What is Tarot?

Demon Goddess

I really got a kick reading the responses to Anna's question!

Many thoughts of mine were repeated and I couldn't help but grin. When I was doing Tai Chi, I used to think that my movements were my way of talking to God (the collective consciousness, Goddess, Gaia, whatever name you use) and that my reading tarot was God's way of talking to me.

By and large though, EE's answer was best.

This... passes cards from hand to hand... is what tarot means. Now why do I feel as if I just drank from an empty cup???

T
 

gregory

I thought about this for a little while and I think this question is relatively meaningless, in terms of what tarot is to me. (that’s not to say others have to feel the same way – just an opinion, no criticism of anyone who has posted. :*)

But.............

If you allow of a world that only permits and rewards one form of tarot, then force is being used against your nature. Then you are imperceptibly nudged out towards the edge of the abyss. (This is paraphrased from something I was reading today, in case anyone else thinks ‘hang on, I read that somewhere !’ It really struck me as the nearest to absolute truth as we can get. There is no such animal.)

But this is what some thinkers seem to feel is the only way for anyone serious about tarot to think. I think it is the only way NOT to look at it.
That being so, you cannot ask “what is tarot ?” It has a different meaning for every single person who answers.
 

Alta

gregory said:
That being so, you cannot ask “what is tarot ?” It has a different meaning for every single person who answers.
I agree with that and also found it difficult. Which didn't stop me from reading and enjoying all the responses.

Because the initial concept 'tarot' tends to have such a spectrum of meaningfulness, then the starting position becomes rather fuzzy and makes the ending position even fuzzier.

But, that's fine. I enjoy threads that allow we tarot folks to play with an idea in our minds.
 

gregory

Thanks Marion - I read the thread too; that was why the piece I read struck me so hard ! I know some people have a very - precisely defined, I suppose - definition, and believe it is the only way - and that bothers me a lot ! It seems both elitist and excluding.
 

Anna

gregory said:
That being so, you cannot ask “what is tarot ?” It has a different meaning for every single person who answers.

I guess that is why I asked it, and what I was hoping I would get: a lot of very different answers!!!!!

I am trying to work about what I really think and believe about Tarot, and it is very difficult.

I supose the answer that comes closest is "Tarot is whatever you want it to be".... but even that dosn't really explain what it is, just that it is something that everyone has a unique and personal relationship with.
 

gregory

I don't think it can be what you WANT it to be. (I know - I said that before. But I think now I was wrong. I may of course change my mind again.) I still think it is only what it IS to each individual. The difference is subtle but important.
 

Seafra

I suppose I'd call it a channel. It is interesting to think that if more turned on this channel the broadcast signals would be stronger, that we'd hit critical mass, like in Keyes 100th Monkey story. I'll paste the story here for those who haven't heard of it.

The 100th Monkey

A story about social change.

By Ken Keyes Jr.

The Japanese monkey, Macaca Fuscata, had been observed in the wild for a period of over 30 years.

In 1952, on the island of Koshima, scientists were providing monkeys with sweet potatoes dropped in the sand. The monkey liked the taste of the raw sweet potatoes, but they found the dirt unpleasant.

An 18-month-old female named Imo found she could solve the problem by washing the potatoes in a nearby stream. She taught this trick to her mother. Her playmates also learned this new way and they taught their mothers too.

This cultural innovation was gradually picked up by various monkeys before the eyes of the scientists. Between 1952 and 1958 all the young monkeys learned to wash the sandy sweet potatoes to make them more palatable. Only the adults who imitated their children learned this social improvement. Other adults kept eating the dirty sweet potatoes.

Then something startling took place. In the autumn of 1958, a certain number of Koshima monkeys were washing sweet potatoes -- the exact number is not known. Let us suppose that when the sun rose one morning there were 99 monkeys on Koshima Island who had learned to wash their sweet potatoes. Let's further suppose that later that morning, the hundredth monkey learned to wash potatoes.

THEN IT HAPPENED!

By that evening almost everyone in the tribe was washing sweet potatoes before eating them. The added energy of this hundredth monkey somehow created an ideological breakthrough!

But notice: A most surprising thing observed by these scientists was that the habit of washing sweet potatoes then jumped over the sea...Colonies of monkeys on other islands and the mainland troop of monkeys at Takasakiyama began washing their sweet potatoes.

Thus, when a certain critical number achieves an awareness, this new awareness may be communicated from mind to mind.

Although the exact number may vary, this Hundredth Monkey Phenomenon means that when only a limited number of people know of a new way, it may remain the conscious property of these people.

But there is a point at which if only one more person tunes-in to a new awareness, a field is strengthened so that this awareness is picked up by almost everyone!

From the book "The Hundredth Monkey" by Ken Keyes, Jr.
The book is not copyrighted and the material may be reproduced in whole or in part.
 

Jewel

Anna said:
I supose the answer that comes closest is "Tarot is whatever you want it to be".... but even that dosn't really explain what it is, just that it is something that everyone has a unique and personal relationship with.
I also enjoyed this thread. What I have learned in my tarot experience is that tarot - to me - is a journey not a destination. It is a key that I can use to shift from this reality to an alternate reality (as described eloquently by Dave).
 

May

An interesting question and very enlightening answers.

I think I go with Gregory for now (I too may change my mind later) - Tarot is what it is to each individual
 

Bat Chicken

Interesting thread, indeed! :)

To me, Tarot is many things - but mainly a way to understand the Universe - perhaps a map like Lillie says? However, the symbols evolve - much as does the Universe itself. Where science is one means which we use to explain the Universe, much like religion and philosophy, so is Tarot another method (quite deeply based in all three of the former, actually).

Some of us are sensual beings, others are intellects. Tarot is unique in that it is accessible to both.