Anything can be used for divination; coins, tea leaves, cards, the flight of birds, the spilled entrails of captured enemies. The objects used are a focus for the psychic talent of the seer. Or rather a distractor, so that the everyday consciousness is pre-occupied, and something else can give its opinion.
So why the fuss over tarot cards? Are they the Devil's picture book, an ancient mystical symbol system, or an evolving historical artefact?
This writer inclines towards the latter view. You see, modern would-be occultists have a real barrier to understanding their subject. It's a monster that rears its enchanting head in times of prosperity, and consequent personal freedom. Its latest incarnation is bright, gaudy, simplistic and woolly-minded by turns.
It's called the New Age.
It should be called The Same Old Fraud In A Shiny Suit. Occultism has long been the pastime of the leisured classes. A genuine mystic has a connection to the divine; acquired in a previous incarnation, or learned in a mystery school, or monastery, in this one.
The rest of us have to pick through paperback books, or knock on the doors of the living saints of our familiar religion.
Popular mysticism is a business; a big one, and profitable. Reprinting and re-hashing a mish-mash of old grimoires, Eastern religions, neo-paganism and occult biographies is cheap and easy to do. You can avoid any practical experience of the subject matter as well. There is no 'down side'!
Except of course the karmic consequences of knowingly wasting peoples' time and energy with half-truths, bluffs and blinds.
The pitch for tarot cards is that they were created in ancient Eqypt by hierophants to codify their occult knowledge. How inconvenient then that one can trace their development from a plaything of titled ladies in Renaissance times, to the cards used to gip fools in Las Vegas today.
You see, tarot cards originally showed the major virtues and powers in a Renaissance person's life; not for occult reasons, but for the same reason children collect cards today: their amusement. You have the Sun, Moon, Star, Temperance, The Pope, The Emperor, Empress, Hanged Man, Death etc. All very lurid and exotic to modern eyes, but hard facts of life when the cards were made.
Only the wealthy were literate, printing was expensive, coloured pictures (of anything) were something to marvel at and treasure. We take these for granted today; our ancestors did not.
Also, our forebears had to amuse themselves most of the time. Even our great-grandparents played the piano or the fiddle, knew ten formal dances, could sing twenty songs from memory, were keen raconteurs and loved a good joke well told. They had to; there was little other amusement. A young lady who couldn't play the piano, or at least sing, was at a social disadvantage.
Popular occultism and tarot cards should be seen in this light; a pass-the-time, taken a bit too seriously by failed priests, alienated young men and lovelorn young women.
Lively discussion about this subject can be had at the Alt.Tarot Usenet newsgroup, most easily accessed here: http://groups.google.co.uk/group/alt.tarot.
Its FAQ makes for a good read: http://www.tigertom.com/download/tarot-faq-01-01-1998.txt.
The upshot is that there are libraries-full of drivelling, disingenuous, sententious, re-hashed balderdash written about this subject. A case can be made that 90% of *all* occult books are a distraction away from that which they are supposed to point to: the Divine in us, and how we can co-operate with it.
To that end, they are indeed the Devil's work.
The best definition of tarot cards I can paraphrase, from memory, is one by Amado Crowley, a noted English occultist: "They are a computer that can know you". This I take to mean you can use them to help solve knotty personal problems, rather than divine the future.
The paradox of tarot reading is: Does predicting someone's future to them in a spooky setting influence their future actions, regardless of whether the seer is psychic or not?
If you do give readings to others, should you influence someone in this way? If you are a querent, do you want someone else's predictions lurking in the back of your mind, influencing your future actions?
T. O' Donnell ( http://www.tigertom.com ) is an ecommerce consultant and curmudgeon living in London, UK. His latest project is an ebook on conservatories, available at http://www.ttconservatories.co.uk
Other T. O' Donnell freeware may be downloaded at http://www.ttfreeware.co.uk
Saturday I was hangin' ten on my Dell when I... Read More
Life is like an obstacle course in which we run... Read More
It was in the middle of the night and the... Read More
When we feel that something has gone wrong and are... Read More
Mrs. Dixon the famous prognosticator and psychic to the stars... Read More
We as human beings consider ourselves the most intelligent species... Read More
It is within us to... Read More
No one appreciates mothers enough. In this life, that's a... Read More
Each of us has far more potential to serve the... Read More
Sometimes showing up for life can seem like a major... Read More
The Planetary Spread is an excellent layout to use when... Read More
'O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom... Read More
Our church is infested with lobby lizards. They crawl around... Read More
How do we feel the fullness of life itself?We have... Read More
Symbols and symbolism are popular in almost every civilisation, culture... Read More
Is life challenging you to take a bigger leap? Are... Read More
I am beginning a journey starting tomorrow. I have decided... Read More
Vanity - it's easy to mask, easy to forget, and... Read More
The myths of man have been with us throughout time.... Read More
A Tarot card deck typically consists of 78 colorful cards... Read More
Stress & Spirituality ? How Spirituality Affects Stress LevelsTake a... Read More
Anything can be used for divination; coins, tea leaves, cards,... Read More
Life is growth. For many people life is like a... Read More
Sometimes, in traveling a path, we discover a short-cut, and... Read More
Journal ExpressionsIf you haven't already done so, please start keeping... Read More
"Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances,... Read More
There are moments in the believer's life when the Spirit... Read More
Contrary to popular beliefs, we are not our mind, our... Read More
The Evil Eye has been around since the beginning of... Read More
There's a Native American belief that before we are born,... Read More
We desire to understand the world by giving names to... Read More
I thought for sometime that I was hard done bye... Read More
What is it with angels and digital clocks? I fell... Read More
Nicole Kidman and Will Ferrell recently starred in the movie... Read More
I thought for sometime that I was hard done bye... Read More
Enlightenment, which is as varied as each individual's fingerprint, is... Read More
Spiritual stuff is a hard sell Roy and one of... Read More
The human race had their beginning, and I had mine... Read More
Many consider anger a normal human emotion and continue to... Read More
Lectio divina is a very useful and practical discipline for... Read More
An analysis of Western man's guiding presuppositions, A Review of... Read More
Everything in the entire universe, big and small, visible and... Read More
In His graciousness, God has blessed us to enter a... Read More
If you were Satan and your goal is to destroy... Read More
Self-actualization comes down to three basic premises: this is who... Read More
Just for a moment think of what is stopping you... Read More
Being a Christian does not exempt us from having to... Read More
In Feng Shui, water symbolizes wealth. The word "fish" in... Read More
Some men see things as they are and say, "Why?"... Read More
"You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on... Read More
Every soul that is currently experiencing life on any level... Read More
Are you facing some challenges in your life right now?... Read More
Kundalini Awakening - the sure shot method for awakening of... Read More
Ever notice how people dread discussing... Read More
(Channelled)Roy, what a marvellous job you are doing on your... Read More
Good morning Roy, good morning JosethWhat about me, were do... Read More
WHAT IS E.V.P.?EVP stands for electronic voice phenomena, some believe... Read More
Let us face reality squarely in the face by acknowledging... Read More
Your creative gift has power.God was the first and still... Read More
Stress is amazingly persistent, even seductive. We get used to... Read More
Last week I talked about the need to practice emotional... Read More
In this series I would like to take you through... Read More
What the Animals Tell Us"I am the Sun's son. I... Read More
A spiritual event is what happens in every moment of... Read More
What is it with angels and digital clocks? I fell... Read More
I was in the bank's vault. The Brink's armored truck... Read More
Spirituality |