FREE MYSTICAL ORIGINS OF THE : FROM ANCIENT ROOTS TO MODERN USAGE PDF

Paul Huson | 352 pages | 25 Jun 2004 | Inner Traditions Bear and Company | 9780892811908 | English | Rochester, United States Mystical Origins of the Tarot: From Ancient Roots to Modern Usage by Paul Huson

Mystical Origins of the Tarot is a well-researched and well-written reference book discussing the development and background of Tarot, its symbols and its divinatory meanings. Several years ago, when I first began my Internet life, I had the great fortune to have my sister give me a heads up about a wonderful Tarot e-list. From following the threads on this list, I was able to learn not only about card definitions and combinations, but about the differences between decks, about Tarot symbology, and about the wonderfully rich history of Tarot. Life can be a wonderful school if you are in the right place at the right time. It took me a long time to put names and faces together, to be able to follow a Tarot timeline, and to know where to look for more information. I Mystical Origins of the Tarot: From Ancient Roots to Modern Usage them, and went back to them again and again, each time learning more. Those who have the good fortune to read Mystical Origins Of The Tarot are presented with Mystical Origins of the Tarot: From Ancient Roots to Modern Usage well researched, well written resource that allows them to follow the origins and development of Tarot, including the background of the symbols on the cards. I was impressed with the author's respect for and acknowledgment of his sources, as well as the fact that someone that I personally hold in high regard concerning historical Tarot matters, Mary Greer, read one of the initial drafts and had input into the project. Paul Huson was originally contemplating a revision and update to a much earlier Tarot Mystical Origins of the Tarot: From Ancient Roots to Modern Usage that he had authored, entitled 's Picturebook. Where the first book was largely speculation, enough time had gone by, and enough new resources had surfaced, that a completely new book was indicated. Paul Huson defined three questions, or areas of question, that he felt needed to be addressed. They were: What was the origin of the suit card symbols, and what did they stand for? What was the source of the trumps, and what was their original import? When and why did people begin using the cards for divination - that is, as a means of acquiring spiritual guidance or discovering hidden information? Throughout this book you will find black and white illustrations of early Tarot decks done by Paul Huson. It adds a great deal of meaning to a book when you can "see" what the author is talking about. It very much puts me in mind of Brian Williams outstanding work. Another interesting tid bit was a one page chronology of Tarot history from the 14th to the 20th centuries. Rather like a synopsis of what was to come in the following chapters! In his introduction, Huson begins with the Mamlk decks 15th century hand painted cards from Egypt. He goes on to talk about the court cards, and how they came about. It is interesting to note that in the Mamlk decks the court cards show the suit sign, and a description of the title in calligraphy, sometimes with the addition of flowery prose. The reason for this? In Islam there Mystical Origins of the Tarot: From Ancient Roots to Modern Usage a prohibition again depicting the human figure! In some later decks additional court cards were added - such as a female Knight. It is also interesting to note that the titles for the court cards varied from culture to culture. When it comes to the Tarot trumps, it seems that they were added to the deck to give some extra help in trick taking Tarot being predominately a game at this point. Huson goes into the various artists behind the decks, as well as their patrons and the regions that various decks originated in. Changes in the style of Tarot decks is discussed here also - such as the advent of the minchiate Tarot, which differed from the prevalent tarocchi decks in changes that were made to the trumps - i. There is an excellent discussion of the suit symbols, and their Mystical Origins of the Tarot: From Ancient Roots to Modern Usage differed in France and Italy. Here we begin to look at things that we generally take for granted, and do not think about. Were the suit symbols chosen in a random manner, were they reflective of the culture that they came from, or do they have great esoteric meaning? This is really a fun section to go through, as Huson presents many different sides to the picture, and doesn't hesitate to present the opinions and arguments of others especially those of Michael Dummet. An interesting aside in this section is reference to the cardinal virtues, and their inclusion in the Tarot. From there we go on to the Tarot Trumps, and the history behind them. It is quite interesting to read the arguments presented here - influence from Mystery, Miracle and Morality plays, and from the work Dance of Dance Macabre. In the section on cartomancy and the Tarot, there is an interesting chronological sequence of documented occult Tarot. Here we see names that many of us are familiar with at least to some extent : , liphas Lvi, and Arthur