 Oracles ITA |
The origins of Tarot are dark and mysterious as well as the meanings of the cards themselves. The wildest theories want Hermes Trismegistus as its creator, a legendary being or divine figured as Hermes by the Greeks and as Thoth by the Egyptians. Historians attribute to him the writing of the famous "Corpus Hermeticum", a book of the fourth century AD composed of many texts treating the most diverse subjects: medicine, magic, astrology, enchantments, alchemy, esotericism and everything that could be part of ancient philosophical, magical and religious knowledge, almost forgotten by time. Another theory a bit more reliable wants the Tarot of Marseilles deck as the first one, created by the synthesis of knowledge that the Templars imported in this French city during their various travels by ship to the Holy Land, not far from Egypt, the land from which they drew many of their knowledge that the Church discussed and censured, causing the closure of the order.
The method
The deck consists of 22 + 56 cards, and is divided into the major arcana (22 cards, those that truly relate to a real path of initiation that will lead to know the most secret universe mechanism and learn to control them through magic), and the minor arcana or trump cards (56 cards, divided into four suits corresponding actually to the four elements, and numerical cards and court cards, capable of enriching meanings of the readings in order to have more precise informaions). The reading techniques are extremely diverse: they can take place only with the major arcana, only minor arcana, or with the entire deck consistent of both parts. The various "spreads" are ways of disposing the cards on the table in different geometric patterns. Each card position in the spread takes a different meaning in relation to the whole spread and the card that happens to be in that position. According to this the seer executes the reading of meaning. Depending on the question that the client asks the seer, the seer can decide the game that is best suited to respond to the type of request made, may be a question on love, affection, on work, on the fortunes, on a particular situation, on life or spirituality.
