The Power of the Tarot

Tarot cards have been around for hundreds of years. According to most experts, Tarot decks first appeared between 1410 and 1430 somewhere in northern Italy, and probably originated as elaborations of pre-existing four-suit playing card decks. The resulting hybrid decks were originally called "carte da trionfi" or "triumph cards." The oldest surviving Tarot cards were painted for the Visconti-Sforza family, the rulers of Milan, around the middle of the 15th century. As early as 1540, these new cards were clearly being used for divination, and divination may even have pre-dated the Tarot cards as a medieval book entitled The Oracles of Francesco Marcolino da Forli describes a primitive method of divination using the coin suit of regular playing cards.

Whether one believes in the power of Tarot cards or not, this method of divination is clearly here to stay. Once associated primarily with wandering gypsies and carnival booths, Tarot practitioners have entered the mainstream, opening storefronts, creating websites, and founding highly profitable corporations. Tarot is big business.

But can a Tarot reading really predict the future--or is it just a fun diversion?

The Dutch government apparently believes in the power of Tarot. In august of 2007, the state began funding Tarot card readings for the jobless. That's right--Tarot card readers can receive government funding to counsel the unemployed and help them get back to work. And it's not just those crazy Dutch people. New York City boasts a Tarot School, founded in 1995, where anyone can enroll to get a "higher education" in tarot card reading.

According to reports, Christian Dior used to consult the Tarot to determine the best day to show his collection and when to go on vacation. During Ronald Reagan's tenure as President of the United States, there were whispered tales of tarot cards being slipped into the White House through the back door, and former Reagan chief of staff Donald Regan finally revealed in a tell-all book that Nancy Reagan had an obsession with astrology and sometimes used it to arrange her husband's official activities.

During the height of the U.S. Presidential campaign of 2000, nationally-recognized astrologer Claudia D. Dikinis announced that in spite of her personal preference for Al Gore, a reading of her Tarot cards gave a clear indication that George W. Bush would be the next President of the United States.

On July 31, 2007, Indian Bollywood actor Sanjay Dutt was sentenced to a jail term of 6 years for illegal possession of firearms. Things looked bleak for Dutt, until well-known Tarot reader Mita Bahn announced that after consulting her cards it was clear Dutt would soon be released. Two weeks later, he was granted interim bail.

Such strange occurrences are not limited to the rich and famous. On March 20, 1986, Theresa Jackson of Florida sat with her daughter Tina Mancini, 17, and spread a deck of Tarot cards across the table. According to Mrs. Jackson, "The cards told me a blond child of mine was going to die." For days later, Tina pointed a .357-caliber Magnum pistol into her mouth and pulled the trigger.

Do these stories suggest a real power behind the Tarot, or are they merely anecdotal, random readings that happened to coincide with real events? We may never know. Well, maybe there's one way. Maybe you should dust off those old Tarot cards you have sitting in your closet and ask them yourself ... if you dare.

by Baudelaire Jones