For Tarot Deck Creators - What is tarot?

I've just woken and am still in semi-sleep-state, so I hope this makes sense. I went to sleep thinking of this very question. I went though a process of likening tarot to a far superior version of the Thematic Apperception Test, through musing over the efforts of some taroteers past and present to stretch the theory of correspondences to 'fit' tarot ... even when it takes some truly painful contortions to do so. I even went so far, as playing with the idea of correspondences in terms exploring different ways of applying Nescafe's 43 beans in every cup to tarot - it can be done! but of course it is nonsensical.

I went through the idea that tarot can mean different things for an individual at different times in their lifes, as well as reflecting the evolving perceptions of different generations of tarot users, writers and deck creators. I surmised, as well, that tarot is an amazingly flexible reflection of life that can evolve and grow richer, become more vibrant, or silly and childish or useless, as time passes over centuries, decades, days, depending on our level of respect for it, and according to how we use it. It can be lost and refound, can reflect times philosophical, technological, economic, cultural, spiritual and psychological. It is a measure of the 'zeitgeist', the cultic milieu, freedom to be. It can reflect or proscribe (depending on your own perspective) life's journey (ies) ... it can describe sequences as well as static models. It can be any and all these things ... and no doubt much much more.

As I descended into sleep I realised that, for me, tarot is ... at this point in my life, a means of exploring my creativity - in its broadest possible sense - in a whole new and structured way.

In my dream state, I found that the true meaning of tarot is Kat Black dressed in a truly Retrokat Hermit get-up, teaching us how to waggle our ears to the rhythms of the universe.

I guess it is really what we make it ... but, it nonetheless, requires that underlying structure that you see written in the 'What is Tarot' section of newbie books ... the 78 cards - 22 Majors, 56 minors etc. etc.

In order to create a deck ... for me, I needed to understand that it is a calling. Of all the wonders of the conference ... that is that 'ah! huh!' moment that stands out most. Thus, tarot, for me, fulfils a deeply felt spiritual need and purpose.

mythos

This is one of those questions that is hard to answer...because it is sometimes so hard to define feelings...

and for me, the creation of tarot has been much more of an emotional ride than an intellectual study.

Of course...my first answer would be intellecualized...and explain that the tarot is a divination tool, works with a specific system, number of cards, blah blah blah...


But to really describe how this ride hads been so far...well...

The tarot is a door...or a gateway, beyond which is a whole magical universe beckoning...
it draws in all the curious seekers, who come to the end of the long corridor and behold this door into someplace fantastic...and yet achingly familiar.

And you can just peek through the door if you want, and take in the sights and smells, before turning around, going back the way you came.

Or you can enter and play in the sun (or rain...or what ever the weather) for a while, without going to far from the entryway.

Or...once through that door... you can find a path (there are so many here) that leads you off to really explore the wonders and vastness of this whole universe that is now open to you.

Some people are natural explorers....and tarot is that New World...that unexplored country full of insight and adventure...for those who dare to to heed the call.

One can explore history, and what has been...

and some can explore the beauty of the images that they see around them, and be content to go no deeper than to appreciate what surrounds them.

and some take the challenge of exploring the deeper and sometimes dark places...that lead from this gateway into another that is purely the realm of an individual's dreams and subconscious wisdom.

This to me is tarot. The journey into somewhere.

mirror, mirror...

For me, tarot is a visual interpretation of the Tree of Life. The small cards represent the 10 sephirah through the four worlds. The Trumps are the "glue" that hold the sephirah together. The courts represent the "holy family"; I've expressed them as the Father, Mother, Son and Bride.

A mirror of a framework of reality...


fly well
Raven

PS-- Yes Tom, I'm back at it. I've finally gotten beyond losing my partnership with Laural (we had EXACTLY half the deck done when she pulled out-- and half a deck ISN'T better than none) Stay tuned-- I hope to be broadcasting soon. There's LOTS of writting to be done before the pencil hits the paper again, so don't hold your breath...

Thanks for this Eco.

Eco74 said:

The closest thing to an answer to the question "what is Tarot" I can get is; Visual aids to help us understand the energies that surround us and that we interact with.

