The Case For Secular Tarot

Thread originally posted on the Aeclectic Tarot Forum on 27 Apr 2003, and now archived in the Forum Library.

divinerguy	27 Apr 2003
Holmes posted a thread which raises the issue of the use of tarot by various mystery schools. For purposes of this discussion, "mystery schools" refer to groups of people who follow a particular doctrine, such as BOTA, Qabbalah, Hermeticism, Freemasonry, Rosicrucianism and the like, which permit Tarot as part of their belief system. Many of these schools hold religious services and offer titles. This post offers the conclusion that Tarot was initially secular, and was subsequently adopted by the mystery schools. There is little doubt that the first emergence of Tarot as an accumulated body was a game played by italian nobility. Prior to this time, the symbols had their origins in various groups and societies. The symbols, in some cases, held a religious significance for particular groups, on a discrete and insular basis. Other symbols, such as the pentagram have nearly universal origins. The torah, the devil and judgment come to us from judaica, while the symbols for justice find their origins in freemasonry and babylonian culture. The infinity symbol comes to us from English mathemetician John Wallis in 1655 CE. The ouroboros (snake eating itself) finds early references in egyptian culture, and may be neolithic in origin, representing an unending cycle. The pentagram or pentacle, a five pointed star, has origins in judaica, athenian, egyptian, masonic and mormon cultures and religions. If you examine other mainstream tarot symbols, you'll find references to them in various cultures. The ubiquitous nature of these symbols militates in favor of a tarot whose symbols are archetypal of human culture as a whole. By negative implication, it would argue against the wholesale use of tarot as belonging to a particular religion or culture. The subsequent adoptions of these diverse symbols by proponents of the mystery schools bear a heavy burden if their intent is to prove a claim of fundamental truth. To assert their interpretation is the "one true way" of tarot, they must overcome the historical prevalence of the use of these symbols by cultures which long predate their existence. If the Tarot has any religious basis at all, its best case would lie in a religion which subsumes the origins of all of these cultures.

RedWood	27 Apr 2003
Dont know if I am way off topic here or not. Reading your post Divinerguy discussing a bit of symbolism from the different religions. Is it a thought that: Tarot holds all the religions in its cards. (My mom has always told me. Each religion holds some of the truth. Of course getting to that can be the problem) So do these cards hold a bit of truth from each religion. So therefore is a deck unto itself? Hmmm Do you understand what I am saying? Heck, Do I understand what I am saying? :D

divinerguy	27 Apr 2003
I do understand what you're saying, and frankly, I don't know what the answer would be. As I'm somewhat of a universalist at heart, I cannot discount the idea.

divinerguy	27 Apr 2003
No takers, eh? Just as well, I suppose.

HOLMES	28 Apr 2003
the idea i was proposing that the tarot had elements ,most likely at their base idea of the established sytems at that time of astrology , kabbalah, numerology, colours. which was reflect more in the major arcana, as most sources say today that the playing card came first. most certainly the archtypes came first in my mind. i never meant to imply the tarot had religous intentions but rather spiritual nature of man.

galadrial	29 Apr 2003
Well, I know my own approach is that tarot is essentially outside of any religion or mystery school; one or another may claim to have added (or correctly interpreted) thus or so symbol, but they did not invent nor solely "correctly" interpret the Reality behind the symbol. I think that if we were formed differently, say had 12 fingers, that some symbols would change. In other words, any abstract representation of 12 that a person could interpret (because it had elements of a culture they understood) would resonate with that person on some level, whereas perhaps 10 would not, or would in a subtler manner. A mystery school or religion might be able to grasp a deeper level of meaning for 12 through study, focus, meditation, etc., and might be able to eloquently express it both symbolically and in writing, but can hardly claim to have invented either 12 or 12's meaning in a person's life. So I feel it is with all tarot symbols; they communicate, if at all, because what they represent is Real and intrinsically meaningful, not because the symbols come from, or have been interpreted by, a group that has cornered the market on truth.

The The Case For Secular Tarot thread was originally posted on 27 Apr 2003 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.