Mystical Origins of the Tarot: From Ancient Roots to Modern UsageA profusely illustrated history of the occult nature of the tarot from its origins in ancient Persia • Thoroughly examines the original historical source for each tarot card and how the cards’ divinatory meanings evolved from these symbols • Provides authentic 18th- and 19th-century spreads and divination techniques • Reveals the divinatory meanings of the cards as understood by diviners in the Middle Ages and Renaissance The origins of the tarot have been lost in the mists of time. Most scholars have guessed that its origins were in China, Egypt, or India. In Mystical Origins of the Tarot, Paul Huson has expertly tracked each symbol of the Minor Arcana to roots in ancient Persia and the Major Arcana Trump card images to the medieval world of mystery, miracle, and morality plays. A number of tarot historians have questioned the use of the tarot as a divination tool prior to the 18th century. But the author demonstrates that the symbolic meanings of the Major Arcana were evident from the time they were first employed in the mid-15th century in the popular divination practice of sortilege. He also reveals how the identities of the court cards in the Minor Arcana were derived from a blend of pagan and medieval sources that strongly influenced their interpretation in tarot divination. Mystical Origins of the Tarot provides a thorough examination of the original historical source for each card and how the cards’ divinatory meanings evolved from these symbols. Huson also provides concise and practical card-reading methods designed by the cartomancers of the 18th and 19th centuries and reveals the origins of the card interpretations promoted by the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn and A. E. Waite. |
Contents
OF PLAYING CARDS AND TAROT DECKS | 1 |
The Mamlűk Cards | 2 |
The Creation of the Court Cards | 5 |
The Naming of the Court Cards | 8 |
The Creation of the Tarot Trumps | 10 |
Tarot in the Sixteenth Century | 13 |
Further Developments | 14 |
THE ORIGIN OF THE SUIT SIGNS | 18 |
Trump XI Fortitude | 111 |
Trump XII The Hanged Man | 113 |
Trump XIII Death | 117 |
Trump XTV Temperance | 121 |
Trump XV The Devil | 124 |
Trump XVI The Tower | 129 |
Trump XVII The Star | 135 |
Trump XVIII The Moon | 139 |
The Four Cardinal Virtues | 23 |
The Four Castes of Ancient Persia | 25 |
THE ORIGIN OF THE TRUMPS | 29 |
Petrarchs I Trionfi | 30 |
Medieval Drama | 32 |
The Four Last Things | 38 |
The Tale the Trumps Tell | 39 |
OF CARTOMANCY AND THE TAROT | 43 |
Egyptian Magic and the Book of Thoth | 52 |
Etteillas System | 55 |
The Kabbala and Eliphas Lévi | 59 |
The Golden Dawn Attributions | 64 |
Papus and His Bohemian Tarot | 69 |
THE MEANINGS OF THE TRUMP CARDS THE MAJOR ARCANA | 71 |
Trump 0 The Fool | 74 |
Trump I The Juggler | 77 |
Trump II The Female Pope | 81 |
Trump III The Empress | 86 |
Trump IV The Emperor | 89 |
Trump V The Pope | 92 |
Trump VI The Lovers | 95 |
Trump VII The Chariot | 98 |
Trump VIII Justice | 101 |
Trump IX The Hermit | 104 |
Trump X The Wheel of Fortune | 107 |
Trump XIX The Sun | 142 |
Trump XX The Judgment | 145 |
Trump XXI The World | 148 |
THE MEANINGS OF THE SUIT CARDS THE MINOR ARCANA | 153 |
The Suit of Coins or Pentacles | 155 |
The Suit of Cups or Chalices | 179 |
The Suit of Swords | 200 |
The Suit of Batons or Wands | 224 |
READING THE TAROT | 246 |
Selecting a Tarot Deck | 249 |
Getting in Touch with Your Cards | 250 |
Preparing for Divination | 252 |
General Rules of Cartomancy | 253 |
Simple Tarot Spreads | 259 |
Advanced CartomancyLinking the Cards | 263 |
Complex Systems | 271 |
Last Words of Advice | 277 |
Historical Tarot Decks | 279 |
Where To Buy Your Cards | 291 |
Where To See the Originals | 294 |
About the Illustrations | 297 |
Bibliography | 308 |
322 | |
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Common terms and phrases
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