Can Tarot Really Predict The Future?
I’m often asked this sort of question. The thing is, the answer is both Yes and No. Tarot seems to have originated as a card game rather than a system of divination. Prior to the appearance of decks like the Visconti- Sforza (at left) around 1450, most decks contained only the “suit” cards much like a modern playing deck. This was the period of the High Middle Ages in Europe. The printing press had not yet been invented so decks of cards had to be made by hand. The materials were expensive. One needed a sturdy support for the images on the cards and if one wanted to produce many decks one needed the services of an engraver. Most common playing decks were produced in this manner. However, as time went on, fine artists made an invaluable contribution to the development of the images and embellishments of the Tarot known as the Trumps.
Can Tarot Really Predict The Future?
There is no reliable history of the origin of the cards that we know today as the
Trumps or Major Arcana of the Tarot. In general, the “characters” of the Trump cards are a reflection of the Platonic world of ideas (the Macrocosm) and the human world of social and spiritual hierachy of Medieval society (the Microcosm). The Microcosm was thought to be a reflection of the Macrocosm: As above, So below. Consequently, at the heart of Tarot we find the Orthodox world of Popes and Hermit Monks, Empresses and Emperors. But we also find the Heterodox world of the Papess and the High Priestess, the Heriophant and the Magician, the immortality promised by the World of power but also the losses occasioned by the vagaries of Fortune. It is in the interplay amongst these impersonal forces that human fate is shaped.
Tarot As Mirror, Tarot As Lens
The Tarot offers us a mirror of our life as it is at present, shows us the influences both internal and external that exist around us and reveal – to those who understand the implications – how our future will unfold. In this sense, I see Tarot firstly as tool for reflection and analysis and secondarily as a forecaster of future events seen through the lens of symbols and numbers. Over the past 20 years I have done many readings in which the “messages” of the cards have proved incredibly accurate with regard to future events. See my post of August 8, 2011 for an example of an amazing case of Tarot both reflecting the present and predicting the future HERE
Tarot is a rich and fascinating tool, a psychic compass helping us to untangle the various threads of circumstance so we can plot our best course forward.
For a selection of her favourite Tarot Decks visit Delia’s “A List” Amazon Shop HERE
