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!
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!