Mystical Origins of The Tarot

FelicityHart

I was wondering what people think of:

Mystical Origins of the Tarot
Huson, Paul
Destiny Books, 2004
0-89281-190-0
- #

I searched the forums and could only find it listed in the reference and in a few long lists of peoples collections/recommendations. What do people think of it's interpretations?? I quite like it's theory on the origins of certain cards in medieval mystery plays, as well as the historical information and comparisons of different interpretations and their differences. For me it makes a good reference because I can bookmark all the information and it has two pages or more on each card and it's various interpretations.
 

Shade

It's very good. Huson's history of playing cards and the evolution of what was depicted on the cards is very easy to follow. At no point does Huson seem to have an agenda or pet theory that he is trying to find proofs for (which often happens in these).

One of the best aspects of Husons book is the record of how meanings for the cards changed between the late 1700s and 1910. This is incredibly valuable to a reader because we sometimes can fall into thinking that a modern interpretation of a card is somehow the original. People often say "This card traditionally meant..." and then explain the Rider Waite meaning of the card when earlier writers gave a decidedly different interpretation.
 

3ill.yazi

Personally, I found this book indispensable. He explores the history of the cards and the evolution of various meanings assigned to them, and suggests his own carefully-phrased suggestions at compromise between those meanings that contradict.

It's one of the few books in English in which I've found Etteila's system of card meanings laid out. It was one of the first books I read which blew out of the water the whole "the origins of tarot are shrouded in mystery, therefore Ancient Egypt" idea that is routinely put out in older books.

It takes a more neutral tone than the excellent book Wicked Pack of Cards, and for me was a much quicker read.

I have used it when compiling my personal LWBs compiling historical pre-Golden Dawn meanings.
 

Michael Sternbach

I find this book outstanding, too. It shows how the divinatory meanings of the cards in the Golden Dawn system (relevant for both the RWS and Thoth decks as well as their countless derivatives) were influenced by the traits of the zodiacal decans as explicate in the Picatrix.

The decans were very important in the Hermetic astral magic of the Renaissance but date back to ancient Egypt and Babylonia... and they had iconography associated with them, too.
 

rwcarter

Somebody actually pulled a listing out of the forum index! (faints)

OK, I'm back now. It was a little dry for my tastes, but it was a really good book chock full of knowledge including, as Shade pointed out, how meanings changed over time. It also shows how meanings for the same card can be quite different from various authors/across different traditions.

Rodney
 

FelicityHart

Okay I'm so glad I'm not crazy...I LOVED this book and was worried others wouldn't care for it...I also agree that he didn't seem to have a pet theory and in fact he was quite skeptical of the ANCIENT EGYPTIANS did it thing, which I am as well. Egyptians are a live culture today and those kinds of interpretations always ignore that and just kind of...make up an origin if we don't know it.

The mentions of iconography and origins yes, I did love as well. I am very interested in symbols and how they change and gain subtle cultural meanings, even after the 'origins' might be lost.
 

3ill.yazi

Okay I'm so glad I'm not crazy...I LOVED this book and was worried others wouldn't care for it...I also agree that he didn't seem to have a pet theory and in fact he was quite skeptical of the ANCIENT EGYPTIANS did it thing, which I am as well. Egyptians are a live culture today and those kinds of interpretations always ignore that and just kind of...make up an origin if we don't know it.

The mentions of iconography and origins yes, I did love as well. I am very interested in symbols and how they change and gain subtle cultural meanings, even after the 'origins' might be lost.

Not to mention that the Ancient Egypt theory was started before much was know about ancient Egypt. As I recall, the earliest Tarotists who put out this theory were writing before the Rosetta Stone was figured out.
 

conurelover

I love the book. I love how he explained which deck had what at what point in time and what each tarot system had for the meaning of each card.