Thanks for all useful remarks.
Let me ask a question: is one researching Tarot because of beautiful pictures or with attempt to understand it/get knowledge about something…?
I’m talking about the knowledge behind Tarot mainly and not about the methods of its obtaining. Although one of them is the method of historical research. And I think if the method is not serving of the purpose of getting the knowledge, we may extend it a bit...
But if, after all, someone likes to get understanding about the subject, that one have to understand, that the Knowledge itself is not linked neither to a specific territory no time period. We as humans only discover the Knowledge from different angels through the history. For instance, Newton’s law on universal gravitation was acting before he discovered it and is continuing to act after. The same applies for spiritual knowledge which is also not linked neither to the specific territory no time, that means that this Knowledge exists, and every one can open it for himself.
In this thread I try to show the link that this knowledge existed before the “present” form of Tarot was created. This knowledge did not “came from Mars” and was known at different continents in various forms. And Tarot in present form also reflects this spiritual knowledge. With attempt to show what is similar I apply to the authoritative sources. Everyone can do it as well…
The sequence of the first 3 Arcana I tried to show already.
4th Arcana is the Hierophant according to Maitreya (he calles it the Field). The symbol of the field is the base of a pyramid – a 4-side square. Field is an internal world of the soul. The internal field is the place of dreams. There are 2 falling persons in the Tower arcana: King and Worker . King and Worker - it’s a dual mind. When a person falls asleep he dreams himself either as Worker or King. He dreams himself as Worker when his mind is fixed to the external life of events (while being awake his mind is linked to the external life). As King he dreams when his mind is concentrated on the spiritual world. The plough is the tool of the Worker, he is known as “grandeval peasant» who teach people to cultivate land and grow fruits. King-warrior uses sacrificing altar as refusal from his deals and results of his activity. He is chained (chain has the link at the following arcana with lady-anima). The first (Worker) is the host of the field, the warrior tends to obtain the knowledge about himself, refusing the benefits of the field. In Egyptian Book of the Dead it was written Ap-Uat –the opener of the ways of the South, he stays on the plough (Dendera Zodiac). The Employee - Worker was known in Sumerian astrology as Aries constellation. In Egyptian book of the dead the Aries Constellation is the Prince of the Field.
If a sequence of symbolic images in ancient times is similar (at least for two thirds) with Arcana Tarot, is it a evidence from your point of view what the knowledge of spiritual path (consisting of 22 steps) were known before 14 century?