Origins of the Tarot: A Guidebook to the Ancestral Influences that Shaped the Tarot's Minor Arcana

Today, the Tarot is largely associated with divination, ceremonial magic, and New-Age spirituality, yet every one of those associations rests atop a foundation of inaccuracy and falsehood. At the center of all these claims is the Tarot's trump suit (i.e. the Major Arcana), which consists of twenty-two symbolic images drawn from the culture of Renaissance Italy in the 15th century. Originally developed as a novel component of trick-taking card games and as a moral allegory of the Christian faith, those same images were later misinterpreted by a series of French and English occultists, whose musings are the foundation for the modern view of the Tarot as an esoteric icon.The trump suit (Major Arcana), however, is only one of two components making up the Tarot; the other is a regular pack of Italian-suited playing cards, known as the Minor Arcana. This book, the first volume in the Learn Authentic Tarot series, presents the story of the much-neglected Minor Arcana, particularly its origin st0ry, which is to be found in the symbolic and gaming traditions of the Chinese and the Arabs.Set against the backdrop of humankind as Homo symbolicus (symbolic man) and Homo ludens (playful man), this volume illustrates how the gradual evolution of symbolic expression, together with the integral nature of play in human culture, ultimately led to the invention of playing cards in China, sometime between the 7th and 9th century CE. In fact, the Chinese the money-suited cards are the ultimate source of the four-suit system found in the Tarot and in all European playing cards.Playing cards traveled from China to Persia to Egypt where they were discovered by the Mamluks, slave-soldiers from the Central Steppes who threw off their yoke and came to rule Egypt. The playing-cards of the Mamluks are the ultimate ancestor of all European playing cards, including the Tarot. In sum, the origin of the Tarot's four suits and their respective suit-signs are located within the playing card traditions and symbolism of the Chinese and the Arabs.This lavishly illustrated volume contains a sizeable collection of stunning color photos, including a full presentation of the Chinese money cards, the original Mamluk deck, and the Tarot's Minor Arcana as illustrated by the Tarocco Soprafino di F. Gummpenberg.Origins of the Minor Arcana is the definitive work on the early, formative history of the Tarot's Minor Arcana.