Tarot As The Original Book of Secrets

MystiqueMoonlight

I read somewhere the Tarot is a book containing the information of the system of the universe which was passed onto the common ppl without their complete understanding of the spiritual value of the information they received. The purpose of this was to preserve this information in it's entirety and original format without any political or personal input to it which would eventually change the true purpose of what the Tarot are.

Books such as the bible, kabbalah, koran and so forth (sorry if I offend anyone here, I am merely just making a reference) apparently are not the true books containg this information and were irrationally changed over the centuries by mankind in politically powerful positions that the information contained within has no real value.

It's an interesting concept and in some ways makes a lot of sense to me personally.

What do ya'll think??
 

Lee

It's an interesting and attractive theory, but unfortunately there's not a shred of historical evidence for it.

I like what Rachel Pollack says about such stories, that they're important from a mythological point of view; in other words, they can be regarded as true in the same way myths are true, but not to be taken as literal, historical truth.

-- Lee
 

Jeannette

MystiqueMoonlight said:
I read somewhere the Tarot is a book containing the information of the system of the universe which was passed onto the common ppl without their complete understanding of the spiritual value of the information they received. The purpose of this was to preserve this information in it's entirety and original format without any political or personal input to it which would eventually change the true purpose of what the Tarot are.
This is an oft-repeated theory (sometimes even stated as out-and-out-fact) that is not substantiated by actual historical evidence. The lack of historical evidence does not, of course, mean that there's no truth to this assertion. It simply means that, as with any spiritual/theological system, one must accept such assertions (if one chooses to do so) strictly on faith.

Books such as the bible, kabbalah, koran and so forth (sorry if I offend anyone here, I am merely just making a reference) apparently are not the true books containg this information and were irrationally changed over the centuries by mankind in politically powerful positions that the information contained within has no real value.
While it seems quite plausable that over the years, there have been "adjustments" made to the text of the major historical spiritual works for political or other reasons, there is a larger issue to consider here. The very process of translating such books, however well-intended, has certainly caused some "adjustments" in the meanings of the original texts. Multiple translations -- from one language to another, and from ancient languages into modern ones -- has demonstratably caused changes that imbue certain portions of the texts with entirely new interpretations or meanings.

Even so, it does not necessarily follow that the resulting works lack "real value." Perhaps it is true -- or perhaps the resulting "evolved" texts have more value than the original. Without extensive knowledge of the original texts, and the necessary language skills required to understand them, plus a healthy dose of personal theological or spiritual enlightenment of one's own, free of ego bias, such assertions can only remain a matter of speculation.

It's an interesting concept and in some ways makes a lot of sense to me personally.
Interesting, yes. Makes sense -- maybe, but no more so than any number of other hypotheses that can't be fully substantiated by the historical evidence.

What do ya'll think??
Personally, I don't buy it. But, as Dennis Miller says: "Of course, that's just my opinion; I may be wrong..."

-- Jeannette
http://www.tarotgarden.com
 

AmounrA

I would not use the term book of origninal secrets, but there is definatly a major influence in the tarot , from the old mystery schools. In those days many people could not read, or different languages could be a barrier....so images where used as teaching tools....the classic tarot deck was not what they used, but the tarot has certainly developed from this.

The mystery schools would have different symbols for different degree's of initiation , concepts...dietes etc...

The tarot where clearly put together by someone initiated into some order, they are not the work of one man alone.....a team was involved.

I believe the universe is interconnected from within conciousness, believing this means I believe certain things about the tarots nexus that I can not prove [and don't feel the need to prove:)], I will say though that I believe the tarot where meant to be, and are a teaching and contact aid for those who knock knock knock at the universal door. :)
 

Umbrae

All of your questions will be answered in this book:

A Wicked Pack of Cards: The Origins of the Occult Tarot
by Ronald Decker, Thierry Depaulis (Contributor), Michael Dummett
 

MeeWah

Mystique: The intent or purpose to preserve spiritual teachings/truths in a system--that is, Tarot--that can survive the ravages of Man's world makes perfect sense to me as given the collective wisdom that gave birth to the system, that premise could conceivably follow. One would need to have some basis of reference or concrete evidence to support that premise. Since the current knowledge of the origin of Tarot is limited, the premise or theory remains in that realm of conjecture.

In addition, how that information has been preserved is debatable. Just as the bible has undergone various translations & revisions over time based on scholarly &/or a religious/spiritual considerations, it can be said that Tarot has similarly undergone
such treatment or changes by many hands. There has been & will continue to be differing perceptions of the knowledge it represents. The proliferation of different schools of thought, some of which are expressed in diverse decks & books conceivably risk diluting or distorting "the original" teachings.

I have my own ideas regarding this but not based on anything I can concretely prove.

There are many cultures of the past & some current cultures that rely on an oral tradition to preserve their esoteric teachings as well as their history. In many of those, a chosen few were & are given the privilege of access to such knowledge since they are the ones charged with the task of carrying that knowledge onward. It may be that from such practices myths were born, in part as an attempt to explain man's relation to his environment. Tarot responds in that manner & that in itself is ultimately significant; contributes to its place in man's endeavors.

Amended to include: BTW, when I first saw this thread, there were no responses.
 

MystiqueMoonlight

First of all I would like to say get me a dictionary!!! :) :)

Meewah your replies are always very well written and provocative.

Don't get me wrong guys I'm not degrading any of the religious texts like the bible, koran or so forth. I was just trying to make a point by relationship and I cerainly do not mean to offend.

In so far as evidence is concerned, I suppose there isn't any real concrete evidence to the origins of Tarot, but then again show me the Arc or the grail or even stone tablets the commandments were written on (the second set after the first were smashed) :)

To me personally it makes a lot of sense the Tarot are not merely a divinatory system developed for that purpose only. The cards definetly have more to them than that. I believe they are a kind of book with key information leading to the information of the Universe (kind of like any other reilgious or spiritual text). Surely these cards were not just created one night by a group of pagans over a jug of ale because they decided they needed yet another magickal tool.

Umbrae, thanks for the book info as well.....
 

Lee

Click here to read a very well-presented summation of what is (and isn't) actually known about the history of the Tarot.

-- Lee
 

catboxer

Besides seconding what Umbrae and Lee have already said, I would only add that a claim that the origins of tarot are unknown or obscure, while technically true, is misleading. See the link supplied by Lee.

The originators of the trumps were not the originators of the suited cards, so it is also somewhat misleading to speak of the "origins of tarot."

The originators of the trump cards, educated Renaissance Italian types that they were, probably subscribed to a neoPlatonist philsophy with gnostic overtones, so at least some of this viewpoint can be extapolated from the trump pictures. Besides seeing Tador Little's "History Information Sheet," see his "Tarot as Cosmograph," also at the Tarothermit site.

The idea that the tarot deck is a vehicle for the pristine transmission of an ancient esoteric system of knowledge was invented by Court de Gebelin in 1781, and has been recycled in numerous forms since then. None of these are an improvement on the original, as this theory is based on fantasies, is refuted by the available evidence (and all of it is available in Stuart Kaplan's "Encyclopedias"), and has no merit.