Tarot

At Treadwell's we celebrate the classic Western tradition of tarot, and offer classes, readings and workshops. Below is a little about the tradition and divination within it.

History
Fortune-telling with cards originated in the Middle Ages, and Tarot cards with their distinctive trumps – the ‘greater arcana’ - developed in the 15th century in Bologna. The popular Tarocchi card game developed several card styles and the famous Marseilles style dates from the 17th century. The use of Tarot cards in fortune telling evolved rapidly during the course of the 19th century in tandem with the occult revival of the era.  Tarot images came to be seen not only as symbolic of life-events, but also as depicting spiritual truths of an archetypal nature. The symbolism of the tarot forms a visual and numerical language; a traditional tarot reader is trained to understand and interpret the complex number-symbolism and imagery of each of the 78 cards and their permutations.

In a Reading
In a card reading, the querent (client) has a question or area of life about which they want more information and insight for the future. They choose cards, which are laid out in a spread. The reader then interprets the cards, discerning the issues surrounding the question and its possible future solutions and outcomes.

Traditional Tarot Readers
A traditional tarot reader knows the several layers of meaning of each of the cards, puts them in context in a layout, and perceives the interplay between them.  A clear narrative and distinct trend becomes apparent. Interpreting the cards requires knowledge, ongoing study and experience, as well as a gift for identifying connections and indicative patterns.  Experience over the years makes this ability almost like an intuitive second sight.  A good reader can also communicate clearly and insightfully, and be able to handle difficult issues with sensitivity.  Any information a querent shares is treated in complete confidence.

We also run courses in tarot reading, please see our courses page.

Reading List on the History of the Tarot

Farley, Helen. A Cultural History of the Tarot: From Entertainment to Esotericism. London:  Tauris, 2009.  More art historical than Dummett and Decker, Farley goes further into source imagery and trends in painting and representational art in the renaissance. Like them, she traces the emergence of the esoteric interpretational system in the French Occult revival, and its flowering in England in the Golden Dawn and attendant orders. She concludes with a chapter on tarot in the New Age, looking at New Age cosmology and the way tarot has bean adapted to it.

Decker, Ronald, Thierry Depaulis, and Michael Dummett. A Wicked Pack of Cards: The Origins of Occult Tarot. London:  Duckworth, 1996. This masterful monograph is the definitive book on the history of the tarot, by three outstanding scholars. It proves incontrovertibly to the origins of the game of tarot, and the special tarot deck trumps, to fifteenth-century Italy. It demonstrates and traces the emergent use of this deck for divinatory purposes in later centuries, with a close attention to the magical orders and personalities who were part of the evolutions. It is clearly written and easy to follow, even for the non-academic. The treatment of the history of Western esotericism is superb, including the French Occult Revival, so much so that Treadwell’s often recommend the book for that purpose alone.

Decker, Ronald, and Michael Dummett. A History of the Occult Tarot: 1870-1970. London: Duckworth, 2002. This book builds on Wicked Pack (see above), focussing on most important century of the flowering of the tarot as a divinatory tool and, moreover, a pantheon of symbols deemed to represent the spiritual journey of the human toward enlightenment.  As part of the latter project, it traces variety of card orderings add numerations, going in considerable detail to the symbolic attributions that the most important magical orders and individual practitioners assigned to cards. For example then, the reader clearly appreciates the developments and tarot work of  Court de Gébelin, Eliphas Levi, Papus, Etteilla S. L.  Mathers, A. E. Waite, Pamela Colman Smith, Paul Foster Case, Aleister Crowley, Frieda Harris.

Huson, Paul. The Mystical Origins of the Tarot: From Ancient Roots to Modern Usage. Rochester: Destiny Books, 2004.  This is a book to complement the above three titles, and it written by a longstanding independent researcher and tarot practitioner. Important to include in any reading list on the history of the tarot, it offers counter-suggestions to some of the arguments made by Dummett and Decker, in particular concerning the degree of mystical potency of the trump symbols in the Renaissance – for which Huson puts a passionate case. This book also tracks each symbol in every card of the deck, in both major and minor arcanas (i.e. the trump cards and the suit sign cards); a project that overlaps with that of Farley (see above). Note: this book supersedes Huson’s 1972 work, The Devil’s Picturebook.

 Kaplan, Stuart. The Encylopedia of Tarot.  4 Volumes. New York: US Games Systems, 1978-2005. The ultimate reference work for the fanatic. Wonderful, and profoundly detailed.

 Primary Sources: Texts in the History of the Occult Tarot

 Court de Gébelin, Antoine. Monde Primitif: Analyse and Comparé Avec le Monde Moderne, Consideré Dans L’Histoire Naturelle de la Parole; Ou Grammaire Universelle et Comparative. 9 Volumes. Archives de la Linguistiqe Francaise no. 95. Paris, 1774.

 Papus. [Encausse, Gérard].  Clef Absolue des Sciences Occultes: le Tarot des Bohémiens, le Plus Ancien Livre du Monde. Paris:  Carré, 1889. Second edition, revised and expanded, was published 1910 by Durville in Paris. A third expanded edition was issued by them in 1926. In English it was published as The Tarot of the Bohemians [trans. A. P. Morton], and is currently available from numerous publishers under that title. Copies in shop at Treadwell’s.

 Levi, Eliphas [Constant, Alphonse Louis]. Dogme et Ritual de la Haute Magie. 2 Vols. Paris, 1856. In English it was published as Transcendental Magic: Its Doctrine and Ritual [trans A. E. Waite] (London: George Redway, 1896). It is currently available under that title from Red Wheel Weiser, with copies in shop at Treadwell’s.

 Waite, A.E.  Pictorial Key to the Tarot (illust. Pamela Colman Smith).  London: Rider, 1911. Preceded by The Key to the Tarot, issued 1910. It remains widely available, currently from Red Wheel Weiser, with copies in shop at Treadwell’s.

 Crowley, Aleister, and Frieda Harris. The Book of Thoth: A Short Essay on the Tarot of the Egyptians, being the Equinox Volume III no. 5.  London: OTO & Chiswick Press, 1944. Currently available from RedWheel Weiser and US Games. Copies in shop at Treadwell’s.

 Etteila [Alliette, Jean-Baptiste]. Etteilla, ou manière de se récréer avec un jeu de cartes. Paris: Lesclapart, 1785.  Etteilla’s work is available in English under the title Book of Thoth: Etteilla Tarot, from Llewellyn Publications.