| WHAT
IS THE TAROT?
The tarot is a form of do-it-yourself analysis – a way of unlocking
secrets of the self and providing directions towards manifesting your
goals. It is a support system that can be relied upon as a friend that
can give you helpful advice. It is also a great brainstorming tool that
can enhance your creativity. Reading cards makes users more aware of
their everyday surroundings, hopes, fears, pasts, and presents. It is
an aid to decision-making, which highlights forces and influences in
their lives that might otherwise go unnoticed. It offers insight and
new ideas. The tarot helps you to be more mindful by helping you tune
into a deeper, inner level of awareness. It is a way to journey into
yourself and discover your spiritual center. The cards portray all the
cycles of human experience – it is a “book” of knowledge.
Using the tarot, a focusing mechanism, also helps in the development
of your psychic abilities and empowers you to make the best choices
in your life.
Where
did it originate?
There is an old joke told about every kind of scholar: Put two of them
in a room and you will get three opinions. Some say the tarot started
out as pasteboard pictures of various gods and goddesses used to teach
their divine properties to the illiterate and brought to Europe by travelers
from India. These travelers arrived when Egypt was all the rage and
found it advantageous to be known as “Gyptees”. Their descendents
are now known as Gypsies.
That theory might account for many people believing the tarot originated
in Egypt. However, there are those that claim tarot came from 10th century
China, and there are advocates for Hebraic, Islamic, or Indian origins
as well. One thing seems certain: the earliest and most complete deck
of tarot cards dates from the early 15th century, and is said to have
been made for the Duke of Milan.
Egypt advocates say it derives from the words tar and ro,
meaning the “Royal Road”. Indian advocates like to remind
everyone else that the word taru means “cards” in Hindu
and that Tara is the Aryan name for the Great Mother Goddess. Those
voting for tarot being a product of the Hebrew culture point to the
word Torah, their name for the first five books of the Bible.
However, remember that one of the areas where the cards first appeared
was Milan, in Northern Italy, where there is a river called the Taro.
Hmmm…..
There are many who believe the first decks were as likely to have been
used as a card game as they were for divinatory guidance. There is probably
more than a little truth in that. There is a French word, tares,
that is used to describe the small dot border on playing cards.
The tarot came a long way in the 20th century. The wisdom of the cards
was an irresistible target for great artists, once they no longer were
afraid of persecution and ridicule. The tarot attracted both famous
artists, like surrealist Salvador Dali, and those undeservedly not so
well known, like Pamela Coleman Smith, who under the watchful eye of
Arthur Edward Waite, created what we now know as the Rider-Waite deck,
the most famous tarot deck of the 20th century. The origin
of the tarot and even its original purpose is a subject upon which even
the most learned scholars cannot seem to agree.
Amy Zerner’s fabric collage tapestries have been uniquely successful
in blending the essence of the fantasy, fine art, and spiritual wisdom
of all the nations thought to have originated the tarot.
How
does the tarot “work” when it seems to answer questions
so directly?
The nearest thing to an explanation of why the tarot works is an ancient
theory held by many peoples throughout the world and rediscovered in
the 20th century by the legendary psychologist, Dr. Carl Jung. His theory
of synchronicity (from the Greek syn meaning “together”
and chronos meaning “time”) proposed that events happening
at the same moment had a relationship of significance. In other words,
when you ask your question with sincerity and you intend to get an answer,
you will get an answer, possibly in many ways. It depends on how good
you are at deciphering the events around you at the moment you ask the
question. A flock of birds, cloud formations, or the pattern the wind
makes in the trees could hold the answer. The tarot is a
sort of sacred machine devised to respond to your question and freeze
your answer as a picture of it in time so that you may decipher it.
What can using an oracle such as the tarot do for you, and how
often do people consult the cards?
Using an oracle as a meditation tool helps you to dialogue with your
higher self. Consulting the cards creates a safe, spiritual haven where
you connect to positive energy and positive emotions. It helps us discover
what we really want in life and what we must do as our next step on
the path. And you can use the cards whenever you need clarity on an
issue, or as an everyday meditation. When you read your message, your
attitudes, desires, and strategies for the best course of action can
be reflected upon. The process requires opening your mind and trusting
your intuition to interpret the answers. An oracle is a tool that helps
you tap into your psychic power.
What
if I do not like the answer I receive?
When this happens, it is important to look inside yourself and see why
you are troubled by the answer you have received. Do you have the confidence
in yourself to believe that you can cope with a wide range of experiences?
