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Tarot Cards

Welcome to this week’s Into the Paranormal! I hope you have a great Friday.

Today I’ll be discussing Tarot Cards. First, here’s what they are:

The tarot is a pack of cards (most commonly numbering 78), used from the mid-15th century in various parts of Europe to play a group of card games such as Italian tarocchini and French tarot. From the late 18th century until the present time the tarot has also found use by mystics and occultists in efforts at divination or as a map of mental and spiritual pathways. 

The tarot has four suits (which vary by region, being the French suits in Northern Europe, the Latin suits in Southern Europe, and the German suits in Central Europe). Each of these suits has pip cards numbering from ace to ten and four face cards for a total of 14 cards. In addition, the tarot is distinguished by a separate 21-card trump suit and a single card known as the Fool. Depending on the game, the Fool may act as the top trump or may be played to avoid following suit. 

Got that? Yeah, it’s a little fuzzy for me too. To be honest, I have limited experience with them, but I do find them interesting. One of my favorite urban fantasy series is the Cassie Palmer series by Karen Chance. Cassie has an enchanted deck of tarot cards, and occasionally, they’ll come up in the books.

When I was younger, I used to play Nintendo NES. I found the game Taboo: The Sixth Sense, which was a “game” that gave users a tarot reading. You gave your name, birthday, and gender as well as a question. It then shuffled the cards and gave a tarot reading in the Celtic cross layout. It even gave lottery numbers if you entered what state you’re from.

Something I found really intriguing was in college, I had a creative writing professor who taught the class a brainstorming method she used with Tarot cards. Yep, I’m still kicking myself for not taking notes that day.

To wrap today’s post up, here’s what I found about tarot’s origin:

The cards are traced by some occult writers to ancient Egypt or the Kabbalah but there is no documented evidence of such origins or of the usage of tarot for divination before the 18th century.

Have you gotten a Tarot reading before? Tell me what you think about Tarot cards! I can’t wait to hear what your thoughts.

2 Comments

  1. I am a Tarot Card reader and also have had many readings myself. The truth is that it all depends on who is doing the reading. The cards are just a tool. If the spiritual message is not coming through, the reading will not be helpful or accurate.

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