How did you first hear of Tarot?

Thread originally posted on the Aeclectic Tarot Forum on 09 Sep 2002, and now archived in the Forum Library.

ihcoyc	09 Sep 2002
I know exactly how I first was exposed to the concept of the Tarot. It was from: http://www.museumoftalkingboards.com/kabala.html Ka-Bala! from Transogram. The mysterious game that foretells the future. There was a set of twenty-two trump cards that went around the base of the glowing green plastic doodad mounted by the ever-searching Eye of Zohar. Each of these cards conveniently had the fate it signified printed on the back; the Empress, for instance, foretold a happy marriage, many children, and material wealth. Which I suppose was not far wrong. You may consult the Ka-Bala online here (requires Flash): http://stevenintermill.com/mysterious.html The Tarot Cards from the Ka-Bala were apparently based on the Rider-Waite-Smith deck, redesigned and done in blue ink. Ka-Bala was a talking Ouija board type contraption, with a marble that rolled (rocketed, actually) around its groove, with luck eventually coming to rest to indicate a letter, an answer, or a Tarot card. While the ball was spinning you were supposed to chant "PAX, SAX, SARAX, HOLA, NOA., NOSTRA." Tarot cards fascinated me since I first saw this gadget advertised on TV. I still had the Eye of Zohar as late as college, because I remember putting it on top of a Christmas tree back then. But the Ka-Bala, its marble, its Tarots, and the Eye have now been scattered to the winds.

Liliana	09 Sep 2002
Ive wanted one of those Ka Bala since Ive read about them online, Ill never find one but the look so cool Tarot for me was introduced by a lovely little game for the original Nintendo system called Taboo:the Sixth Sense. You would enter your name, birthday, and question and itd do a Celtic Cross reading for you. I still wonder how it chose a significator, it was some equation to do with the birthdate, I was always Page of Cups, probably one reason why Im attached to the Queen of Cups now (since I grew up hehe) It had a poster of all the cards, which were only designed for the game. I hand drew them from the poster on a pack of index cards and that was my first deck. Pity I lost them. I used to take them to school and do readings, and someone once told the teacher i had pornography cause the lovers were a naked man and woman, with the hands of the male covering the females genital and vice versa lol :THP

catboxer	10 Sep 2002
When I was about 20, a girl who was studying in the same department as me (journalism, at San Francisco State) insisted one day that I should sit for a reading. The only name we knew her by was Gypsy, and she indeed was one. She used regular playing cards, and the reading has proved to be accurate in the long term. I still remember portions of it. This would have been in about 1964. A couple years later I walked into a metaphysical bookshoop in downtown San Francisco and picked up a copy of P.F. Case's "Tarot Meditations." Then I bought a B.O.T.A. deck. A few months later I bought a Marseilles deck, the Grimaud one. I've studied the cards off and on since then.

wavebreaker	10 Sep 2002
Through the online version of the Glastonbury Tarot. I started using it for online readings, first thinking of it as just a game. But after a while I came to realise that it was more than that. So I bought my own tarot deck, the Rider-Waite, because I had found out that that was a good one to start with. The Glastonbury was the second one I bought... ;)

pentunen	10 Sep 2002
A couple years ago I left the Christian church, after 17 fruitless years following its teachings, and started exploring other paths to the Divine. One of the things I encountered in my explorations was the art of divination, and as it was previously forbidden knowledge for me, I naturally became very interested in it ;) A friend of mine at the time was an athiest/pagan, and mentioned tarot cards as a means of divination. Back then, I saw them as too common to be interesting - the bookshelves at pagan stores were overflowing with tarot books and decks - and I couldn't find a deck that I really liked, so I gave them a miss. O'course, I was completely wrong in my assessment of tarot :) Recently, I found a couple decks with artwork I liked (Lord of the Rings, Kalevala), and after buying them I figured I may as well learn to read the cards :) Then I found Aeclectic :D and learned that tarot is in fact rich and complex, with a *huge* variety of decks available. This piqued my interest in tarot, and I started reading guides online, aquainting myself with various suggested meanings for cards and the rich symbolism in each one. The rest is history in the making ;) - LittleCub

Diana	10 Sep 2002
edited

catlin	10 Sep 2002
In 1984 I found an article (together with a sheet of 22 Majors)about tarot in a woman's magazine. I glued the sheet to some card board, cut out the cards and voilà, my first deck was born! I then started reading the little which was in these days available about tarot in Germany. Some years later I switched to the Marseilles deck, than to RW and the rest is history.