If not, why not? The wonderful thing about the tarot is that if you
get an unfavorable answer, you can ask the tarot for guidance how to
change things for the better. Using the tarot to get in
touch with your feelings is one of its most important uses.
What if I am not sure what the answer means?
The large majority of the answers you get will make it seen as though
the cards picked from your deck are speaking directly to your question.
However, there may be times when the answer you receive does not appear
to be specifically answering your question. These are the best times
for developing your intuition and your ability to make decisions.
Let your mind “free associate”. This term describes the
powerful way your conscious mind communicates with your Higher Self,
the source of your inner voice. It does so using symbols, the language
of your subconscious mind and your dreams. Your first impression upon
seeing the image(s) of the card(s) you have picked can inspire in your
imagination a further series of images connected to and directed by
your Higher Self. In the tarot, The High Priestess is the card symbolizing
this process. If you still do not understand, pick The High Priestess
card out of the deck and look at it for a moment. Know that she is going
to guide you as you place her back in the deck and shuffle it while
asking for clarification of the meaning of your previous reading. You
may experience a flash of intuition that can reveal the meaning that
was hidden from you only a moment ago.
What
is the difference between the Major Arcana and the Minor Arcana?
The tarot may very well have started out a two separate decks: a spiritually
oriented deck whose purpose was religious instruction and divination,
and the deck used for gaming and gambling.
The Major Arcana are the first twenty-two cards of the tarot, starting
with the number 0, The Fool, and going up to number 21, The World. These
cards represent the “arcane” or secret spiritual principles
of life. We all make the journey from being The Fool, innocent and poised
on the threshold of a great cycle of growth and experience, and eventually
arrive at The World, our graduation and the culmination of a major period
of our life. Between these two cards are the twenty other major stages
of growth and learning. Once we have gone through them all, we are ready
to start again on our soul’s quest for experience and self-knowledge.
The Minor Arcana are the origin of the modern playing card deck. This
deck’s four suits – Clubs, Spades, Hearts, and Diamonds
– are the descendents of the tarot’s traditional four suits
– Wands, Swords, Cups, and Pentacles. The Joker in a modern playing
card deck is a descendent of The Fool. The cards of the Minor Arcana
are not as concerned with spiritual realities as they are with our everyday,
earthly reality as human beings. The Minor Arcana help us
to bring the spiritual wisdom of the Major Arcana down to earth so that
we can use it for our benefit on all levels.
Can
I do a tarot reading for another person?
Doing tarot readings for your friends is very enjoyable. However, it
is usually best to do your readings by yourself when you are first learning.
The Instant Tarot Reader is designed so that you will learn
quickly. Once you do, it is best to start with a trusted friend, preferably
on with an open mind. Eventually, you may feel confident enough to read
for anyone, anywhere, anytime. Until then, read and remember the answer
to the next FAQ. You will soon feel confident enough to try reading
for another person.
Can
I do a tarot reading for someone who is not present?
Wait until you are comfortable with The Instant Tarot Reader
procedure before trying to ask a question for someone who is not with
you at the time you are doing the reading. Remember that most people
do not understand what the tarot really is – a decision-making
tool – and do not have the rest of the information about becoming
and instant tarot reader contained in the book. Make sure the person
understands what the tarot really is before attempting a reading for
someone else. It is too easy to mislead or frighten the uninitiated
if this advice is ignored.
The person must be told that the answers they receive are only indications
of the way things must be. They must understand that their free will
is more powerful than any tarot reading. There is no reading so good
that it cannot be invalidated if someone fails to do what is right.
Conversely, there is no tarot reading that is so bad that it, too, cannot
be invalidated by changing course and doing what is right. The tarot
is a very powerful tool, but it is not more powerful than the people
asking the questions. We, alone, are responsible for our actions.
If you remember and can convey this to those you want to do a reading
for, then you can rest assured that the readings you do will help to
guide others. You will then be able to have a lot of fun learning about
your life and life in general.
It is a tremendous responsibility to do readings for other people but
it is one that
Amy and I enjoy even more than reading for ourselves, which we do everyday.
Tarot readings are powerful.
We would like to thank you for giving us the chance to share
the precious gift of the tarot with you, a gift that has enabled us
to make our life a work of art and our art a work of life.
© All
text and artwork © Amy Zerner and Monte Farber. All rights reserved,
2004
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