Are Tarot Decks Magick? Options

This is from my submission to Wise Tarot Mag (www.wisetarot.com) and I thought it was a cool enough topic to fire up a poll here.

There is certainly something quite magical about Tarot Decks, from the legendary history (mythical) to the Renaissance history (fun) to more recent years (magickal) and there can be no doubt that some people have embraced the roll of Tarot decks in practical or High Magick.

From a recent poll:
* 23.1% of respondents use Tarot for divination only
* 7.7% don't use decks at all
* 69.3% who use Tarot as either a mini temple, magickal tool or visualizing aid in magickal practice!

Beyond that, a recent syndicated study of the Tarot Publishing Industry (sneak peak at data below!) reveals how magical we think the decks themselves are (versus their readers), with 40.3% believing their actual decks are magick (either 100% or somewhat) and similar numbers believing the deck has a life of its own. Overwhelmingly, respondents believed at least that the decks were either magickal in and of themselves or magickal by virtue of our skills. (I couldn't paste in the charts, sorry).

Tarot as a Mini Temple

Tarot as a Mini Temple is a concept put forth by several occultists, notably by Donald Tyson in Portable Magic: Tarot Is the Only Tool You Need, famous author of many books. Tyson believes that a properly consecrated deck of cards, empowered by the correspondences of the Golden Dawn, become "symbolic tools; there is no need for the physical tools and space required in traditional ceremonial magic."

Tyson demonstrates how to use the archetypes and power of the cards to build mini-alters, circles and triangles, and also how to use the Tarot suits as mini, yet powerful, occult tools in place of an actual sword (or athame), chalice, pentacle.
Tarot & Magic

In Tarot & Magic (Special Topics in Tarot), bestselling occult writer Donald Kraig, author of the perpetual reference book Modern Magick: Eleven Lessons in the High Magickal Arts (Llewellyn's High Magick), outlined a different and more "intuitive" approach, using the Tarot archetypes and universal symbols and emblematic of the results — "Your Tarot deck is a powerful magical tool. Use it to create the changes you desire in life."
Tarot Talismans

Well known chief adepts of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, Chic and Sandra Tabatha Cicero, present an even more detailed and quite straight-forward approach to Tarot Talismans: Invoke the Angels of the Tarot. They map out specific combinations of cards, with slightly different meanigns between decks, and their uses in Talismanic and Amuletic work.
78 Little Cards, So Much Magick

So, whether you believe the deck itself is magickal (over 40% of those surveyed did believe this!) or that the magick comes from within and without via the archetypal symbolism of the cards, one thing is very clear. The 78 humble Tarot cards in a $24.95 (list price) deck contains an entire universe of magickal possibilities.

IMO: Tarot decks are nothing more than ink & bleached tree chunks, but if you think there's more to them there will be. I intentionally avoid thinking of any of my tools as alive, if I can. On the up-side, it improves performance; on the down-side, it's much tougher to get rid of old junk. My computer seems to be glaring at me while I type this, I'm sure it's no coincidence that it fails every time I try to work on another machine within a meter of it.
My first deck really had a bad vibe, bought it out of convenience, it even had extra cards I've never seen in other decks. My second deck ( http://www.facade.com/tarot/palladini/ ) was a little too powerful for my tastes, all of the cards seemed to have a life of their own, excluding the "information about this deck" ones. The double ouroboros-infinity-symbols should have tipped me off. Last time I used it was in High School and my life started to go off-kilter. My worst fears came to life for a few days, before dying ignoble deaths. Grades... peer-pressure... success... those were some fears I liked dang it! They were stupid enough to ignore most the time and helped me to fit in. All that was left were Robots, Shadow Governments, and product recalls.
(IMG:style_emoticons/default/badmood.gif)
Uh... summary: trust your gut, don't buy or accept anything your intuition rejects, especially tools. They may be magic, but so are you! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/happy.gif)

I've worked with my deck, the Celtic Dragon Tarot, for almost 7 years now, and it has gotten more accurate and displayed more personality over time than it did originally, when I was first learning.

I would not say that tarot cards are in and of themselves magickal - just as no objective symbol or object is inherently magickal; it is the subjective views and faith of the individual that grants any kind of power to any magickal tool. Even stones and talismans which have inherent magickal potential do nothing until galvanized and applied through a subjective intention.

That said, over time any tool that you work with becomes more magickal over time. My deck used to give rather 'dry' readings - that is, brief and direct, general, but fairly accurate in most cases. Seven years later, it seems to take offense to relationship questions, always points out the problems in your situation accurately, but gives solutions that imply something along the lines of "Figuring it out is half the lesson." It has definite attitude, even the more experienced readers I've traded with note that my deck gives rather harsh readings. The only time it's ever gentle is when it comes to questions about spirituality, or problems that are causing a lot of emotional pain.

