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What are Tarot Cards?
And what are the meanings of tarots?
Tarot Cards are the forerunners of our modern pack yet are one of
the oldest divination methods used to foretell the future.
Uncannily accurate in an enigmatic and mystical way. The 22 major
arcana are the power behind Tarot Cards.
Tarot
Cards are probably the original European playing cards, the
forerunners of our modern pack; but the standard Tarots differ from
its more familiar descendent in several ways.
For
example, it is made up of a total of seventy-eight cards instead of
only fifty-two. Tarots are really two packs combined – a fifty six
pack called the lesser arcana tarots and twenty-two called the
greater arcana or Tarot trumps.
The
lesser arcana of the Tarots is the source of present-day playing
cards. The fifty-six cards are divided into four suits called, in
Italian, Bastoni (Batons or Clubs), Coppes (Cups), Spade (Swords),
and Denari (Coins). Each suit is made up of ten, numbered from Ace
(1) to 10, with the addition of four others called the Re (King),
Dama (Queen), Cavallo (Knight) and Fante (Knave or Jack).
English and American playing cards of today show French suit-marks
which first came into use in the early 15th century. Curiously
enough, the names of three of the English suits are derived from the
Italian tarots; Spades from the Italian Spade, Clubs from Bastoni
and Diamonds from Denari. Only the suit of Hearts takes its name
from the French, Coeurs (Hearts).
The
remaining part of the Tarot, the twenty-two tarot trumps are now
only used in certain parts of the world. Only one card has affected
the transition to the fifty-two pack. The trump entitled 'The Fool'
has survived as the Joker.
Each
tarot of the greater arcana depicts a symbolical figure or scene and
has a descriptive title printed at the bottom of it. They are
numbered in Roman Numerals from I to XXI, only The Fool having no
number. Prior to around 1750, all tarot card trumps seem to have
been named in Italian but most later give the titles in French. The
word “Tarot” comes from the French cards whereas in Italy, they are
called Tarocchi. The origin of this word is not known.
Despite the popularity of the less complicated fifty-two card pack,
Tarot cards have retained a loyal following in some parts of Europe
as they are still manufactured today. You will find the full
seventy-eight Tarot Cards in use in a number of European countries
and North Africa.
As a
result of the current compelling interest in divination and other
aspects of the occult, the tarots can be found on sale in major
cities in practically every country in the West.
Although the tarots were established in Italy, France and Germany by
the late 14th century, the time, place and circumstances of their
creation remains a mystery. The complex and beautiful designs of
the twenty-two major cards creates an unexplained aura of
complexities that in turn provides an enigma that has never been
satisfactorily resolved.
Who
made them and what are they meant to illustrate? Nobody knows for
certain of the origin of the Tarot Cards.
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Tarot-Cards
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