Five Tarot Myths

These are going to be well known to any reader with more than a passing interest in the Tarot, but they probably bear repeating being as these falsities have been so repeated over the course the past three hundred years.  You'll still find them being forwarded for the newer generations in your New Age and Alt Reality genres.

I think I can just knock these out in what I believe is my very first listicle.

Myth One: Playing cards, and by extension, Tarot cards, were brought to Europe by "The Gypsies."

The idea that Tarot cards were brought to Europe by "Gypsies" is a myth that has been perpetuated for a long time. While it's true that the Tarot deck has a long and fascinating history, its origins are not tied to any specific culture or group of people.

The Tarot deck, as we know it today, originated in Italy during the 15th century as a card game. The earliest known Tarot decks were created for wealthy Italian families to play a popular game called "Tarocchi." It wasn't until later that people began to use the Tarot cards for divination and other spiritual purposes.

There is no evidence to support the idea that "Gypsies" brought the Tarot to Europe. In fact, the Romani people, who are commonly referred to as "Gypsies," appeared in Europe after the first trump decks with a special trump suit as found in the Tarot had already been developed locally in northern Italy, and the arrival of ethnically Romani people was something like fifty years after the first mention of playing cards.

The myth about the Tarot being brought to Europe by "Gypsies" likely stems from the fact that Tarot cards have been associated with fortune-telling and divination for a long time, and the Romani people have been historically marginalized and associated with mystical practices.  The idea that Tarot cards were brought to Europe by "Gypsies" is a myth that lacks historical evidence. The Tarot deck has a complex history and we will discuss in more detail later how the trump suit was developed locally in Italy.

Myth Two: Tarot cards come down to us from ancient Egypt

The myth that Tarot cards come from ancient Egypt is not supported by historical evidence. While it is true that some have associated Tarot with ancient Egyptian symbolism and mythology, there is no evidence to suggest that the Tarot was directly influenced by ancient Egyptian culture.

The earliest known Tarot decks date back to the 15th century in Italy, where they were used primarily for playing games. It wasn't until the 18th century that the Tarot began to be used for divination, and it was during this time that many Tarot decks began to incorporate esoteric and mystical symbolism, including references to ancient Egypt.

It's worth noting that during the 18th and 19th centuries, there was a great deal of interest in ancient Egypt among scholars and the general public, and many mystical and spiritual traditions incorporated Egyptian symbolism and mythology into their practices. It is possible that this interest in ancient Egypt may have influenced the development of Tarot decks that incorporated Egyptian imagery.

However, there is no evidence to suggest that the Tarot was directly descended from or influenced by ancient Egyptian divination practices. The Tarot has a complex and fascinating history that has been shaped by many different cultures and traditions, but its origins are firmly rooted in 15th century Italy.

Myth Three: Tarot cards have their origin in the Kabbalah

The idea that Tarot cards have their origin in the Kabbalah is a myth that has been popularized by some modern esoteric and occult traditions. However, there is no historical evidence to support this claim.

The Kabbalah is a Jewish mystical tradition that emerged in medieval Europe, and it is known for its complex system of cosmology and symbolism. While there are certainly some similarities between the Tarot and the Kabbalah, such as their use of symbols and correspondences, there is no evidence to suggest that the Tarot was directly inspired by the Kabbalah.

Again, the earliest known Tarot decks, which date back to 15th century Italy, were primarily used for playing games and did not have any overt mystical or spiritual significance. It wasn't until the 18th and 19th centuries that the Tarot began to be associated with mysticism and esotericism, and it was during this time that many Tarot decks began to incorporate Kabbalistic symbolism.

It's worth noting that during the 18th and 19th centuries, there was a great deal of interest in esoteric and mystical traditions, including the Kabbalah, among intellectuals and spiritual seekers. It is possible that this interest in the Kabbalah may have influenced the development of Tarot decks that incorporated Kabbalistic symbolism.

Again, we see that a mystical tradition has been added to the Tarot in later centuries and was not originally in evidence in the first two to three hundred years of Tarot cards.