Edward Waite - and we see how they flow in a given sequence. Huson talks about Egyptian magic and the Book of Thoth, and how the Kabbala came to be associated with Tarot. There is an excellent chart giving the Kabbalistic attributions for the Tarot included here. There is also mention of the Golden Dawn, and their method of assigning zodiacal decans to the . Now the fun starts, as Huson goes through the Trumps, Minor Arcana and court cards, discussing the meaning of the card, listing the original cartomantic interpretations from several sources Pratesi's CartomancerDe MelletLviChristianMathersGolden DawnGrand Orient Waite,and Waiteas well as his own suggested interpretation. De Mellet : Madness. He has no rank. Lvi :The Hebrew letter Shin, . The sensitive principle, the flesh, eternal life. Christian : Arcanum 0. The Crocodile. The punishment following every error. You can see here a blind man carrying a beggar's wallet, about to collide with a broken obelisk on which a crocodile waits with open jaws. The crocodile is the emblem of fate and the inevitable expiation. Mathers : The Foolish Man: Folly, expiation, wavering. Reversed: Hesitation, instability, trouble arising herefrom. Golden Dawn : The Spirit of the Ether. Foolish Man: Idea, spirituality, that which endeavors to rise above the material. That is, if the subject inquired about is spiritual. But if the divination be regarding ordinary life, the card is not good, and shows folly, stupidity, eccentricity, and even mania unless with very good cards indeed. Grand Orient Waite,: The Fool signifies the consumation of everything, when that which began his initiation at zero attains the term of all numeration and existence. This card passes through all the numbered cards and is changed in each, as the natural man passes through worlds of lesser experience, worlds of successive attainment. Waite : The Fool: Folly, mania, extravagance, intoxication, delirium, frenzy. Reversed: Negligence, absence, apathy, nullity. Suggested Interpretation: Mania. Reversed: Stupidity. Mental Illness. At the end of the book Huson presents several different spreads, from the simple to the complex. He presents them using a significator, although he does note that this is not necessary. He has also included a section on the court cards that lists them by physical description hair, eye and skin color and astrological sign. In Appendix 1 Huson lists historical decks, with short descriptions of each. In Appendix 2 he lists places worldwide by name, address and Internet site, if there is one where versions of older decks can be purchased. At the very end, he lists the sources for his illustrations. I found this book to be of great benefit, with the added bonus that it reads easily and is highly enjoyable! I would recommend it to Tarot students that already have a good basic understanding of the cards - mid level to advanced students. This book certainly has a place as a reference book in my Tarot library, and I am sure will have in others also. She has had articles appear in the and Llewellyn Tarot Reader. Paul Huson has been a student of the Tarot for over forty years. In his latest book, Mystical Origins of the Tarot, he explores the esoteric roots of Tarot and tracks each symbol to its origin, card by card, showing how the divinatory meanings based on those symbols grew and evolved. Huson traces the mystical and divinatory history of Tarot meanings through the Renaissance, and onwards from as the cards caught the interest of occultists. The Origin of the Suit Signs 2. The Origin of the Trumps 3. Of Cartomancy and the Tarot 4. Reading the Tarot Of Playing Cards and Tarot Decks takes us through a brief history of the pre-occult cards, tracing their roots all the way from Chinese gambling cards, through Persian Mamluk cards which had four suits of Cups, Coins, Polo Sticks and Swords or Scimitarsto the early Italian Tarot decks, and then to the common Tarot of Marseilles pattern in the seventeenth century. The Origin of the Suit Mystical Origins of the Tarot: From Ancient Roots to Modern Usage goes into more detail, delving into Sufism, the four cardinal virtues and the four castes of ancient Persia to develop a theory of a Persian origin to the four suits. The Origin of the Trumps describes the context and inspiration for the twenty-two trumps added in the Renaissance, calling on sources including the poems of Italian author Petrarch, medieval mystery, morality and miracle plays, and Catholic Church doctrine. Huson also suggests that the religious turmoil in sixteenth century Europe is responsible for the loss of meaning of the trumps to almost everyone; the religious pageants of which Tarot cards were an artistic offshoot drawing on their symbolism stopped - as the processions were intended to convert to the Catholic faith, not to the rising Protestant faith. In Of Cartomancy and the Tarot, we find out more about the divinatory history of Tarot; which personalities have shaped and developed the interpretations of Tarot cards by associating new systems and layers of meaning. Each contains "Original Cartomantic Interpretations", the keywords favoured by prominent occultists and philosophers who developed, created or added their own system of meanings for the cards. The text