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The Tarot as we know it today, was probably from the mid-fifteenth century. The Visconti-Sforza deck from Italy and the Tarot de Marseilles from France are the oldest that we know about. Copies of both are sold today. There must be hundreds of different Tarot decks today. In 1916, Edward Waite designed the Rider Tarot, referred to as the Rider-Waite deck. This is a very popular deck and other decks have been inspired by his imagery. Waite was a member of the Order of the Golden Dawn as was Aleister Crowley. Crowley a very controversial practitioner of magic, also designed a Tarot deck in 1944, The Book of Thoth Tarot deck or Thoth deck is a lovely deck. Whatever deck you choose, it should appeal to you in a very personal way.
Tarot Symbolism
The symbolism will be very much the same in any deck you use. A beautiful old deck will have the same symbolism as a modern art form deck. The first Tarot cards may have been used to play a card game. The Minor Arcana are very much like our playing cards today. The Minor Arcana has 56 cards and 4 suits of Cups, Wands, Pentacles and Swords. It is the Major Arcana that is very mystical and magical to many people. The Major Arcana consists of 22 cards that represent situations in our journey of life. The psychologist, Carl Jung, spent many years in the study of the Tarot, especially the Major Arcana. The Tarot has been influenced by astrology, numerology, color symbolism and the Hebrew alphabet. It is thought that there may be a link between the Tarot and the Kabalah or Kabala.
Tarot for Self-Knowledge
Most scholars think the Tarot was used for self-knowledge. That is the Tarot is used as a tool to better understand our selves. The Tarot can also be used to develop intuitive or physic powers. When the intuitive and physic powers are skilled, then a glimpse of the past or/and a likely future is within our grasp. The future is not concrete. The future you see today can change. The Tarot can give you an idea of how to handle a situation. If you act in a contrary fashion, the out come may change. It is the insight and understanding that the Tarot brings that is important.
The Tarot can be a very useful tool in seeing your inner self. Studying the Tarot can help you become more focused in all areas of life. The resulting focus will certainly make you better at having rituals succeed the way you want them to. The new "doors of perception" that the Tarot can open for you are well worth the time to study the cards.
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