Mystical Origins of the Tarot (Inner Traditions Bear and Company)

The origins of the tarot have been lost in the mists of time. Most scholars have guessed that its origins were in China, Egypt or India. In Mystical Origins Of The Tarot, Paul Huson has expertly tracked each symbol of the Minor Arcana to roots in ancient Persia and the Major Arcana Trump card images to the medieval world of mystery, miracle and morality plays. A number of tarot historians have questioned the use of the tarot as a divination tool prior to the 17th century. But the author demonstrates that the symbolic meaning of the Major Arcana were evident from the time they were first employed in the mid-15th century in the popular divination practice of sortilege. He, also, reveals how the identities of the court cards in the Minor Arcana were derived from a blend of pagan and medieval sources that strongly influenced Renaissance and medieval magic practice. Mystical Origins Of The Tarot provides a thorough examination of the original historical source for each card and how the card's divinatory meanings evolved from these symbols.