Tarot is old. It isn't really clear, from anything I've been able to find so far, exactly where it began, or who created it, or what the agenda really was (game or divination). Clearly it is influenced by Chrisitanity, but it touches on such universal truths and symbols it can lend itself to many ways of thinking...like the east/west amalgam that is my favorite. Even that is a modern interpretation. Baroque, even renaissance Europe and early America certainly couldn't think in those terms. Many still can't see the big picture that way. In the realm of science, it is a bit like thinking in terms of a flat earth instead of quantum mechanics, the big bang or supermassive black holes.
Tarot was a lens through which they viewed and understood the world. It IS such a good and useful tool that it still has application today.
But we have a few things going on that would seem pretty odd to the creators of Tarot. What about space exploration? What about the real possibility of other intelligent life...the Drake equation is pretty convincing if you ask me...
If I were to add a card to the major arcana, I think I would make a telescope, maybe a radio telescope. The lens through which we view ourselves and our world is one of the biggest changes since the early days of Tarot, and technology is a huge part of that. We couldn't talk if it weren't for the internet, mobile devices, e-readers, Kindle and the like, right?
One of the most valuable things Tarot can do for us hasn't changed. Like a telescope, it helps us see our world, and ourselves in a new way. We see more, we see more clearly. It puts things in perspective. What seems like a mountain in front of us looks more climb-able when you see it from outer space.
Wishing you a day of clear seeing, good perspective, and a lens that shows the world as beautiful as it is.
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