By bringing together top experts and authors, this archaeology website explores lost civilizations, examines sacred writings, tours ancient places, investigates ancient discoveries and questions mysterious happenings. Our open community is dedicated to digging into the origins of our species on planet earth, and question wherever the discoveries might take us. We seek to retell the story of our beginnings.
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The goal of Ancient Origins is to highlight recent archaeological discoveries, peer-reviewed academic research and evidence, as well as offering alternative viewpoints and explanations of science, archaeology, mythology, religion and history around the globe.
Sami Spirituality and the Cult of the Sacred Stones
Sami Spirituality and the Cult of the Sacred Stones
A Step Closer to the Mysterious Origin of the Viking Sword Ulfberht
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Le Chariot, from Nicolas Convers 1760 Tarot deck. (Public Domain)
As science progresses and archaeologists are forging new positive relationships with developers around Irish heritage, more secrets from Irelands Viking past are coming to light, and they are not just found in burial grounds, unearthed dwellings, and old settlements; they can be found in the DNA of the modern-day Irish people.
The third common element is another special card called the fool or excuse. In the French suit, this figure is often depicted as some kind of entertainer, for instance, a harlequin or a musician. Whilst the image resembles the joker in the standard 52-card deck, they are not historically connected.
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The beginnings of the use of Tarot as a means of divination is said to have begun in 1781, and is attributed to a Frenchman by the name of Antoine Court de Gbelin. One of the beliefs that Court de Gbelin had was that the images on tarot cards (specifically the ones on the Italian suit) have their origins in ancient Egypt, and that mystical knowledge was encoded in them. Since then, the idea that tarot could be used for divination continued to be developed through the centuries.
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In the English-speaking world, the word tarot is most commonly associated with the occult and divination. What is perhaps less well-known is that tarot cards were only used for such purposes relatively recently. Prior to the 18th century AD, there is no record of tarot cards being used either for the occult or divination. In fact, tarot cards were originally used as playing cards. Thus, when speaking of the origins of tarot, one may consider the topic from two angles tarot cards as playing cards, and tarot cards as a means of divination. It is on the former that this article will be focusing primarily.
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Not content with the notion that tarot cards were used originally as playing cards, endless speculations regarding their alleged mystical origins have been made. Amongst others, tarot cards are said by some to have originally been a creation of 13th century alchemists which contained hidden alchemical imagery, Indian holy texts, Hebrew lore, allegories of Sufi masters, and the surviving lore of the Order of Knights Templar.
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Oatman-Stanford, H., 2014.Tarot Mythology: The Surprising Origins of the Worlds Most Misunderstood Cards.[Online]
Tarot is known by various other similar names, including Tarock, Tarokk, Taroky, Taroc, Tarok, Tarocchi. The origins of this word are unknown, though one speculation is that it derives from the Arabic wordtaraha, which means he rejected, put aside.
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McLeod, J., 2015.Card Games: Tarot Games.[Online]
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As for the Italian suit, the images on its trump cards are said to differ from deck to deck. Nevertheless, they include such familiar figures as the Pope, the Magician, the Emperor, the Lovers, and Death. For those who use tarot cards for divination, these are usually regarded as having symbolic meaning.
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Nevertheless, there are several common elements that can be found in the majority of tarot decks. Firstly, like the standard 52-card deck which most people today are familiar with, each tarot deck would have four regular suits. Two of the most common suits are the French suit and the Italian suit. The former contains diamonds, hearts, spades and clubs, whilst the latter contains coins, cups, swords and batons.
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At Ancient Origins, we believe that one of the most important fields of knowledge we can pursue as human beings is our beginnings. And while some people may seem content with the story as it stands, our view is that there exists countless mysteries, scientific anomalies and surprising artifacts that have yet to be discovered and explained.
This Arabic connection is seen in the opinion that tarot cards were used originally as playing cards by the Mamluks (who are most notable as a dynasty of Muslim rulers in Egypt during the Middle Ages), which then spread to Western Europe. Some have even claimed that the tarot was invented even further afield, that is to say, in China, and that the Mamluks adopted these cards from them.
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The next common element is a suit of 21 special cards known as trumps. Tarot is one of the earliest card games into which the concept of trumps had been introduced. In the French suit, the images on its trump cards are often depicted as arbitrary scenes of people at work and at play, animals both actual and mythological, and landscapes of regional locales.
After the Blessed Virgin Mary and her assorted shrines and grottoes, evangelical Catholics in Canada and United States flock to and draw inspiration from the North American Martyrs Shrines in Midland, Ontario and Auriesville, New York; where collectively six clerics and two `donne or lay people were killed, supposedly `in odium fidei (in hatred of the faith).
Obringer, L. A., 2005.How Tarot Cards Work.[Online]
Within tarot cards, especially when used for divination, apart from the four suits, the cards are divided into Major Arcana and Minor Arcana. That being said, the usual knave, queen and king, were also representations of real figures within history, though it remains debatable who was who. Legend goes that the four Queens are also the four Marys – for example that the Queen of Hearts could have referred to Marie Antoinette and the Queen of Clubs to Mary Queen of Scots. More could have been said taking account of this angle.
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It has also been suggested that rather than being designed with mysticism in mind, the figures on these trump cards were meant to reflect important aspects of the real world that the players lived in. Moreover, as this was the Christian world of the Middle Ages, the cards are said to contain prominent Christian symbolism.
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As science progresses and archaeologists are forging new positive relationships with developers around Irish heritage, more secrets from Irelands Viking past are coming to light, and they are not just found in burial grounds, unearthed dwellings, and old settlements; they can be found in the DNA of the modern-day Irish people.
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This card is often named The Magician in modern English language tarot. (Public Domain)
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A Chinese printed playing card dated c. 1400 AD, Ming Dynasty, found near Turpan, measuring 9.5 by 3.5 cm. (Public Domain)
ccording to the statistics provided by the World Economic Forum, nowadays China can boast its position of the worlds second largest spender on scientific research and development, yielding only to the United States.
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oudler, 2007.What is Tarot? Its NOT what you think!.[Online]
Featured image: Two hand-painted Mamluk playing cards (Public Domain&Public Domain) and two Venetian playing cards (Public Domain). Photo source:
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According to another common account, the tarot deck was created in northern Italy during the 15th century AD. For example, it has been reported that a request for several decks of triumph cards (said to be different from regular playing cards due to their trumps) can be found in a letter sent in 1440 by the Duke of Milan.
Reproduction of two cards from the Pierpont-Morgan Bergamo Visconti-Sforza Deck, c. 1420 AD. (Public Domain)
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I am a university student doing a BA degree in Archaeology. My interests range from conventional to radical interpretations of the archaeological/textual/pictorial data set. I believe that intellectual engagement by advocates from both ends of the spectrum would serve to…Read More
Rearing on its hind legs, the giant ground sloth would have been a formidable prey for anyone, let alone humans without modern weapons. Tightly muscled, angry and swinging its fore legs tipped with wolverine-like claws, it would have been able to defend itself effectively.
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From Italy, tarot spread to various other European countries, including Denmark, Hungary, France, Germany and Austria, where games involving these cards are still being played even today. As tarot spread across Europe, many regional variations emerged. Some decks, for instance, had 62 cards, whilst others had 78 cards. There were also decks which had as many as 97 or 98 cards. Additionally, the artwork of these tarot decks differed from region to region.