Cards)Cartomancy is a form of divination using a deck of cards. The practice of cartomancy has been observed since playing cards first came into use in European in the ancient Egyptians by the scribe-god Thoth, although this belief is by no means common today.14th century. Practitioners of cartomancy are generally known as cartomancers, card readers or, simply, readers. Some practitioners have claimed that cartomancy's origins date back to ancient Egyptian times, the art being derived from wisdom given to the Cartomancy using standard playing cards was the most popular form of
providing "fortune telling" card readings in the 18th, 19th and 20th
centuries. In English-speaking countries, a standard deck of Anglo-American bridge/poker
playing cards (i.e., 52-card, four suit set) can be used in the cartomancy
reading. In In recent years, however, the popularity of Tarot readings has diminished to a certain degree the popularity of the once-common cartomancy readings using standard playing cards. The Tarot deck differs somewhat from the standard deck used for cartomancy. The Tarot deck consists of 22 Major Arcana cards, and 56 Minor Arcana cards (Arcana means "hidden things"). Each Minor Arcana suit consists of 4 court cards (usually king, queen, knight and page) along with 10 numbered, or pip, cards. The fifty-six minor cards are similar to the regular deck of playing cards most people know today, while the Major Arcana cards are present only in the Tarot deck .In Cartomancy the main influences of the suits are: Hearts - Emotions and domestic life considered lucky
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