for each card is accompanied by black-and-white illustrations from the Conver version of Mystical Origins of the Tarot: From Ancient Roots to Modern Usage Tarot of Marseilles, and elements from other historical decks. The Meanings of the Suit Cards are illustrated by close-ups of the main Rider-Waite imagery without backgrounds or borders as well as the Marseilles imagery. They list cartomantic interpretations from just four men: Etteilla, Mathers, the Golden Dawn and Waite. Etteila is included here but not in the section as his minor arcana interpretations are the only ones deemed to be of any divinatory significance, though he contributed to the belief in the Egyptian basis of Tarot and for expanding the use of Tarot in spreads. Both Mystical Origins of the Tarot: From Ancient Roots to Modern Usage historical divinatory meanings for the major and minor arcana are followed by a "Suggested Interpretation", a handful of keywords from Huson to sum up the meanings. Huson then introduces the Tarot beginner to the uses and techniques for using the cards in Reading the Tarot, offering help with selecting a deck, getting in touch with your cards, preparing for divination and his general rules of cartomancy. There are simple Tarot spreads for use with a restricted number of cards, and also some for more advanced cartomancy involving linking the cards and twelve to twenty-one card spreads, ending with complex systems from Etteilla and Orsini involving the whole deck or just 42 cards respectively, considered to be Mystical Origins of the Tarot: From Ancient Roots to Modern Usage experts. The appendices at the back of the book contain a guide to important historical Tarot decks from France, Italy, Belgium and Switzerland, describing their history and idiosyncrasies. Next, there is a Where To Buy Your Cards section that lists the major publishers and only one retailer, Mystical Origins of the Tarot: From Ancient Roots to Modern Usage by a very useful collection of details on Mystical Origins of the Tarot: From Ancient Roots to Modern Usage to see the few original cards that are left in museums around . Footnotes and an extensive bibliography are at the back of the book, which ends with an index. Mystical Origins of the Tarot is an excellent reference book on the roots and development of Tarot cards, and the history of divinatory meanings from the last two hundred and fifty years. Huson has summarised the research of art historians, historians, Tarot historians and iconologists into a concise and interesting book that offers plenty of interest for intermediate to advanced Tarot readers and students. Kate Hill is the owner, founder and editor of Aeclectic Tarotand has reviewed more than decks over the years. Mystical Origins of the Tarot: From Ancient Roots to Modern Usage . The Hanged Man. . With their centuries-old iconography blending a mix of ancient symbols, religious allegories, and Mystical Origins of the Tarot: From Ancient Roots to Modern Usage events, tarot cards can seem purposefully opaque. To outsiders and skeptics, occult practices like card reading have little relevance in our modern world. This is partly why these decks can be so puzzling to outsiders, as most of them reference allegories or events familiar to people many centuries ago. But in contrast to these historic decks, Matthews finds most modern decks harder to engage with. Marseille decks were generally printed with woodblocks and later colored by hand using basic stencils. Top: A selection of trump cards top row and pip cards bottom row from the first edition of the Rider-Waite deck, circa Via the World of Playing Cards. Photo courtesy Bill Wolf. However, using cards for playful Mystical Origins of the Tarot: From Ancient Roots to Modern Usage probably goes back even further, to the 14th century, likely originating with Mamluk game cards brought to Western Europe from Turkey. Today, the suit cards are commonly called the Minor Arcana, while trump cards are known as the Major Arcana. Two hand-painted Mamluk cards from Turkey left and two cards from the Visconti family deck rightboth circa 15th century. The random draw of the cards created a new, unique narrative each and every time the game was played, and the decisions players made influenced the unfolding of that narrative. This woodblock version of the classic Tarot de Marseille was published around by Claude Burdel. Named for publisher William Rider Mystical Origins of the Tarot: From Ancient Roots to Modern Usage popular mystic A. Waite, who commissioned Pamela Colman Smith to illustrate the deck, the Rider-Waite helped bring about the rise of 20th-century occult tarot used by mystical readers. This strong narrative element gives readers something to latch onto, in that it is relatively intuitive to look at a combination of cards and derive your own story from them. Though historians like Kaplan and Matthews publish new information on divination decks every year, there are still many holes in the larger story of fortune-telling cards. Wolf points out that those who use cards for divination are often at odds with academics researching their past. Personally, I believe they were designed for game play, but that the design is a bit more sophisticated than many tarot historians