These visual aids are of a certain format

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How important would you consider the format?

Thanks for this Arcana.

Arcana said:

Tarot is not mainly about divination for me, I rather see that as sort of a side-effect. I hardly ever do a spread. To me, it’s not so much a tool as it is a vessel for esoteric knowledge. In my own tarotdeck, I have combined all sorts of teachings – among others theosophical, hermetic, pagan.

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Speaking here strictly for myself, as I look at the history of the development of tarot, there have been quite a few who have undertaken to include different teachings with the tarot. The most noteable were perhaps the Golden Dawn, who included astrological and other information. While although these can produce wonderful associations and deepen understanding, I see them as unnecessary additions - the structure of tarot is sufficient for me. I agree however that tarot can be viewed as a vessel for esoteric knowledge.

Thanks for this Mythos.

mythos said:

I went though a process of likening tarot to a far superior version of the Thematic Apperception Test, through musing over the efforts of some taroteers past and present to stretch the theory of correspondences to 'fit' tarot ... even when it takes some truly painful contortions to do so. I even went so far, as playing with the idea of correspondences in terms exploring different ways of applying Nescafe's 43 beans in every cup to tarot - it can be done! but of course it is nonsensical.

I guess it is really what we make it ... but, it nonetheless, requires that underlying structure that you see written in the 'What is Tarot' section of newbie books ... the 78 cards - 22 Majors, 56 minors etc. etc.

Click to expand...

I especially like what you say about requiring the underlying structure.

Chronata - Thanks so much for sharing your view of the journey.

Chronata said:

Of course...my first answer would be intellecualized...and explain that the tarot is a divination tool, works with a specific system, number of cards, blah blah blah...

Click to expand...

I could be wrong here, but I think we, as artists creating a tarot deck, have to start with the intellectual answer in order to access the journey you so elloquently describe.

Ravenswing - Very glad to hear that you're back on the job.

Ravenswing said:

For me, tarot is a visual interpretation of the Tree of Life. The small cards represent the 10 sephirah through the four worlds. The Trumps are the "glue" that hold the sephirah together. The courts represent the "holy family"; I've expressed them as the Father, Mother, Son and Bride.

A mirror of a framework of reality...

Click to expand...

The temptation to overlay the Tree of Life onto the tarot is overwhelming. Twenty-two letters and 22 trumps seem such a good fit. The first writers regarding the esoteric nature of tarot all made similar correlations.

I particularly like your phrase 'a mirror of a framework of reality'.

I realise the question - what is tarot? - is a particularly difficult one and that there probably can never be a definitive answer beyond the bare bones of the structure. I do, however, hope that others will share their reflections.

How important do I consider the format?
Well, given a few more days of thinking, it's very important indeed.

"Tarot" is very closely related to the following word "deck" in my mind, so it would have to be a deck of cardboard or paper or papyrus or even thin sheets of metal for those that prefer, but small and light enough to be portable and shuffleable. (Albeit with some differences in required space when used.)

Anything else, like scuptures, murals or other less portable mediums would be considered tarot-inspired.
Though, when streching the format, I could imagine having a bag with 22 stones or small figures each representing one card from the major arcana.. Still, that would more resemble a lithomancy-set than a tarot-set.
Actually, that could make a nice optional medium for times or places where paper is not appropriate to take out. Like at a busstop in the rain, or on a very rainriddled campingtrip. *teehee*
Yes, that's another lithomancy-set I'll be putting together at some point.

So, anything but a deck of cards would not be "tarot" as I envision it.
Tarot does, through its symbology, shine through in just about everything though. But tarot in itself being the "window to the arcane" in a portable format is, for me, the deck of cards.

A decade or so ago, my mother painted superb scenes on these huge seed pods that were about 5 cms X 3 cms X 1cm thick with rounded corners. Her paintings had nothing to do with tarot, but the idea of 22 of them tarot painted sounds wonderful ... and certainly lighter than stones. 78 would require a monster bag ... but would I think of them as tarot? .... maybe ! ...seedpod-o-mancy with tarot images?

