Tara and the Tarot

8/9/2019 Tara and the Tarot

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Tara and the Tarot

The first known document in which appears the term Tarochiis a register of counts of Este Courtreferring to the second semester 1505, in a note dated to June the 30 th. Then it appears again in thesame register on December the ! th. "oss Ca#dwe## has pointed out that the word tarochus, e$en ifnot referred to the cards game, was a#read% used in the &' centur%, as he disco$ered in the

Maccheronea (dedicated to (aspare 'isconti,) 1*++, b% the poet -assano anto$ano, in whichthe term is used with the meaning of /idiot, foo#. Contrasting meanings characterie theinterpretations of the term tarot in the "enaissance authors, gi$en more b% persona# con$ictions2 the

urist 4ndrea 4#ciati, the famous author of the Emblemata in another of his works, theParergonJuris appeared for the first time in 153, in Chapter &'6 namedDe ludisnostri temporis interpretsthe et%mo#og% of the word in this wa%2 /6nterrogatus s7pissim8 fui, an $eteres #usum chartarumhaberent, 9uo transigere tempora otiosi ma:ime so#ent. "espondi, nus9uam me hoc #egisse2habuisse 9uidem a#ios #usus, 9uos Ju#. ;o##u: #ib. 6& recenset2 hunc $erhetarochoi? hi soda#es dici, 9ui cibi causa ad #usum con$eniunt, @ chartu#is hoc fer8 ordine #usitant.

A6 ha$e been asked man% times, if ancients had cards game, with which toda% man% #a% peop#e useto spend their time. 6 ha$e answered 6 ha$e not read about that an%where2 actua##% the% had othergames that Ju#ius ;o##uce describes in his 6& book. -ut about his, nobod% has e$er written, e$en ifthe game that $u#gar#% is ca##ed game of tarots has a (reek origin. Can be ca##ed hetarochoi those/friends who gather to p#a% for food and use to p#a% cards genera##% in this order.

Bnce we be#ie$ed that the term Tarocco/Tarocchi had its origin from the kind of decoration of thecards themse#$es, ca##ed Tara, from 'u#gar atin Tarre, a $ariant of the c#assica# $erb Trre,which is to sa% fu## of points. The work in re#ief and pointed of the cards before Aand then of their

back bring back to the knott% pee# of homon%mous ici#ian oranges.There are other p#ausib#e deri$ations of the et%mo#og% of the term Tarot.

Bne of the et%mo#ogies that toda% seems to ha$e more credit, e$en in et%mo#ogica# dictionaries ofthe other European #anguages Aas the game of tarot cards appeared in 6ta#%, the corresponding wordin Eng#ish, rench, (erman, etc, is a#most deri$ed from 6ta#ian is one that #eads back the tarot, ascards, to 6ta#ian word Tara,whose origin seems now estab#ished in the 4rab Trah,co##o9uia# formfor Tarh /defa#cation, a##owance, thing which has put on side#ines, which has taken awa%F thena#so Gdefect, imperfectionG. This deri$es from the 4rabic $erbTaraha, meaning Gremo$e, subtractG,from which the 6ta#ian $erb tarareAmost #ike#% opponent cards or points in the game . The wordTarochus,as we ha$e seen that meant Gmoron, idiot,G is e9ui$a#ent to the 6ta#ian word tarato or

Gmissing inte##ectG as the subect is remo$ed, reduced in a certain 6H. Iith the term Tara is e$enindicated an anoma#% or a genetic patho#og%. 6n Casti#ian #anguage we find the substanti$e Tarea,a#wa%s deri$ing from the same 4rabian root, with the same meaning en#arged to /to throw, to cast,to assign Acards, but e$en /$ice, #ack2 KEs interesante 9ue este mismo $erbo tambiLn nos dia #a

pa#abra Taraen sentido de G$icioG % GdefectoGM.

