Talk:Tarot History
From Tarotpedia
I have made a few minor edits in the interests of neutrality. I haven't changed any content, but rather changed the way some sentences are worded, for example I removed the quotes the author placed around the words/phrases "personal growth" and "archetypes," which might have been construed to express that there is something suspect about these ideas. I also added a few qualifiers to avoid overgeneralizations of tarot enthusiasts as New Age or neo-Pagan, or as uninformed about factual Tarot history. I was initially reluctant to make these edits but I took to heart the encouragement in the guidelines to be bold. :) Lee Bursten 06:35, 3 February 2006 (PST)
- A Note: Michael J. Hurst has kindly written the initial summaries on this page. This is an excellent start to build other pages off of, and I wanted to leave a quick note to thank him for the contribution.
- JMD and I have broken down the section into three levels... This page being the Main Tarot History Page, with links to Timeline pages, and then from there, links from items in the timeline to new pages. Hopefully this will allow the top levels to remain fairly "uncluttered", and allow users to dig into the subjects they are seeking more easily.
- Any suggestions always welcome.
- le pendu 19:35, 1 February 2006 (PST)
[edit] Myths and stuff
Note by baba: Can I suggest that it might be useful to append a section on "tarot history myths". I came across yet another reference to tarot being brought into Europe by gypsies the other day - these beliefs, about Egypt, gypsies, Knights Templar and Fifi the pink poodle (nod of course to Villa Revak - although there is fierce debate about whether Fifi was in fact a poodle or a rottweiler cross) do keep coming up. It might be good to address them in their own section?
- Thank you Baba - not sure how to best address this one... perhaps an article on 'frequently perpetuated misinformation'??? any suggestions for a more decent title?
- on another note, I have evidence that Fifi is in fact a poodle-cross (or rather 'caniche'-cross), though the crossing may be with a Maltese (resulting in what I believe is called a 'Moodle') --Jmd 06:47, 11 February 2006 (PST)
The comment about the 1589 interrogation of Isabella Bellocchio by the Venetian Holy Office perpetuates one of the classic myths about the witchcraft persecutions, that there was widespread worship of the Devil in the form of an underground rebellion against Christianity.
There simply isn't any evidence of people flying to Sabbats, of weird and disgusting feasts that included cannibalism, of perverse sexual encounters with the Devil himself, of the sacrifice of unbaptised infants. Nor did any more than a few people confess to such activities without the application of torture. Worshipping the Devil, obtaining strange powers, and engaging in exotic orgies is a fantasy of highly educated people.
It was her interrogators who rebuked Isabella for lighting a lamp before the Devil card, claiming that she intended to pray to the Devil. She was baffled by this, insisting that she was practising love magic, to make her beloved come to her.
It should be noted that the Venetian Inquisition, like the various others around the Mediterranean, had virtually no interest in the demonological theories that justified the trials in Northern Europe. Most of the inquisitors didn't believe in the stories about flying to sabbat, magical potions or the evil eye, and they had no political responsibility towards the communities making accusations against their neighbours.
The inquisitors were interested in suppressing heresy, so they regarded the accusers in witchcraft cases with suspicion and dismissed practitioners of minor magical arts with a warning not to repeat their errors.
Brampton
[edit] Dionysiac tarot (in french)
New theory for the origins of tarot : http://www.bacchos.org/tarothtm
but in french... to translate
