| Tarot cards offer an alternative and effective | | | | instance, can be thought of as representing the |
| language system through which we can access the | | | | patriarch or the father figure. Over the years, we |
| Unconscious. Every tarot card we pick from the | | | | piece together various archetypes according to our |
| deck, there is an underlying principle tied to fate. In a | | | | needs. These archetypes are embedded in our |
| world increasingly jaded by technology and progress, | | | | unconscious and thus they can affect our actions and |
| it’s easy to scoff at people who blindly | | | | thoughts without our knowing. Consequently, our |
| entrust their lives to a deck of cards. We tell | | | | choices of tarot cards when we pick them out from |
| ourselves, we are rational, clear-headed people, so | | | | that “innocent” deck reveal our feelings, |
| how can randomly shuffled cards spread on the table | | | | attitudes, and even fears towards such figures in our |
| possibly answer all our life’s questions. Tarot | | | | lives. For instance, we may not know it, but we have |
| cards have had a crucial and inseparable influence in | | | | always shied from responsibilities and commitment in |
| mysticism and the occult. They first arrived sometime | | | | lives whenever there is a father figure looming in the |
| in fifteenth century Italy, but it was not until late 17th | | | | background, etc. Tarot cards offer an alternative |
| or 18th century that tarot cards began to be used in | | | | language system through which we can access our |
| divination. The tarot cards that we know today have | | | | Unconscious. Therefore, we do not just randomly |
| gone through a long and evolution, from the pictures, | | | | pick tarot cards, or blindly entrust our lives to them. |
| symbolisms, procedures, purposes, and meanings. It is | | | | Every moment of our lives, we lay ourselves bare |
| interesting to note that tarot cards were originally | | | | with the choices we make, even for something as |
| used in a game, with 21 trump cards, four queens, | | | | papery as tarot cards. The Missing Tarot in The |
| and a fool added to a normal deck, which totals to | | | | Skeptic’s World Tarot readings then should |
| 78 cards in all. But it is unclear exactly how tarot | | | | not be dismissed as just some pretend psychic |
| branched out from a simple mind-diverting game into | | | | business exploiting a person’s gullibility. The art |
| the fragile business of looking back into past lives, | | | | of tarot cards is subtle, delicate, yet powerful. It is |
| foretelling the future, and answering questions. Tarot | | | | energised by centuries of symbolism and meaning |
| Archetypes The highly-respected psychologist Carl | | | | created, expounded, and developed by people who |
| Jung has always considered tarot as an alternative | | | | dared to see beyond. For them, the Arcane that lies |
| psychotherapy. For him, the rich imagery inherent in | | | | on the fringes of human experience holds the secrets |
| every tarot card represents archetypes of human | | | | we need to survive. Before we question the |
| personality and situations. Archetypes are basic | | | | legitimacy of tarot cards, we should first look into |
| models or prototypes of people that embody a | | | | the person who wants to inquire about himself |
| defined set of characteristics. The Emperor card, for | | | | herself. Will they see to believe, or believe to see? |