4ccording to 6dris has Aand others N but with an opposite opinion, was the erudite and #amented6s#am researcher 4N. chimme# N it wou#d be $erisimi#ar an affinit% with the three #etter rootTar! Ap#. Turu! and Tar!aAt Ap#. Tar"# i!2 road, path, wa%, manner, mean Abe tar!$e, which is tosa% in modern ;ersian /through, b%F method, s%stem, ru#e of m%stics, m%stic wa%, ufi

brotherhood. 6t is a#so possib#e to think about the threeN#ettered Tara!! ATrg2 c#imb, arise,de$e#opment, progress. 4bout this we ha$e to remember that the ensemb#e of Triumphs wasmode##ed according to the concept of the Christian %stica# ca#e and that the word here e:pressedcou#d ha$e inspired the name /tarots.


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6t is interesting to note that a Ora A! of the Muni%icent &oranis dedicated to al$Tar! Ato theecca period, with 1P $erses, from tar!2 /to hit somebod%, to knock, which is to sa% the night'isitor, the morning tar that appears at the end of the night.

"ecent#%, the historian of m%stic (erardo onardoni has e$idenced how the doctrine hidden intotarot, can be found in two s%mbo#ic s%stems of orienta# origin, the 'hia 'utraor 'hia#s )phorismsof Qindu origin, and the Tibetan Tara of -uddhist origin. The hi$aRs aphorisms are P, di$ided inthree chapters or /opening s#ight#%, of which the most important is composed b% aphorismsF thesecond b% 10 aphorisms and the minor one b% *!. The Tibetan Tara are , each one has its properand we## defined characteristics and has it own pra%er, its own mantra and so on. 6n these s%mbo#ics%stems, fu##% ana#%ed in the work *a +ia del 'acro AThe Ia% of the acred Bne to which werefer now, the numerica# attributions are correct2 rea##% is the number to which Tara refers andthe princip#e /opening s#ight#% of the 'hia 'utra, and 10 is the number the second and #essimportant /opening s#ight#% of the 'hia 'utra.

o writes ;rofessor Cardini in the preface to onardoniRs work2 Kome great icono#ogists andhistorians of art, from Srautheimer to Iittkower, to -a#truaitis usher us in the e:traordinar% wor#dof the /migration of s%mbo#s2 a wor#d that, unti# few decades ago, seemed reser$ed to eruditefantasies, ma often funambu#ist, of some esotericist thirst% with m%ster% who, on the other side, had

been $isited, sometimes with incredib#e resu#ts but a#wa%s charming, e$en b% anthropo#ogists andethno#ogists, ps%cho#ogists and ps%choana#%sts of the deep. -% now, after the #ong, e:haustingdiscussion, /e$en surpassed Ain the sense of been put aside, but ne$er so#$ed, among diffusers andstructura#isms and after the deep in$estigations concerning the ana#ogies between phonetic s%stemsand the imaginar%, we ha$e arri$ed to the conc#usions that Umberto Eco knew how to trans#ate interms of erudite and funn% iron%2 rea#it% is a tight te:ture of resemb#ances and coincidences, andsince at the bottom we cannot imagine the wor#d ust acti$ating an a#most #imited number of basicforms and basic numbers, it is 9uite natura# that e$er%thing seems to /keep sti## and that there isnothing that cannot be read as the e:terna# aspect of a deep, impenetrab#e truth. Bn the other sidethe cu#tura# anthropo#ogists in$ite us, considering a monument, a handmade, an imagine, not to stope$er N if it is not possib#e to a$oid the dr%ness of the recourse to the o#d comparati$e means N to themorpho#ogica# aspects of things, but a#wa%s in$estigating e$en those connected to contests andfunctionsV

