firemaiden said:
What is tarot?
- functional answer:
- It's an Artform. It sits in boxes and collects value.
- no, no! its an Oracular Device. You shuffle it and use it to tell the future.
- no no no!! its an Initiatique Journey! You meditate on the pictures and gradually achieve enlightenment in steps.
- no, no, no! its a game, you ninnies, a game with trumps, and a fool, and suits
- no, no, no, it's a Historical, Cultural Artefact.
- structural answer: ... depending on which aspect of the function of tarot cards we choose to focus on, our answer about what form a deck of cards should take to be "tarot" will vary. Easier to demonstrate if we look at *what it's not*.
When is it *not* tarot?
- (Art) It's not tarot if the pictures suck.
- (oracle) It's not tarot if it doesn't predict the future.
- (initiatic journey) It's not tarot if the steps are in the wrong order, or renamed, or missing.
- (game) It's not tarot if you can't tell what suit something is.
- (cultural artefact) It's not tarot if it's differs at all the historical specimens we've collected...
In conclusion, we can define Tarot, but each of us will define it according to the criteria we hold most dear.
I don't know how I lost sight of this exceptional answer, but I did.
Maybe I needed time to reply, or mostly likely I was stumpted.
You're right it is easier to say what is not tarot than to say what is.
I think anybody can develop a form or a function that they think is 'essential' to tarot. I also think that a true tarot will incorporate multiple forms and functions but needn't incorporate all of them.
I believe a true tarot is one that will take the forms and functions assessible to most people.
Another function missed from your excellent list is business, a function fitting many of the forms
Tarot is a living for some people.
I will never agree with people who say tarot is anything that anyone says it is, but I do agree to disagree most amicably.
Allibee, I think you'll find it's pretty well agreed that tarot as a deck of tarot cards appeared in southern central Europe during the 14th Century and has been developing there ever since.