What is Tarot?

Tarot is an ancient and mystical practice that dates back to the 15th century, with roots in Italy as a card game known as Tarocchi. While it began as a recreational pastime, tarot evolved into a powerful tool for spiritual insight and divination. 

The 78 cards of the tarot deck are divided into the Major Arcana and the Minor Arcana, with each card rich in symbolism and meaning.

The Major Arcana, comprising 22 cards, represents the archetypal forces and spiritual lessons that shape our lives. The Fool, the Magician, and the World are but a few of these iconic cards, each a chapter in the soul’s journey. The Minor Arcana, with its four suits—Wands, Cups, Swords, and Pentacles—delves into the everyday aspects of life, offering insight into our passions, emotions, intellect, and material world.

The Rider-Waite-Smith (RWS) deck, created in 1909, remains one of the most influential and widely used tarot systems, celebrated for its vivid imagery and intuitive symbolism. The Marseille tarot, predating the RWS, is rooted in European tradition, with its simpler, more abstract pip cards inviting deeper contemplation and personal interpretation.

These decks, though distinct in style, share a common purpose: to guide us through life’s complexities, offering clarity and wisdom for our journey.

The hermetic gift of the Tarot transcends the bounds of the worldly, flowing as freely as the Fool’s daring step—unscathed by mortal merit, untainted by the merchant’s design, and unburdened by the weight of earthly exchange. Ever the eternal bridge between realms, its wisdom binds the seeker to the spirit, the traveler to the liminal, and the wanderer’s whims to the hymns of the infinite, whispered softly from the vast without to the boundless within.

Your friend,

Daemon Van Terra