Trogon	10 Sep 2002
My mother had purchased an Albano-Waite Tarot deck back in the 1960's and this is how I first heard about the Tarot. She never got very far with learning it as the deck came without a "LWB" and she was unable, at that time, to find any books on Tarot. Or so, she tells me. (BTW, I now have her original deck - and the box does say it does not contain instructions.) When I was in hi-school (early '70's), I read a little bit about various divination techniques for a paper I was writing. Then, about 3 years ago a neighbor did a reading for me and introduced me to the Tarot. She suggested a book ("A Complete Guide to the Tarot" by Eden Gray) and I've been slowly learning and getting more involved in the Tarot ever since. Now... I'm addicted... :eek:

Jewel	10 Sep 2002
How I exactly learned about its existance I do not recall, but when I was a kid I was always into all the fortune telling games, astrology games and of course my magic 8 ball *LOL*. One day about 8 years ago I was walking through a Barnes & Noble book store and picked up the Robin Wood deck (the Magician on the box made me do it). I decided I wanted to learn tarot, so I looked at books and since they seemed to be mainly illustrated with the RWS I put the Robin Wood back on the shelf and got the RWS deck and a couple of books instead. Hated the RWS, went back and got the Robin Wood a few weeks later and voila here you have me 8 years later!

truthsayer	11 Sep 2002
my mother encouraged me to play around w/ divination methods. as a family we enjoyed sitting around the kitchen table doing "fortunetelling". i did a speech on numerology in a 9th grade english class. my teacher asked if i had tried tarot cards. i said no but my curiosity didn't relax until i finally found a deck in a jc penney catalogue in the games section. this was the hoi polloi deck. 10 years later i got the rws and the thoth. when i first started tarot, about the only books i could find were by eden gray. then in the '80's i discovered mary k. greer, eillen connally, and gail fairchild's books. my interest in reading changed to self discovery.

lupo138	11 Sep 2002
ok, I will admit it: from a james bond movie, where a maiden reads the cards for the evil guy, that is some sort of voodoo-priest ;)

MeeWah	11 Sep 2002
ihcoyc: A belated welcome to ye! I was already reading with a regular deck of playing cards when I found Zolar's Astrological Tarot Fortune Telling Cards, which includes images of the Rider-Smith-Waite deck. The colors of Zolar's version turned me off, but when I was 19, I stumbled on that deck at a Brentano's in New York City.

Alissa	11 Sep 2002
I don't remember exactly, but it was probably thourgh my sister, who has been reading cards for like 15 years now. I've been spoiled and always able to go to her for a reading, but now have been bitten by the bug myself. Now i've quit being so lazy about it, and started walking my own path. And I'm hooked.

Ladyhawke	11 Sep 2002
I *swear* I had a RWS deck when I was 11 or 12, but I have no recollection of it. But when I bought a RWS deck a couple years ago (after getting into Wicca and various other esoteric topics), I had this major jolt. "I've seen these before...." Since I bought the RWS a couple years ago, I've been moving slowly at acquiring more decks, mostly because I can't seem to find one I can read easily with. (I think I've solved that problem with the Universal Waite though....). Ladyhawke

jema	11 Sep 2002
i am too old to remember that;) i think i have always been aware of them, they have always been there at the ourskirts of my mind and when i after many years in a cult found my spirit again the cards were just there for me. a marseille pack at a bookstore and then a mini rider-waite. i still remember vividly how i got the Fournier deck and then sat down with pencil and notebook and started scribbling : "le mat - the fool" i still got the book but i have been lazy in updating it these last years. i think i can remember it all in my head - but i know i am missing out so just today!!! i took out an old ring-binder and got down to business. for me tarot was also a way to rebel. it was dangerous and hush-hush and the devil could get me but i didn't care - the cards were freedom and it was the late 80:ies and the summer of love. i played the stereo real loud with the Stone Roses and did readings from the notebook for all my friends.

lupo138	11 Sep 2002
oh god the stone roses ! I am becoming completely sentimental. And Inspriral Carpets and Pixies.... sorry, I know it´s off topic, but I had to say that

zorya	11 Sep 2002
it was toward the late 60's, and my mother had gotten out her mother's old deck. it must have been from the 40's or 50's. it wasn't long after that, that i somehow ended up with my own deck, the 1jj swiss.

ihcoyc	11 Sep 2002
Quote: Originally posted by lupo138 ok, I will admit it: from a james bond movie, where a maiden reads the cards for the evil guy, that is some sort of voodoo-priest ;) heh! Live and Let Die. With that extremely goofy pop-art deck. You can't use that deck unless you're still a virgin, which may be for the best. })

The How did you first hear of Tarot? thread was originally posted on 09 Sep 2002 in the Talking Tarot board, and is now archived in the Forum Library. Read the active threads in Talking Tarot, or read more archived threads.