I think they can be used in high magick, of course, but that depends largely on the individual's connection with the cards, and their own deck, the symbolism, etc.

peace

The Tarot is a very restrictive way of doing magic. I don't like it frankly, though it does have some merit. The problem is there is only one deck. Who decided that this one deck was going to be the only way to divine using cards? The card companies try to make it look less lame by having decks with the same cards, but different pretty pictures on the cards, but the fact remains that for hundreds of years pretty much nobody has ever questioned exactly why the major arcana are the way they are. Not to say the deck isn't a good measure of at least the human viewpoint of existence, but I don't like something so blindly trusted and unchanging. Why not have each fortune teller build their own deck of cards? Why not have several cards that you can mix and match into different decks? There's pages of literature on what the 9 of Wands implies for your future, but there's nothing to justify why the 9 of Wands at all, for instance. If you practice Tarot card reading, you must first accept a sort of doctrine, which is "written" in the single Tarot deck that you will use. If you like doctrinal stuff that's fine, but I prefer a more anarchic style of being.

Why not have each fortune teller build their own deck of cards? Why not have several cards that you can mix and match into different decks?

A collectible card game as system of divination?! Brilliant! They've got dozens of cards with names for almost every situation you could think of, though using them all would make it impossible to shuffle without a machine. Maybe it'd even be possible to create Collectible Tarot cards, based on various archetypes? I know I'd like to have some additions to my deck, such as...
(IMG:http://www.geocities.com/seekervi/333.jpg)

A collectible card game as system of divination?! Brilliant!

o.O Yeah, I journalled about it (http://synx.us.to/journal/249) only 11 months ago. Haven't made any illustrated cards yet. I'm not the first to think this up though. I was watching the (subtitled) YuGiOh the other day, and Bakura uses the game cards to predict people's horrible doom at his hands. The problem with using like, Magic the Gathering for divination is that each card is designed to be used in an intensive combat game. I've done some divination with a deck of those cards, but they don't tend to hold much meaning off the battlefield. I think we need a set of cards independant of a combat game, simply focused on understanding the world in ways our normal senses betray.

Though according to Sun Tzu, everything is on the battlefield, so maybe combat cards could be used just fine (IMG:style_emoticons/default/horse.gif)

They've got dozens of cards with names for almost every situation you could think of, though using them all would make it impossible to shuffle without a machine.

Obviously it would be up to the bearer of the deck which cards they had in there. Nobody would have literally all the cards in a deck.

Maybe it'd even be possible to create Collectible Tarot cards, based on various archetypes? I know I'd like to have some additions to my deck, such as...
(IMG:http://www.geocities.com/seekervi/333.jpg)

Sure, knock yourself out!

This post has been edited by Pandora: Oct 23 2007, 12:00 AM

The only time it's ever gentle is when it comes to questions about spirituality, or problems that are causing a lot of emotional pain.

Most of the good and not so confusing readings that I get are like that too. When I ask a question about my love life it does not give me a clear answer. Though when I ask about my spirituality and situations or things that are very emotional for me the answers are much more clear.

I think the emotion that I put into it is what counts. I haven't been so emotional regarding my love so maybe if I try to put more emotion into the love life readings then I may get a better answer.

Kat

I use tarot cards for divination and in my magic. I’m in between it being only a tool and having a magical persona of it’s own (like a thought form attached to it). But I agree that like a talisman, you need to “charge” it up for it to be of any use.

I do not believe that there is an ideal or universal Tarot. It could be said, clumsily, that the pictures represent parts of Life and Nature, idealized in some cases. I prefer to think of the Tarot, in any form, as an attempt to represent the doctrines and powers of Magic.

This is not a new idea in relation to the Trumps. Eliphas Levi and Aleister Crowley both employ a selection of 22 chapters for their most influential lectures on occult doctrine, and each chapter is related to one of the Trumps as a concept rather than as a card. For example, regardless of whatever has been said of the images on card XIII (Death), Levi uses the place to describe ideas about necromancy, and Crowley discusses banishing and purification. The pictures, and the lectures, are only representative of a root idea about one part of what constitutes a complete magical system.

The Suit cards all represent something you would like to see happen for yourself,or to someone else,or maybe something you'd like to avoid. There are undoubtedly other things you could wish, but the minor cards have proven themselves as a set of things people would like to see Fate provide. In many decks, these situations are related to astrological influences. These influences, and the events indicated by the cards, can be used not only for divination but as a system of practical spell-craft wherein the Planetary Mansions are invoked.

Attempts to incorporate the cards themselves into this process are, IMO, unimaginative and irrelevant. One does not invoke The Lord of Cruelty (the Nine of Swords, Mars in Gemini) by burning candles around a picture of a man waking from a nightmare, but by causing genuine terror. Nails, knives, pins, images of the target, and offensive words are the elements of these spells: the Tarot picture is its mild reflection for divinatory purposes. It is the magical influence, the esoteric power, that is represented by the card and it is that (not the card itself) to which the real powers of magic are obedient.

Hmm maybe I am missing something but I personally don’t see how nails and knives are any more effective than Tarot cards. They are all immaterial objects. Tarot cards in spells are just a way to focus you mind and intent, just like nails and knives. This is the reason why one can use a positive tarot card in a cursing spell, if the drawing or artistic representation gives the magician a feeling appropriate for cursing. If for some reason I don’t consider nails, offensive words, and or knives as negative, they would be ineffective in a cursing spell. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/fool.gif)