Intro to Tarot
What is The Tarot? Tarot is a particular tool used for divination, mediumship, spell-work, meditation, and more. The absolute origin of card divination is unknown, partial decks have been found in many regions of the the world and it is believed divination similar to tarot has been used for many centuries. Majority of tarot decks we see today follow a similar structure as the 1909 Rider-Waite-Smith deck. Much of the imagery found in the Waite-Smith deck draws from Christian and Hebrew mysticism. Arthur Waite commissioned fellow member of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, Pamela Coleman Smith, to illustrate his tarot deck which was published by Rider Company in 1909. It seems that Waite was much more concerned with the designs of the Major Arcana and had more influence there where as Smith had more artistic freedom with the Minor. One of the things that really set Smiths art apart from previous decks was that she painted a full scene for each Minor Arc...
