New Worlds of Body, Mind & Spirit Since 1901
| Most people use the Tarot for divination. This was apparently the main use applied by the Gypsies. Another common use was for entertainment. In this form, the Tarot was used as a game, possibly a game of chance like modern poker and other card games. However, a deeper and more profound use was discovered by a few others. These were seekers after truth. They were people who struggled to learn about themselves and the world around them. For them, the Tarot was not a game but a mirror into which they could see themselves.
The highest use of the Tarot is as a system of enlightenment. It is a map into realms of spiritual bliss and a record of humankind’s relationship with the cosmos. It is also a textbook of occult teachings. The Golden Dawn equates each Tarot trump card with a path on the Qabalistic Tree of Life. For this system, it is a symbolic map of inner space describing the highways of consciousness, from the loftiest spiritual heights of divinity down to the material world of human beings and matter. Seen in this light, the purposes of the Golden Dawn and Enochian Tarot are identical. Although the pathways are slightly different, they take one’s consciousness over the same terrain and allow their users to reach the same states and stages of consciousness. |
