The Tarot
A Study Of The Tarot According To Robin
No one is quite certain where it comes from, or how old it is, or even what it really means. At least, we all have a hard time agreeing on it's origin. Evidence exists for Tarot decks as far back as the 1400's, and some texts indicate a heritage dating back to dynastic Egyptian times. Whatever the origin, the Tarot is an ever useful tool to people who wish to learn more about themselves and what awaits in their own subconscious.
The Tarot consists, usually, of 78 cards. There are two different sets within the 78, one being the Major Arcana, also called Trump cards, or atouts. The 22 Trumps are the only cards for which there were drawings up until the 20th century. Within this document are a version of the Trumps for one of the earliest known versions of the Tarot.
The remaing 56 cards, or Minor Arcana, were depicted as ordinary numbered cards, except for the King, Queen, Knight and Princess. You'll recognize these, after removing the Princess, as the standard deck of playing cards used for poker or bridge or what-not. The Knight and Princess may be called by different names in various Tarot decks. It was not until the Waite deck of 1910 that the Minor Arcana cards received drawings, making their intreptation much more interesting.
The heart of the Tarot will always be the Trump cards. Within these simple drawings, though primitive looking to our modern eye, is symbology and wisdom so rich that one could spend a lifetime studying these images, and still learn new insights with each glance. The symbols contained therein are not easily explained, and some become understood only with life experience.
They say a picture is worth a thousand words. In each Tarot card are numerous little pictures combined into one scene. They convey meanings both subtle and obvious, some of which can be easily put into words, and some of which can never be spoken, only felt. This document will give you a few of my various wisdoms, garnered over 13 years of study of the Tarot. Many books are now out on the Tarot, and many new decks are available. Each one is slightly different, and each book gives slightly different, or even widely different interpretations of the cards. Though much of the Tarot's symbology is unversal, it is up to the beholder to determine what the images mean to them.
A little about the images used in this treatise. The cards were taken from scanned images of woodcuts. I then colorized them to my liking, based on how I see the cards. You may use these images if you wish, but please don't charge for them.
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