The Complete New Tarot - Docters van Leeuwen

IMHO.. i (being mystical and psychic) would love to find the Tarot as having ancient magical source.. but I spent a lot of time reseaching tarot (2 years in Italy on a music history research grant) etc..and find that it is not true.

there were not 80 cards to begin with, that was an artifact of the printing process (sheets that are then cut into cards , leaving 2 extras . blanks)

I also spent much time psychically tracing back the tarot.. and I'm convinced(for myself, anyone can have an equally valid opinion) that it originated as a game, but it's potential for magical/spiritual use was quickly recognized , it was gradually attributed and adapted to magical use..
so the order has changed (for the better) and other changes are improvements.. returning to the original form is not an advantage... i think the opposite is true, there are a number of improvements that can be made in future decks

and it works great.. I'm also sure that the tarot has no innate meaning per card, (though I do believe the "collective" use of anything give a depth, empowerment and guide our intuition and that symbols/archetypes do have meaning that shape each card) but each person must find their own way with the deck..

none of this detracts from today's use of Tarot..it's a powerful method

ZenMusic said:

there were not 80 cards to begin with, that was an artifact of the printing process (sheets that are then cut into cards , leaving 2 extras . blanks)

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Logic can be very restricting, and artefacts like two blank cards
easily discovered (in modern editions) to be a mere by-product
of the printing process but when there's magic, magic happens.
Why not dive into the vast pool of possibility and allow it to be?

ZenMusic said:

it originated as a game

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This always saddens me, Tarot originated as a game, we hear it
oft repeated, like the mantra of the unimaginative "So say I" set.
Who creates such a game? And LOOK at the Tarot... It is ALIVE.

Let the slick, know it all gang demote the world's greatest oracle
if they wish, but I choose to rise above the "So say I" mentalists.

tarot has always been with us

I tend to believe that the Tarot has always been with us, in some form or other. Its emergence in medieval Italy was simple the latest manifestation of a form of ancient knowledge, which may have also been possessed by the ancient masters of Egypt - albeit in different forms.

The point is, it is archetypal knowledge - why be so linear about this process, when the tarot itself describes a beautiful circle?

The Tarot is, was and always will be. I think the author's claims that the Tarot, as an algorithm of Life, was deliberately disrupted by the Church, makes a lot of sense. If you read what they actualy say, about which cards were put in different positions and why- it will blow your mind, seriously!

There are more things in heaven and earth than are dreamed of in your philosohpy...