Tarot Divination
                                         Tuppence
           
                Not long agoan on-line friend told methat he saw no reasonto use
          the  Tarot in divination; in fact, he felt that no one should use them
          for divination as this was a profane use of the cards. He preferred to
          use the cards solely for contemplation.
           
                At the time Idid not feel inclinedto respond to thisnarrow view,
          but after a night  of thinking about it, I  was prompted to write  the
          following in defense  of Tarot  Divination (and I  don't mean  fortune
          telling!)
           
             Divination:
            
              1) The art or  practice that seeks to  foresee or foretell  future
              events or  discover hidden  knowledge usually by  means of  augury
              (divination from omens) or by the aid of supernatural powers
                  2)Unusual insightor intuitiveperception (thesedefinitions from
          Webster's)
            
                According to theBrotherhood of Light there are fourmain uses for
          the Tarot:
            
              1) Science of Vibration
              2) Divination by cards
              3) Divination by number
                  4) Spiritual Science (themethod of putting the resttogether to
          develop a philosophy)
            
             Is it wrong to USE the cards?
            
              1) Playing cards is fun! Without such use perhaps Tarot would long
              ago have  died as other  games have faded  from use. Chess  may be
              considered to be a child's game or a highly developed intellectual
              discipline. The same is true of using the Tarot card's.
         
              2) Have you  ever played Taroc? It is a very interesting game like
              bridge  using the  Major Arcana as  Trumps...in profane  decks the
              court cards and majors may have two heads (to be read either up or
              down.) Some versions of the game have certain mystical aspects.
         
              3) In  studying the  history of the  Tarot you  will see that  the
              decks (except those belonging  to aristocrats who had hand-painted
              decks made for  them by  great artists)  used long  ago were  very
              primitive and  made from wood  cuts. We have  come far  from those
              crude  representations...but  the  ideas expressed  in  the  Tarot
              remain the same - they are still there in those early decks.
            
              4) Where  did the Tarot come from? We have only theory and conjec-
          ture:
            
              a) Ancient Egyptians
                    b) They always have existed buthave been revived from timeto
          time
              c) Gift of Divine Origin
              d) etc.


                                                                            1711
         

             It's validity and usefulness are what count
            
              a) it works when used
              b) it contains Universal symbology and archetypes found elsewhere
              c) it is numerically correct and  corresponds with ancient systems
              of wisdom (especially to the Qabala)
            
                10 = sephiroth (ace through 10 in the Minor Arcana)
                22 = paths (22 Major Arcana cards)
                4 = elements (four suits)
                (etc.)
            
                  The Tarot is MUCH  MORE than mere pictures on  pasteboard. The
          pictures  on the Tarot cards  are physical symbols  for spiritual con-
          cepts. One definition I use for the Tarot is as follows:
            
                  Asymbolic representationof ArchetypalForces and/orBeings which
          have always  existed and have been  identified and passed on  to us by
          ancient initiates  and which provide  a focus for  us to use  in self-
          initiation,  spiritual  development,  and  the  perception  of  hidden
          wisdom.
            
              A few notes regarding the above........
            
              1)  Jung says of Archetypes that they exist for us at birth...they
              emanate from the collective unconscious....they are NOT self-crea-
              ted or generated.
         
             2) Aleister Crowley says in his book the Book of Thoth:
         
           "Each card is, in a sense, a living being." "It is for the student to
             build these living stones into his living Temple."
            
             "...the cards of the Tarot are living individuals..."
            
                  "Howis he to blendtheir life with his? Theideal way is that of
          contemplation. But this  involves initiation of such  high degree that
          it  is impossible  to describe  the method  in this  place. Nor  is it
          attractive  or suitable  to most people.  The practical  everyday com-
          monplace way is divination."
            
            3) In Magick without Tears he says:
            
                  "...theTarot itself as a whole is an universal Pantacle...Each
          card,  especially this is true of the  Trumps, is a Talisman; ...It is
          evidently an Idea far too vast for any human mind to comprehend in its
          entirety. For it is 'the Wisdom whereby He (God) created the  worlds.'
          "
            
              As regards these Lively Forces:
            
              1.  These  Forces  can  communicate  with  us...or  rather we  can
              interpret  their  currents  through  our   subconscious  intuitive
              minds....this is  one use of divination  (and contemplation). This
              is the level, as Jung says, at which we are all connected.
          
              2.  These Forces can  be directed  by us  Magickally if we  are so
              trained. First we must master divination; then direction.
         


                                                                            1712
         

              3.  The Tarot  is a  Magickal Weapon  In  the hands  of a  trained
              initiate the mere  placement of  one card between  two others  can
              alter  the  forces involved  and  affect  physical (and  ethereal)
              reality.
         
              4. The  Tarot is  a philosophy  as well,  with an Ancient  Message
              about the Soul's journey.
            
              5. Yes, the Tarot is useful to study and contemplate....the colors
              and symbols  are specifically  designed and arranged  to stimulate
              things within us (forces, archetypes, subconscious).
         
              6.  The  Major Arcana  are especially  sacred  to us  because they
              represent the Paths, Steps,  Forces which are necessary for  us to
              rejoin the Godhead and attain enlightenment.
            
                  I maintain that the best wayto understand that the Tarot cards
          are  ALIVE and ACTIVE FORCES  is to USE/HANDLE/EXPERIENCE  them and so
          Divine (and perceive)  what they are all about. The  cards are a focus
          for our minds upon  forces which are ever-changing and  evolving (even
          as humankind is evolving).
            
                  We are fortunate that modern printing is  so good and that the
          Tarot decks and books which we have today are easily  available to us.
          This was  not always the  case for our  brothers and sisters  in times
          past. Today  one can afford  to smile  and say: "I  only need  to con-
          template  the cards to understand them." But  there is more to the use
          of  the cards in  Divination than many  have been taught;  for it is a
          mysterious process.
            
                  Just as one muststudy and practice upon amusical instrument to
          become a  virtuoso, so too  the Tarot  takes many years  of study  and
          practice to use  correctly. One  must be  well developed  spiritually,
          emotionally, and  intuitively, or (as  in music)  naturally gifted  to
          make full and accurate use of the cards in divination. In the hands of
          a gifted Diviner or Initiate the Tarot is a formidable  weapon. It can
          even talk and spell out sentences! Hence the Hebrew letters correspon-
          dence to the Major Arcana. However, since  we do not all learn in  the
          same ways....the Tarot may not be the DIVINATORY METHOD for everyone.-
          ..although everyone can learn from it and should study it.
            
              Other methods which may suit:
            
              a) Astrology
              b) Numerology
              c) I Ching
              d) Pendulum
              e) Runes
              f) etc.
            
                  Ashumankind evolves spiritually (and in other ways) so too the
          Tarot  evolves. Take  for  example the  reconstruction of  The Chariot
          (Arcanum VII) and The Devil (Arcanum XV) cards by Levi. He gave them a
          new  presentation based upon his advanced knowledge at the time. Also,
          note how  The Lovers (Arcanum VI)  has changed from earlier  decks. It
          still has the  same basic meaning,  but the  symbols have changed.  No
          longer  are there  two  women...one good  one  bad...with the  man  in
          between...now  it is two  people with an  Angel above them.  New Tarot
          decks continue to be made as our knowledge and understanding evolves.