The Power of Myth

Teheuti

There's been a recent controversy about a video by James Wanless in which he claims that Tarot came out in the 16th & 17th century and was first used as "divination games" - horrors! See minute 1:05 :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kqpDAkFx_lw

Yeah, I hate to hear this kind of thing, too, and James really should know better. But then we get Oudler's typical video response that is nothing more than publicity for his favorite game.
http://youtu.be/6UgyGC6ADak

He insists he knows the original purpose that the deck was created - for games - (could be true), and overlooks the fact that most people use a deck for the game of tarot that has little in common with the original tarot except for its structure and number of cards. The original pictorial motifs have nothing to do with his concept of what tarot is.

It is historical *fact* that even people who once knew better, are willing to ignore history in the face of tarot's myths. After the TarotL History Information Sheet first came out, I noticed that most books and many websites were paying attention, but there seems to be a lot of back-sliding.

So, my question for everyone is: What is the power of myth that people keep returning to it? It's not just to 'sell' more - I'm asking about what's behind all that. The tarot myths fulfill a certain need in the human psyche. What specifically do you think the tarot myths in particular are addressing at the deepest level?

I see this as a historical question, because if historians don't have some understanding of the urge that keeps these myths historically reappearing, then we won't ever understand how to address the issue clearly, and we'll never learn from history - the history of tarot myths and their continual re-emergence!
 

Debra

For me, it's like portable magic. I like that it works, and that it's participatory (the cards do part of the work and we do the rest). When I pull a card, it's a window to seeing time and reality differently--and it's a contained experience, it doesn't require a life style commitment, I close the window when I put the cards back in their box.

I suppose also there's the humongous and near-universal desire to know and control destiny :laugh:
 

cardlady22

Give me something to believe in

I am drawn to history and myth because I enjoy wondering what people were like in various times. It engages my mind & my heart to seek bits of what they might have felt or known.

The modern world leaves such a bitter, skeptic taste. Apply your filters. Consider the source. Take nothing at face value. It can work against the rational mind to the point where one wants to throw out the academics. After all, they can't Really Know either. :p
 

Teheuti

So it sounds like one of the allures of myth is that it affirms that there are things that we really can't know for sure - whether the myth or the history is more true to the actual origins? It implies that the past is as mysterious as the future. That's an intriguing paradox for a tarot reader.
 

cardlady22

Perhaps a part of Reading is learning to see what we Think we know, or discovering that we do know something when we thought we didn't/couldn't. :grin:
 

Teheuti

I should clarify that what I'm actually asking is something like: What is it about, say, the myth of gypsies bringing tarot from ancient Egypt that appeals to people so much that they prefer it to truth?

People need to believe _____ in order to feel ______.

Is the core issue that, in order to have faith in a tarot reading, we need to believe they derive from an ancient wisdom that we can no longer comprehend? That ancient is better than modern? That some people (gypsies) have direct access to a different reality than do the rest of us? That there really are 'answers' out there, but humanity has forgotten how to reach them?
 

Sherryl

I can remember the howls of anguish many years ago on TarotL as evidence piled up that undermined occultist myths about tarot's origins. I've been asking myself the same question Mary asked ever since – why do people insist on clinging to the myth after being presented with undeniable facts?

It's my opinion that the myth leads us down the rabbit hole to a world of magic and mystery; and for some people it's just too painful or depressing to give that up.

The first time I read Etteilla's Tarot origin story with the gold tablets and secret chamber under the pyramids I couldn't help being caught up in the magic, even though I knew his story had no basis in reality. After reading Margaret Starbird I found myself wishing I could suspend belief, give my historian's mind a rest, and fully embrace her mythical world. I felt rather melancholy realizing that I had lost my innocence and had chosen an alternate reality that required reading some very large books by Dummett, Decker, Kaplan and friends, with not a single gold tablet in sight.

These mystical origin myths confer a special status on tarot. Rather than being somewhat arbitrary images on pieces of cardboard designed for gaming, Tarot becomes an emissary from an alternate reality, tinged with a mystical glow which we hope will rub off on ourselves.

Sherryl
(a melancholy historian)
 

Teheuti

Sherryl said:
Tarot becomes an emissary from an alternate reality, tinged with a mystical glow which we hope will rub off on ourselves.
Sherryl, that's a great way of saying it. I think the really important part in what you said is that somehow we think that by associating with this 'alternate reality' something special will rub off on us. This is magical thinking at its most elemental. It literally takes us out of the ordinary.

The reality is that it does have a magical effect on the listener. It helps someone operate as if they are more or different than they were before the revelation, in a way that seems to enhance their abilities.
 

RexMalaki

I agree with Sherryl..."the myth takes us to a world of magic and mystery"

It's part of the psyche of being "human" to have this fascination for the unknown and mysterious...something we desire unconsciously if it is consciously subverted.

It's the same answer to the question: "Why do they come to us?" (us being tarot readers, when there are psychiatrists and social workers and preachers and friends to talk to, why tarot?)

...the Egyptian/Indo-European myth is my favorite btw...

...I think tarot was designed neo-pythagorean entrepreneurs trying to impress their courtly benefactors...
 

Teheuti

Debra said:
there's the humongous and near-universal desire to know and control destiny :laugh:
Debra - Yes! the myths tend to affirm this, whereas history tends to favor chance and the whims of pop culture creating seemingly meaningless changes.