Tarot is a Profound Source of Insight - Page 20
Tarot Articles and Blogs
Learn how Tarot cards and their meanings influence your life here and now
Tarot Death Cards
IntroductionThe material is this essay will eventually be developed into a complete analysis of the iconology of the 15/16th century Tarot images. But since I have decided to begin in the middle of the trumps, some brief introduction is required. Read More »
Tarot Symbolism
Welcome to the Dr. Robert V. O'Neill Tarot Library. Included here are research excerpts focusing on Tarot symbolism, iconology and influences. Read More »
Franciscans Influence
The Albigensian Crusade had crushed the political and hierarchical infrastructure that supported the Cathars in Provence. The Inquisition persecuted the remnants in Provence and Italy for the next two centuries. Read More »
Emperor Cards
The Emperor appears as trump card #3 in the type B ordering we are following in this essay. A number of examples of the Emperor card have survived from the 15/16th centuries (Fig. 1) although it is clear that some of the images are copies or adaptations of others. Read More »
Virtue Cards
The three Tarot trumps that represent cardinal or moral virtues (Temperance, Fortitude, Justice) will be covered in separate chapters. However, the virtues form an integral subset of the symbolic system and some general observations are in order. Read More »
Pope Cards
Figure 1 shows the 6 extant Pope cards from the 15th and 16th centuries. As with the Emperor, all of the figures are enthroned. The keys of St. Peter are shown on three of the cards, Read More »
Papess Cards
The five surviving Papess images (card #4) are shown in Figure 1. All of the images show a seated woman wearing the triple papal tiara. Two have a staff topped with a cross, two have a bishop's crozier and the last holds a key, the key of Peter as a symbol of the papacy. Three have a closed book in their laps and one is reading from a book open on a reading stand. Two show a tonsured assistant as found on some Pope cards. Read More »
Empress Cards
In the early ordering (Type B) of the Tarot trumps, the Empress card appears as trump #2. With the Empress card we move from the lowest estates of man, represented by the Fool and Bagatto, to the highest. Read More »
The Continental Tarots
In the essay entitled "The Major Arcana" I emphasize that "something happened" to the Tarot in the late 1600s, when a new trend emerged in the images of the Major Arcana. I point to the Marseilles family of decks and the Etteilla Tarots to illustrate my point. Read More »
The Esoteric Origins of Tarot
by Dr. Lewis KeizerForewordModern Tarot is not a card game. It is a form of divination. As such, modern Tarot does not originate in medieval Italian card games, although they eventually became mediums through which cartomantic divination was done. Read More »