seem to believe. By the midth century, the mystical applications for cards had spread from Italy to other parts of Europe. In reality, tarot cards predated the presence of Gypsies in Europe, who actually came from Asia rather than Africa. This type of card is known as the significator and typically stands in for the individual having their fortune read. A hand-colored set of tarot cards produced by F. Gumppenberg, circa Etteilla eventually switched to using a traditional tarot deck, which he claimed held secret wisdom passed down from ancient Egypt. Though hieroglyphics had not yet been deciphered the Rosetta Stone was rediscovered inmany European intellectuals in the late 18th century Mystical Origins of the Tarot: From Ancient Roots to Modern Usage the religion and writings of ancient Egypt held major insights into human existence. By linking tarot imagery to Egyptian mysticism, they gave the cards greater credibility. Mother well. Come to hospital. I read cards in a very similar way—starting from a few general keywords and making sense of them by filling in the words that are missing. Mercury is in retrograde and da da da. Mertz in based on a design circa Oracle decks like the Lenormand tend to rely on more direct visual language than traditional tarot cards. The images are generally more specific, simpler, and less universal, keeping the conversation more straightforward. But if you went beyond that, it was the cross, which was not so good. It was like the game Snakes and Ladders. This Lenormand-style oracle deck shows a mixture of playing card and fortune-telling illustrations, circa Via the British Museum. By comparing various decks from different time periods, tarot-card enthusiasts can identify the evolution of certain illustrations. You can see how that translates with the Tarot Bolognese meaning of delay or blockage. Most card readers recognize that the associations and preconceptions of the person being read for are just as important as the actual drawings on the cards: Divination cards offer a way to project certain ideas, whether subconscious or not, and to toy with potential outcomes for important decisions. Thus, like scenes from a picture book, the best illustrations typically offer clear visions of their subjects with an open-ended quality, as though the action is unfolding before you. Matthews owns a facsimile of the Mitelli deck, rather than an original, which means she can use them without fear of damaging a priceless antique. I frankly get so tired of all the new Photoshopped and the slick art, with their complete lack of any framework or substance. The coloring on Mystical Origins of the Tarot: From Ancient Roots to Modern Usage Daveluy is very beautiful. Chromolithography gave an incredibly clear color to everything, and I think it was probably as revolutionary as Technicolor was in the days of the movies. The illustration on some decks did double duty, providing divinatory tools and scientific knowledge, like the Geografia Tarocchi deck from around So for example, the hanged man just shows his legs at the top of the card, while the rest of the card has information about Africa or Asia or other places on it. On the Geografia deck, the symbolic imagery is reduced to a small colored segment at the top of each card; the rest is related to global geography. Via eBay. Can you not imagine standing in a Victorian parlor in France, consulting the Golden Beetle? It was like performance art. This article originally appeared on Collectors Weekly. A version of the popular Rider-Waite deck from Subscribe to our Newsletter! A profusely illustrated history of the occult.. | Kala Sampa | ВКонтакте Paul Huson. Most scholars have guessed that its origins were in China, Egypt, or India. In Mystical Origins of the TarotPaul 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 Mystical Origins of the Tarot: From Ancient Roots to Modern Usage 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 midth 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. 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. The Creation of the Court Cards. The Naming of the Court Cards. The Creation of the Tarot Trumps. Tarot in the Sixteenth Century. Mystical Origins of the Tarot: From Ancient Roots to Modern Usage Developments. Trump XI Fortitude. Trump XTV . Trump XV The Devil. The Four Mystical Origins of the Tarot: From Ancient Roots to Modern Usage Virtues. The Four Castes of Ancient Persia. Petrarchs I Trionfi. The Four Last Things. The Tale the Trumps Tell. Egyptian Magic and the Book of Thoth. Etteillas System. The Golden Dawn Attributions. Papus and His Bohemian Tarot. Trump 0 The Fool. Trump I The Juggler. Trump IV . Trump V The Pope. Trump VI . Trump IX . Trump X The Wheel of Fortune. Trump XX The Judgment. The Suit of Coins or . The Suit of Cups or Chalices. The . The Suit of Batons or . Selecting a Tarot Deck. Getting in Touch with Your Cards. Preparing for Divination. General Rules of Cartomancy. Simple Tarot Spreads. Advanced CartomancyLinking the Cards. Last Words of Advice. Historical Tarot Decks. Where To Buy Your Cards. Where To See the Originals. About the Illustrations. Mary K. 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 lives in Los Angeles. Medieval Drama. Complex Systems.