A Quick View of Tarot

Many, if not most people will discount tarot on the grounds that there's no "emprirical evidence" to prove its workings. As a result it can't be scientifically explained and therefore, they say, is "bogus." But there's another way to look at tarot. It requires no "explanation," no more than the myths and folk tales that have survived through the centuries. 78 cards. 22 are what is called the Major Arcana, and they chart Man's journey through a series of life lessons, from complete innocence to worldliness, and in so doing bring him back to a state of innocence. 56 make up the Minor Arcana, arranged in suits like a playing deck, with each card representing a universal archetype. When arranged in a "spread" they tell a story, which can have underlying meanings that connect to our lives, not unlike parables, fables, mystery plays, poetry, novels, and even dreams that invite us to perceive and understand ourselves in previously unexamined ways. The cards can be drawn and arranged in a virtually infinite number of random spreads, so the possibilities for storytelling are endless. It's that simple, and that unprepossessing.