How did Tarot survive through the ages?

As said in this thread where the question was asked of the religious themes in Tarot, I must ask this. In the 15th century, the Chrurch in Europe and in Italy especially was still very strong, and most people were religious, whether out of fear of the inquisition, or fear of damnation. Of course, this was the Rennaisance, and not the middle ages, but the power of the church was still felt keenly by all.

Considering the edicts against witchcraft, divination and the occult in general, how did people begin to use Tarot in a time like that? And if they did, did the Church do nothing at first? Was it always something that was hidden and "underground"? Are the relgious pictures depicted a way of masking the real purpose of the deck?

Or was it only a game at first, and people began taking Tarot "seriously" only after the Golden Dawn era?

Tarot has, in itself, nothing to do with witchcraft... though appropriated and also used by many neo-pagan and neo-wiccans.

There are edicts against gambling, and against card games generally, from quite early on.

Also, it may be worth remembering that though the Church passed ecclesiastical edicts, it does not mean that everyone obeyed them. There were numerous cases where various groups of people acted and continued their ways of living.

Within early Tarot times, it may also be worth considering that no image within the deck are in any manner anti-Catholic. Quite the reverse, in fact, could be argued for. As I have also argued and shown over the past few years, virtually every single Atouts (major arcana) image can be found on similar form as a stone carving on Mediaeval catholic cathedrals.

Taking the deck 'seriously', I would suggest, has occured throughout its history, as the careful detailing of the imagery on such decks as the Marseille-style shows.

Where it took differing directions, with relatively major 'esoteric' modifications, was firstly in France with Etteilla - who created the most popular form of the deck during the 19th century, and then with further or different modifications with the Waite Colman Smith deck, based on Golden Dawn views, who created the most popular deck during the century just past.

Tarot was, however, well known in various parts prior to these influential figures. There may indeed be various views as to what the deck was principally used for. I would go along with the dominant view that it's principal usage was for gaming - but this does not mean that it was not simultaneously used for reflective and allegorical purposes. In fact, it would be counter the mindset of the times to suggest that it was solely used for gaming, and evidence is there that even dice and chess had allegorical considerations attached.

The tarot was never on the banned lists as set up by the church. There was a LONG list of banned books and authors, and they did also sidetrack into items as everyday as a tanned lambskin, black pet dogs, etc., but tarot was something the ultra rich used, and since (I'm suspecting) the church got most of their backing from the ultra rich, they wisely left this item off and persecuted the poor people for things as random as having feathers of a certain color inside their homes.

There was a book printed up--the malefectum or something like that, which lists everything that was able to get a person thrown in prison and tortured. A small books publisher did a reprint on this historical book a few years ago. It's sickening to read from what I heard. ANYTHING would make a person suspect & able to be put under arrest and their homes/possessions confiscated by the church.

I believe Tarot always had a place with the "misfits", the travelling folk that kept to themselves and dabbled with entertainment to add to their foodsupplies.

Also, it was quite a fashion with the rich families who were a little bit "above it all", though there it was mainly used for cardgames. Though I also imagine the fortune-telling going on in silent rooms after the break of night.

Amongst the "regular folk" though it was quite the rarity and for a time those who dabble with "the dark arts" were deemed witches and the process cut short with them and their decks, books and other items.
To many though, these were healers and midwives, wise women who gave good councel but sometimes became a little too wise, or a little too strange. And then the stories started and the trials came about.
Some got their books and decks rescued by friends and followers though and the arts lived on in secret, toned down to "it's only a game after all" and thus made "safe" again, to then become the "mindless entertainment" or "meaningless nonsense" that many still see it as today.

Tarot packs were made by cardmakers in increasingly large quantity between the 17th-18th centuries, as tavern-table games, though also with rich allegorical content, as jmd pointed out. They were not rich people's games, though the very poor would not have afforded them. They were everyman's (including "misfits"). That is the beauty of tarot and the secret of its survival: it was not a secret at all, it was as visible as the gargoyles and rosaces on the cathedral walls, and far more accessible, as it could live in someone's pocket. That some people associated it with dice for gaming is attested. That others - or perhaps the same people! - associated it with dice for divination is probable (divination with dice being fairly common) - though the way divination was regarded meant it was a covert activity. It probably was practised in taverns and in backyards.

One of the major reasons tarot was "rediscovered" by occultists is actually because it fell out of fashion in France in the late 18th century. It was "lost". Court de Gébelin, who at a card party in Paris saw a pack from Germany, never having seen one before, decided tarot fitted in very well in his philological "theory of everything" - and came, naturally enough, from Ancient Egypt (with adapted imagery for Europe). The occultist adoption of tarot started in France, and continued mainly in France until the Golden Dawn, borrowing from the French, adopted tarot as an esoteric tool. The occultists recognised what had never really been in doubt - that the tarot contained an allegorical sequence of great beauty and meaning. Their importance lay in the fact that they codified that sequence in esoteric terms, leant it nobility and esoteric ancestry, and wrote about it.

In other European countries - Northern Italian states, Switzerland, Geneva, German States, Flanders - tarot never lost favour, and continued as a popular artefact and game. I see people playing tarot in cafés to this day. And others reading it for divination

One more fact to keep in mind is that the Church was very different before and after the Council of Trent (1542-1563).

For instance, in 1492, Pope Alessandro VI had painter Pinturicchio decorating his private apartments. The frescos represent subjects such as the histories of the Egyptian god Api, and Isis sitting on a throne betweeb Hermes Trimegistos and Moses.

I think the creation of Tarot is a typical fruit of the first Renaissence, when the Church proved to be very interested in new (for the time) ideas. Tarot was created before the Council. After it, Tarot already was a mass phenomenon.

Marco

How did Tarot survive through the ages?

Tenacity, Belief and Need - of which all of the above mentioned are the result.

MystiqueMoonlight said:

Tenacity, Belief and Need - of which all of the above mentioned are the result.

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And the plain enjoyment of a good game. Let's put all this in persective. For most of its history in most of the countries where it spread, tarot was not threatened. When it was, it sprang back pretty fast. Heavy royal taxation and changing fashion in games drove it from France - but did well elsewhere, and still continued in the Southern half of France, where obviously clever tax-avoidance was already a habit.

I'm not even sure I understand why this question - "how did tarot survive" - is being asked, as though it were a huge accomplishment. We might as well ask - why did chess survive (it's much older) or paper money, both of which have had varying fortunes as well.

It is interesting when religious or political leaders try to ban things either sacred or profane. The taliban in Afghanistan banned soccer and kite-flying among other things. I doubt they would have allowed tarot either since they also destroyed ancient Buddhist statues. I wonder if any of the Medicci popes or cardinals ever played with tarot. I suspect they did...but probably as a game. Who is going to build a time machine?

dantarot said:

I wonder if any of the Medicci popes or cardinals ever played with tarot. I suspect they did...but probably as a game. Who is going to build a time machine?

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(Probably they did!) You could always do a reading on it I find the cards themselves very effective time machines...