Mystical Origins of the Tarot

A profusely illustrated history of the occult nature of the tarot from its origins in ancient Persia

• Thoroughly examines the original historical source for each tarot card and how the cards' divinatory meanings evolved from these symbols

• Provides authentic 18th- and 19th-century spreads and divination techniques

• Reveals the divinatory meanings of the cards as understood by diviners in the Middle Ages and Renaissance

The origins of the tarot have been lost in the mists of time. Most scholars have guessed that its origins were in China, Egypt, or India. In Mystical Origins of the Tarot, Paul Huson has expertly tracked each symbol of the Minor Arcana to roots in ancient Persia and the Major Arcana Trump card images to the medieval world of mystery, miracle, and morality plays. A number of tarot historians have questioned the use of the tarot as a divination tool prior to the 18th century. But the author demonstrates that the symbolic meanings of the Major Arcana were evident from the time they were first employed in the mid-15th century in the popular divination practice of sortilege. He also reveals how the identities of the court cards in the Minor Arcana were derived from a blend of pagan and medieval sources that strongly influenced their interpretation in tarot divination.

Mystical Origins of the Tarot provides a thorough examination of the original historical source for each card and how the cards' divinatory meanings evolved from these symbols. Huson also provides concise and practical card-reading methods designed by the cartomancers of the 18th and 19th centuries and reveals the origins of the card interpretations promoted by the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn and A. E. Waite.

Auteur

Paul Huson has been a student of the tarot for over 40 years. He received initial esoteric training from the Society of the Inner Light in London and he later studied the methods of the Order of the Golden Dawn. He is the author of a number of books, including Mastering Witchcraft, in print for more than 30 years, The Devil's Picturebook: The Compleat Guide to Tarot Cards, and Mystical Origins of the Tarot. He lives in Los Angeles.

Contenu

Acknowledgments

Preface

Introduction: Of Playing Cards and Tarot Decks

The Mamlûk Cards
The Creation of the Court Cards
The Naming of the Court Cards
The Creation of the Tarot Trumps
Tarot in the Sixteenth Century
Further Developments

1 The Origin of the Suit Signs

Sufis and the Suit Signs
The Four Cardinal Virtues
The Four Castes of Ancient Persia

2 The Origin of the Trumps

Petrarch's I Trionfi
Medieval Drama
The Four Last Things
The Tale the Trumps Tell

3 Of Cartomancy and the Tarot

The Ancient Art of Sortilege
Egyptian Magic and the Book of Thoth
Etteilla's System
The Kabbala and Éliphas Lévi
The Golden Dawn Attributions
Papus and His "Bohemian" Tarot

4 The Meanings of the Trump Cards

The Major Arcana
0 The Fool
I The Juggler
II The Female Pope
III The Empress
IV The Emperor
V The Pope
VI The Lovers
VII The Chariot
VIII Justice
IX The Hermit
X The Wheel of Fortune
XI Fortitude
XII The Hanged Man
XIII Death
XIV Temperance
XV The Devil
XVI The Tower
XVII The Star
XVIII The Moon
XIX The Sun
XX The Judgment
XXI The World

5 The Meanings of the Suit Cards

The Minor Arcana
The Suit of Coins or Pentacles
The Suit of Cups or Chalices
The Suit of Swords
The Suit of Batons or Wands

6 Reading the Tarot

Selecting a Tarot Deck
Getting in Touch with Your Cards
Preparing for Divination
General Rules of Cartomancy
Simple Tarot Spreads
Advanced Cartomancy--Linking the Cards
Complex System
Last Words of Advice

Appendix 1. Historical Tarot Decks

Appendix 2. Where to Buy Your Cards

Appendix 3. Where to See the Originals

About the Illustrations

Bibliography

Index