Kiama
When the Tarot first began to be used for anything other than gaming, it was unillustrated Minors/pips... the 4 of Pentacles didn't havethat misery lookin old man clutching those coins for all he's worth, but just 4 coins. Riveting stuff. I was just wondering: In the changeover from gaming to divination, who was the first person to gve the Minors meanings? How on Earth did they get meanings from them at all???!!! Somebody somewhere must've applied meanings for the first time to the rather horrible looking cards, and somehow those meanings have been passed down to us, although they probably have differed... Who? When? Where? How? And... If one person did do this, then it kinda spoils the theory that secret knowledge is hidden in the cards by their creators...
I guess what I'm asking is where do we get our Minor Arcana meanings from? The Majors I'm not worried about: They've actually got pictures, and anybody can come along and pretty much see similar things in them... But the Minors back ages ago... How could anybody get meainings from them? Did they just sit down one day and randomly associate certain words and life events with certain cards?
"Ah! Now, lemme see... Fights... Plenty of those in real life. Now, which card to put them on? I know! The card with 5 Swords on it.. Oh... But now I have this card with 5 Staves on it left over... Ah, I'll make that one mean Fighting as well! BUT with a very subtle difference... That'll have 'em all fooled...."
Sorry for the ramble, but can anybody enlighten me here...?
Kiama
I guess what I'm asking is where do we get our Minor Arcana meanings from? The Majors I'm not worried about: They've actually got pictures, and anybody can come along and pretty much see similar things in them... But the Minors back ages ago... How could anybody get meainings from them? Did they just sit down one day and randomly associate certain words and life events with certain cards?
"Ah! Now, lemme see... Fights... Plenty of those in real life. Now, which card to put them on? I know! The card with 5 Swords on it.. Oh... But now I have this card with 5 Staves on it left over... Ah, I'll make that one mean Fighting as well! BUT with a very subtle difference... That'll have 'em all fooled...."
Sorry for the ramble, but can anybody enlighten me here...?
Kiama