Myth Four: The original Tarot cards contained secrets of Hermetic magic

The idea that the original Tarot cards contained secrets of Hermetic magic is a myth that has been perpetuated in some occult circles. While it is true that the Tarot has been associated with mystical and esoteric practices throughout its history, there is no evidence to suggest that the original Tarot cards were specifically designed as a tool for Hermetic magic.  Occult and mystical traditions were not in evidence with early Tarot decks but were superimposed in the 18th and 19th centuries.

Myth Five: Tarot cards were invented for divination

At least we can say, there is no evidence for this.  We do know that Tarot cards were used for gaming and gambling as with any playing cards.  Any direct historical mentions of Tarot as tools of cartomancy occur well after the invention of the Tarot.

I have elsewhere discussed where tools of gambling and tools of divination overlap and sometimes the divination tool has been ported over to the world of gambling.  The Tarot have gone the other direction, starting as a tool for gaming and later became way of seeing beyond the veil, so to speak.

The Marseilles deep dive after 29 Years of Procrastination

I am a master-class procrastinator. I have not posted here in 10.5 years [update: it's been 3 years since I wrote the first three paragraphs of this post, it has now been 13 years], and there is a series of posts I have been meaning to write since long before I started this blog. Of course, at the time, I had never heard of a blog, and I was thinking more of a book with a spine, covers, and paper leaves. Just imagine.

So here's the thing: twenty-nine years ago, I found something hidden in plain sight--plain to be seen in the images of the Tarot of Marseilles. No one had ever mentioned this to me before, and I had never read about it. I still have not come across any accounting of it anywhere. That is why I feel like I ought to lay it out for someone else to see as well, before I die.

It was the Fall of 1994, Eugene. I had been working in a bakery between stints in graduate school. A friend of mine, also named David, would occasionally meet over coffee to talk about Tarot. Sometimes we might do readings for each other. More often, we would share our Tarot journals and discuss the meaning and symbolism of the cards.

Up until then, my knowledge of the Tarot had been limited to the books I could find and afford from the local New Age bookstore, Paralandra (long closed now). I can still smell the patchouli. I would pore over the decks on display and the section of related books. They had open display versions of each deck I looked through covetously. I thumbed through the books, but inevitably, I was too poor to buy them.

What I could glean from thumbing through books I would never buy was that the Tarot was brought to Europe by "Gypsies" and had originated in ancient Egypt. The symbolism of the Major Arcana was all grounded in the secrets of Kabbalah, astrology, and numerology.

Then, around this time, 29 years ago, when I was frequenting coffee shops with the other David, with a pack of Tarot in one hand and a composition book in the other, I discovered two important things (but not my big singular discovery yet; I will tell you about that further on): (1) A Wicked Pack of Cards: The Origins of the Occult Tarot by Michael Dummett, et al., and (2) The Tarot of Marseilles. The takeaway from discovery number one was that all those things I had learned about the history and origin of the Tarot were dead wrong. And that led to discovery number two: the existence of the Tarot before occult symbolism was added, still readily available to us today in the form of the Tarot of Marseilles.

Following upon these discoveries, we feverishly discussed what the "real" symbolism of the Tarot must be when you've removed all the occult systems that had been forced onto it over the years, like washing away a painting on top of a painting to discover the treasure underneath.  What discovery were we going to make as we carefully cleaned away the layers of occultist kitsch to find what lay beneath?  One thing I remember the elder David had said to me, "Don't impose anything from the outside, just look at the images as they are presented--what was the artist showing us?"

There was a point in time, where I found myself in my tiny campus quad, by myself, with my pack of Marseille Tarot.  I had surely drank too much coffee that day and I had probably passed through environmental cannabinoid vapors at some point that day, ubiquitous in the Eugenian atmosphere.  So there I was on my carpeted floor--a moss green if I recall--I had the 22 trump cards (because "Major Arcana" was something made up by the occultists) all spread out before me in an ordered circle.  Then I saw it.  The pattern.  There was a pattern after all, not dependent on numerology, or Kabalah, or ancient Egyptian cosmology.  It was a pattern self evident in the images themselves.

What had I seen?  Well, I'll get to that, but I'll need to go over context first.  Insofar as I was engaging in some sort of archaeology of pure symbols and representation, we need to understand the context--the strata in which the symbols were found.  An artifact is never removed from a site without first analyzing the context.  So too with our symbols.  More on this.  I will try not to wait 13 years before my next post.  We'll see . . .