THE TAROT WHEEL
INTRODUCTION TO THE HISTORY PAGES
On these first pages, we will deal with the history of card playing relating to the Tarot. The aim of these pages is not to give full historical details and references about all facts that are far or near related to Tarot. Rather, we want to give some background information. Most of the information I have comes from Internet sources. The Internet has many pages, some with detailed information, others without, some very scientific with references to almost every word. Others are more descriptive, like a story. Some give only clear and proven facts, others give the personal conviction of the writer. I often found very informative web pages that disappeared after some time. I will give links to specific sites when needed, but if you find that a link is broken, please inform me by Email, so I can restore or remove the link. Also don't hesitate, if you want to go deeper in some parts of the information that appears on my pages, to surf around on the World Wide Web. Surfing on the web is fascinating, but it is also full of dark pitfalls. Usually, you don't know if what you are reading consists of facts or fantasy, with every possible variation in between. Especially with Tarot cards, people are not very objective. Tarot has to do with divination, with magic and other more spiritual subjects. People can state that Tarot has been brought to Europe by gypsies, that the message in the cards comes from Ancient Egypt, that the trump cards are linked to the Hebrew alphabet, any opinion can be packed in a text stating that what you are reading is nothing but the truth, the only truth and the whole truth. But, is this different from religion? I will try to stay as objective as possible, but this is sometimes difficult. Tarot is dealing with intuition, and sometimes it is necessary to express my intuition, rather than following other 'realities' and 'facts' expressed in books and on the internet. So if you find something in this text that you think cannot be true, be happy to start a discussion with me in the comment box or by Email, and certainly try to explore the subject on the Internet or anywhere else where you have access to more information.