It begs the question ... when it something not-tarot?

I have both the Shakespearian Tarot and the Shakesphere Oracle. The authors of the latter named it an oracle because, although it has the same structure etc as tarot, and they designed and perceived it to be tarot, they needed a name that would distinguish it from the Shakesperian Tarot. Are both tarot because of the intention and the structure? And if both are tarot, then does the word 'deck' necessarily need to imply things thin enough to pile together and shuffle? Wouldn't stones or seed pods churned (shuffled) by hand in a bag count?

I really don't know. What I do know is that words do define. In spite of the fact that the Shakespeare Oracle is obviously meant to be, and is described as, tarot, I have trouble getting past the world 'oracle' on the box.

Now I am really confused!!!!

mythos

You MUST write a book about this.

However, "Royal Road" is not archetypal enough for me and, for my own purposes (I am in Asia) I would select a more universal or a more inculturated image, one that would really resonate from within me. (The European history of Tarot notwithstanding.)

What is Tarot?

Tarot is a story. It is a story of origins, of history, of current events, of other, potential, stories yet to happen.

Tarot is a book of symbols of birth, life, death, and rebirth.

Tarot is a set of doorways that lead to the inner self, and the collective inner self in which all other selves await significant meetings.

Major Tom said:

Or Preaching to the Choir

How on earth can you create something when you can’t explain what it is?

I’ve love to hear your answers.

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It is possible to create something you cannot explain prior to creating it. That is the benefit of creative force, I think. In September 2000 I wrote a song about falling towers that didn't make any sense to me until a year later, for example.

Tarot has been the same for me. I knew almost nothing about Tarot when I started making my deck, apart from having a few readings and a Pullman-esque interest in its function. I started my deck out of artistic drive, but I really didn't know what I was doing. I can explain it better now (though not completely) because the process has given me an explanation.

I guess what I'm saying it it's possible to create tarot intuitively. As a suit metaphor it would be drawing from the deep waters and the tips of the flames, rather than cultivating it from the earth or carving it with decisions of the sword. I find that whenever I decide to create a card a certain way, it founders, but when I find a meditation space where I can touch my subconscious, the card image blooms quickly and magnificently.

I get frustrated, because I WANT to finish it NOW but the process has its own pace. Three years since I started and I'm only a quarter through the deck. The images come when they will, whether I can explain them or not; although I have to work for them, simply working on an image does not mean I will get anything from it, if the energy isn't ripe. My tarot is less of a project, I'm discovering, and more of a personal journey. My own very personal Royal Road, that I can share with others when I have walked it.

So. I think you can create by being creative -- by touching a source beyond explanation -- and letting it flow without the potential confines that explanations may create. I think one of the biggest misinterpretations of tarot is that is used to explain, when really its power is in description. I think that applies to the creative process as well.

What is Tarot?

I forgot to answer the final question: What it tarot?

To me it is A LOT of things, but simply put, Tarot is an interactive myth.

I think that's great, because we get to inject ourselves as characters amongst the archetypes, and write/discover our own personal mythological story through the cards. I love myth stories, and tarot appeals even more because it's set up to assemble around the individual, and is always different.

(I guess I'm saying it's also the Myth of Choice for those with short attention spans. )

For me the images on the tarot cards are what have been called "telesmatic images" by that I understand it to mean they are images that can alter consciousness when contemplated correctly, i.e during meditation.

In this way we are put into contact with universal energies that are pictorialy represented by the image on card.

I believe tarot existed for a very long time, not as drawn pictures but as visual pictures that were generated within the consciousness by an oral tradition of storytelling that was passed "mouth to ear" as they say.

Storytelling once being a very precise and highly respected art, for which an individual would have to train many years, requiring huge feats of memory.......like the druids.

In this sense I understand tarot and it's study to be a spiritual path.
Today tarot seems to have almost a more secular role than a spiritual one, for many readers don't regard tarot this deeply, and there is no need to if the cards are being read for pleasure or for the enjoyment of the art.

That's the beauty of tarot you can go as deep as you wish!


All these post have been so interesting!

Colly