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Mystery of the Major Arcana, or BS?

IllusiveOwl

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I've heard a few mixed messages about the Tarot and I would like to get yinz perspectives on it, maybe even a book recommendation or two!

I've heard that the Major Arcana - the first 22 Tarot cards, correspond with the Hebrew Alphabet, the Tree of Life, and the path to initiation itself. I read a lengthy exposition on each card from a Gnostic website and it was a jumble of schizophrenic mysticism mixed with pleas to spiritually edge with your Christian Wife.

I've also heard people claim a credible source of the Tarot as being mundane conartist hogwash.

What camp are yinz in? And if you're part of the first - fun - camp, do you have any recommendations for a book explaining it? And if you're in the unfun camp, why?
 
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Xenophon

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I use a variant of the Tarot, one that disowns the Hebrew connection. Its readings have been proven enlightening for myself. Con-artists are easily avoided: don't pay money to have someone do something you can learn yourself.

That being said, Donald Webb references a trailer on the seamy side of Austin, Texas. Apparently there's a sign out front "Terror Card Readings." I'd like to give the entrepreneur there a whirl.
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Xenophon said:
I use a variant of the Tarot, one that disowns the Hebrew connection. Its readings have been proven enlightening for myself. Con-artists are easily avoided: don't pay money to have someone do something you can learn yourself.

That being said, Donald Webb references a trailer on the seamy side of Austin, Texas. Apparently there's a sign out front "Terror Card Readings." I'd like to give the entrepreneur there a whirl.
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Actually one of Webb's exercises is to write about why someone would patronize said establishment. I can think of a couple tenable reasons. Maybe not compelling, but tenable.
 
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Robert Ramsay

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I learned from a very straightforward, no-frills book called "The Tarot: The Origins, Meaning and Uses of the Cards" by Alfred Douglas (Illustrated by David Sheridan).

I was also lent a Tarot book which got yeeted when one of the footnotes said "And of course the gypsies came from Atlantis"...
 
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Xenophon

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Robert Ramsay said:
I learned from a very straightforward, no-frills book called "The Tarot: The Origins, Meaning and Uses of the Cards" by Alfred Douglas (Illustrated by David Sheridan).

I was also lent a Tarot book which got yeeted when one of the footnotes said "And of course the gypsies came from Atlantis"...
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Atlantis must've been crowded, what with the Irish, Greeks, assorted Aryans, West Africans, Basques, Inca and now Gypsies all coming from there. Still I am not clear as to what's the Tarot-Atlantis tie-in, unless it's just to pad out a pedigree. I mean, clearly, divination seems to have availed the Atlanteans little.

To address OP's query, Tarot can certainly be turned into hogwash. I never had much attraction thereto. But, the tradition I follow, said STFU and make your own deck along the following lines. Since art-dabbling is a hobby of mine, I knuckled under. Turns out, I have only gotten useful readings from the deck. Nothing stunning, but useful nudges this way or that. Where Tarot might be a challenge is trying to do readings for others. Doubtless aptitudes vary.
 
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stalkinghyena

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IllusiveOwl said:
I've heard that the Major Arcana - the first 22 Tarot cards, correspond with the Hebrew Alphabet, the Tree of Life, and the path to initiation itself.
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It's a symbolic formula with a traceable history and multiple variations. Whether its BS or not in an "exoteric-objective" sense often has to do with the presentation of that history, which is often given as a way of establishing a sense of tradition and legitimacy.

In the personal esoteric sense, any "authenticity" to be found is a matter of preference of the operator and their ability to identify with it. This can often to lead to perturbation and even irritation given all that's available these days.

In my opinion and experience, the linking of Tarot to the Hebrew letters is an example of a mnemonic tool of magical perception to establish an inner language of correspondences that attempt to give shape to and organize the experience of subtle forces. This is not the only tool kit, but it can and has been used to embrace all other tools. The initial presentation of correspondences are an introductory surface upon which to build one's own understanding.

IllusiveOwl said:
schizophrenic mysticism
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From the inside looking out, though, it may make perfect sense. I say this of mysticism generally, because it can often look schizo in its ecstasies.

I've recommended Robert Wang's Qabalistic Tarot on WF before, with some caveats and criticisms. I think it's a good entry to study the relationships with the Tarot and Hebrew letters (and astrology) with comparison and contrasts to various schools of thought and different decks. It generally follows the Golden Dawn layout for the Tarot system, but I don't feel it was written dogmatically though it isn't exactly equivocal. I've always felt it was patterned somewhat after Dion Fortune's Mystical Qabalah. Read with suspended judgement, it could give you a feel for the ground.

Xenophon said:
Where Tarot might be a challenge is trying to do readings for others. Doubtless aptitudes vary.
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It's a dialectic that involves myth making. Tarot is all about allegory through visual symbols selected at "random". One astrologer Chris Brennan interviewed on past lives said that he would tell his clients, "I will tell you a story that is true, but it is made up." This applies to Tarot and other mantic systems as well. At some point the myth and the facts can intersect, but in the intermediate phases it can seem like hogwash.
 
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Xenophon

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stalkinghyena said:
It's a symbolic formula with a traceable history and multiple variations. Whether its BS or not in an "exoteric-objective" sense often has to do with the presentation of that history, which is often given as a way of establishing a sense of tradition and legitimacy.

In the personal esoteric sense, any "authenticity" to be found is a matter of preference of the operator and their ability to identify with it. This can often to lead to perturbation and even irritation given all that's available these days.

In my opinion and experience, the linking of Tarot to the Hebrew letters is an example of a mnemonic tool of magical perception to establish an inner language of correspondences that attempt to give shape to and organize the experience of subtle forces. This is not the only tool kit, but it can and has been used to embrace all other tools. The initial presentation of correspondences are an introductory surface upon which to build one's own understanding.


From the inside looking out, though, it may make perfect sense. I say this of mysticism generally, because it can often look schizo in its ecstasies.

I've recommended Robert Wang's Qabalistic Tarot on WF before, with some caveats and criticisms. I think it's a good entry to study the relationships with the Tarot and Hebrew letters (and astrology) with comparison and contrasts to various schools of thought and different decks. It generally follows the Golden Dawn layout for the Tarot system, but I don't feel it was written dogmatically though it isn't exactly equivocal. I've always felt it was patterned somewhat after Dion Fortune's Mystical Qabalah. Read with suspended judgement, it could give you a feel for the ground.


It's a dialectic that involves myth making. Tarot is all about allegory through visual symbols selected at "random". One astrologer Chris Brennan interviewed on past lives said that he would tell his clients, "I will tell you a story that is true, but it is made up." This applies to Tarot and other mantic systems as well. At some point the myth and the facts can intersect, but in the intermediate phases it can seem like hogwash.
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Yours is a great explanation. Kudos and I will remember (probably cut 'n paste) it.
 
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