The myth that tarot cards originate from Ancient Egypt probably came from a Swiss born pastor who named himself Antoine Court de Gébelin. Antoine was an influential scholar of an occult fascinated by tarot and mystical systems. At this time in history, the hieroglyphics in Egypt were thought to contain the secrets of the universe but caused great frustration as antiquarians were unable to decipher them. Antoine had realised that the images on the cards were more powerful than just a simple game and found similarities to other mystical systems including alchemy, astronomy and numerology to name just a few. Other scholars of the occult also saw similarities and tried to reveal their secrets. Some of them incorporated the tarot into secret societies including The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn founded in 1888.
With the introduction of spiritualism in the Victorian era, tarot rapidly became a popular method of divination and it has continued to be to this day. Today tarot readings are widely available including over the telephone and on the home computer. There are thousands of modern designs to choose from too.
Traditional Readings
A traditional tarot reading consists of a queriant (a person looking for answers) and a reader to interpret the cards. The cards are shuffled by the querient and is asked to select a given number of cards. These chosen cards are then arranged in a preset spread (layout or pattern). Each card has a particular meaning dependant upon the position within the spread. The reader then relates the meanings to shed light on the queriant’s question.
Opposition
In my experience he cards are shunned by many people eager to ridicule their value, the say that it is unsupported by science and borders of mumbo-jumbo and fairytale. It is this same group of people that would have denied television or the internet, before it's actual coming. It is commonly believed that we use only one fifth of our brain power, imaging the power and capability of the remaining four fifths. I believe that the answer to the secret of the cards lies in this dormant reservoir of energy.
One could try to explain it by first preparing one's own mind as a receptacle for a mystical time machine. The machine floats in an empty space, weightless, without value, without direction. Now imagine an import in the form of a picture, the picture in it's form asks a question. The machine is now activated, without restriction it searches a vast database lodged in the entire universe, time and space cannot bar it's search. Intertwined with man on earth it lock into his every emotion, his sin, his fear, his every love. Thus truth will prevail in the tarot card, according to the reading. Is it true? Is this how it really works? Of course not, it's just a way of trying to explain that which cannot be explained.
We may never know the full range and power of the unconscious mind on the tarot. It is up to you how you use and perceive the cards at the end of the day and I hope that you find this short course helpful what ever you decide.
