.....HOW DO TAROT CARDS WORK?

Tarot cards have now been with us for at least 500 years. Yet their origins remain shrouded in mystery. They have been associated with Ancient Egyptian symbolism, Celtic paganism, the Holy Grail of the Middle Ages. Certainly the earliest full set of 78 (including the four suits as well as the 22 'Major Arcana' or 'trump' cards) are thought to have been painted in fifteenth-century Italy during the period of the 'renaissance'. This was a time of early challenge to Christian dogma whose art included ancient gods rather than just religious imagery. The Tarot therefore may have arrived in Europe at a time when concepts of self-knowledge and the psychology of the individual became popular, and the human being began to be considered as a microcosm of the universe. The imagery and meaning of the Tarot in use today is a hybrid reflecting the mythology and beliefs of many cultures and esoteric traditions, whose use and fascination has prevailed across the centuries. What follows is a list of the associations of the Major Arcana, as well as the Court cards and the Suits of the Minor Arcana.

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