Tarot

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Tarot also known as tarock or tarocchi is a type of trick taking card game using a fixed trump suit. Although seen by many as an occult tool, the use of tarot cards in connection with the occult is based on 18th century myths concerning the decks supposed Egyptian origin and on spurious connections with Kabbalah.

The 78-card deck contains:

  • four suits: depending on the region, either the Anglo-French hearts, diamonds, spades and clubs or the original Latin suits of swords, batons, cups, and coins; numbered one through ten, plus four court cards—a jack, a knight, a queen, and a king;
  • the twenty-one tarots, known in divination as the "Major Arcana", which function in the game as a permanent suit of trumps;
  • the Fool, also known as the Excuse, an un-numbered card that in some variations excuses the player from following suit or playing a trump, and in others acts as the strongest trump.
  • In many regional variants a shortend deck of 62 or 54 cards is used.

Typical rules of play:

Play is typically counter-clockwise; the player to the right of the dealer plays to the first trick. If possible players must follow suit. If following suit is not possible a trump card must be played. The winner of each trick leads the next.

After the hand has been played, a score is taken based on the point values of the cards in the tricks each player has managed to capture. The values of the cards where "n" is often equal to 1, 2, 3, or 4 depending on the type of game one is playing are given as follows:

Trump XXI (21), Trump I (1), the Excuse or Fool, and the 4 kings are worth 4 + 1/n each

The 4 queens are worth 3 + 1/n each

The 4 knights are worth 2 + 1/n each

The 4 jacks are worth 1 + 1/n each

All other cards are worth 1/n each For the purpose of the rules, the numbering of the trumps are the only thing that matters. The four Latin suits are replaced in many regions with the French suits of hearts, diamonds, clubs, and spades. Some variations of the game are played with a 54-card deck (5, 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10 of hearts and diamonds and 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 of spades and clubs are discarded).

Variations of the game are still played in France, Germany, Italy, Switzerland, Denmark, and especially in the countries on the area of the former Austro-Hungarian monarchy.

Tarot and the occult

According to playing card historian David Parlett in The Penguin Encyclopedia of Card Games "People are often suprised to learn that Tarot cards were originally invented for playing games, that such games are still widespread and popular in continental Europe, and that the employment of tarots for divination and fortune-telling is a relatively recent perversion of their proper use, dating only from the eighteenth century."

In recent years, fortune telling and other occult excercises involving tarot cards have become especially popular among those who identify as "pagans"

The Bible and fortune telling

Jesus said in Mathew 6:34: "Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own."

External links