In this edition of PathandAnswers, we will talk about what the tarot is. The obvious answer is that the tarot is a deck of 78 cards. The tarot can also be described as an occult creation tied to astrology, planetary magick, and esoteric disciplines. Before the cards were used as a tool for divination, the tarot was a card game developed in the 14th century. You can read more about tarot history here if you want to know more.
I see the tarot as a multifaceted art form. It is a learned discipline and a community-based skill. Here is how I would break down the tarot as a discipline.
To read the cards requires the skill of improvisation, performance, memorization, and certain levels of psychology.
To create the cards requires esoteric knowledge and an understanding of symbolism.
To design the cards requires the skill of visual art and printing.
To teach the tarot requires the knowledge of its use and how it is designed.
To sell the cards requires knowledge of all the above along with salesmanship, commerce skills, and business acumen.
Tarot I feel is primarily a visual art. The most obvious thing about them is the illustrations. Therefore, it would go without saying that the visual artist plays an important role in dictating what the tarot is.
In most cases, the tarot is created within a partnership. One person outlines the deck and the other creates it visually. Another party can enter the relationship to serve as the means to print the images onto card stock.
One historic example of a tarot partnership is Arthur Edward Waite and Pamela Colman Smith along with the Rider Company. Together they created what we know as the Rider Waite Smith (RWS) tarot deck.
Reading the cards requires the skill of being able to tap into your intuition to come up with meaningful messages. You will also have to extemporize what the cards mean on the fly. The cards come out randomly and you have to improvise the meanings of the cards concerning the question, and the other cards.
You also require some kind of tacit knowledge of psychology. No, you don’t need a diploma or degree for this, but you need to understand human nature and what makes people do what they do. The human condition is cyclical. Things happen in cycles of growth and plateau. The human condition can also be told as a story. We are finite beings. We have a beginning and an end. The events in between are what make our story.
The tarot is a skill and can be self-taught or by someone else. You can partake in the tarot as an educator and work with it through pedagogy. As an educator, you can teach others, create resources, and bring people for positive self-discovery. An educator will help expand the discipline and spread awareness of its positive use.
The tarot is a physical product, a deck of cards to be exact. They have to be created and disseminated. Without sales entities, the tarot users would not have their resources. To sell the tarot is to give the community the tools it needs to do its work.
In the end, the tarot has many layers. It has creative, educational, and commercial applications. No matter what part of the tarot you are involved in, it is a worthwhile experience.
Tarot Time Periods
Your Path to Tarot
How Tarot Cards Work
My First Tarot Deck