....This wh% we are surprised and e$en suspicious before this essa% so rich and fu## of erudition andintuitions, in which there is the research of a m%thNs%mbo#ic comp#e: tied up to the forms andco#ours of the goddess Tara, the princip#e Qindu di$init% she#tered in -uddhism, the Worth ;o#e tar distinguished in $arious forms N the twent%None /primar% emanations characteried b%different co#ours, among which white and green e:ce#. 4 dangerous counse##or, the homophon%2 butrea##% for this reason we ha$e to pretend to be indifferent before the resemb#ance between the 6ndianTara, the 4rabian Tari!a and the word /tarot Ie must not #et ourse#$es go with the beatific trustof amateur esotericist N who con$ert to a theor% ust if is different form the ones of anno%ing/scientists N to the magic of *, , 5! and of P that this book suggests. etRs read it with $igi#conscience, #etRs haunt mistakes, appro:imations, twisting and incongruence. -ut we ha$e not toden% its reasonab#eness, at #east inducti$e and circumstantia#. "ea##%, there are more things in

hea$en and earth, than are dreamt of in our phi#osoph%M
http://letarot.it/page.aspx?id=81&lng=ENGhttp://letarot.it/page.aspx?id=81&lng=ENG


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Concerning TXrX , she was the fema#e sa$iour, the ;asser, one of the ten aspects AmahX$id%X ofaktiF /tar, the paredra, the companion of god -rhaspati, b% moon god omaNCandraF wife of theking of cini 'X#in in the age of "XmX%ana. T"ran" andT"r are e$en the names of the /boat, theone that make to pass from a bank to another. Especia##% in maha%anico and tantric -uddhism it

ac9uired important functions in 6ndia, in Ja$a and in south orienta# 4sia of the '6 centur%. ina##%,in Tibet where its name is gi$en with (ro#Nma AChinese2 Tuo#o N Japanese2 Tarani bosatsu Nongo#ian2 Daracke.

he is the iberator, the a$iour, the /"edemption tar, the acti$e Compassion, the isericordioustrength, of the /Dh%Xnibodhisatt$a 4$a#okiteY$ara2 /The ord AZY$ara who #ooks A#okita downAa$a the ord who considers us. he is the one who make us pass from a part to another, identifiedwith the perfection of know#edge Aone of the si: perfections of the bodhisatt$a, the ;ra[XpXramitX2/wisdom A;ra[X gone AitX out there Aparam.

4n%wa% /star is the pre$a#ent meaning. 6t is a#so true that, going back to centuries and mi##ennium,the roots, respecti$e#% emitic and 6ndoNEuropean seem to con$erge. The threeN#ettered \T" andthe 6ndoNEuropean root T]" are $er% simi#ar ATE" ^ T]" ^ T"N. Ihich one is precedent 6fthe emitic has inf#uenced the 6ndoNEuropean cou#d not ha$e happened when C%rus con9uered-abe#^-ab%#on, winning its #ast king on Bctober 53+ -. C., and freeing Jews from their capti$it%,

but much time before.

rom emitic #anguage we ha$e the name of the great (oddess who substitutes the umerian6nanna, or 6tar with a## its $ariants. 4 good e:amp#e of this crossing is the name of the Jewish9ueen ETQE"2 from emitic or 6ranian T_"N .

NNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN

These conc#usions are a#ike to mine as e:posed in the book *a +ia del 'acro $ 'imboli deiTarocchi %ra -riente ed -ccidenteAThe Ia% to the acred N The s%mbo#s of Tarot between East andIest where 6 remarked the para##e#isms e:isting between the Doctrine under#%ing the aor4rcana of Tarot, the Qindu hi$asutra and the -uddhist TarasF 6 under#ined the c#ear ;reNChristian

origin of the iconograph% of some 4rcana as the ;apesse and trengthF and ha$e ascribed to the&'666 centur% odges fre9uented b% Court de (Lbe#in the preser$ation of the ora# tradition he #aterdi$u#ged through his workMonde Primiti%. 6 a#so pointed out that the wa% gone through b% theTarot doctrine from 6ndia to Europe is the same a#ong which came the game of chess, that, curious#%enough, is mentioned $arious times b% Court de (Lbe#in in his short essa%.

The Count de e##et, whose essa% on Di$ination was pub#ished together with Court de (Lbe#inRs in/*e Monde Primiti%, makes an interesting statement2 /Twent%Ntwo p#ates form a rea##% thin bookF

but if the primordia# Traditions ha$e been preser$ed in ;oems, as it seems #ike#%, a simp#e imagethat was ab#e to attract the attention of peop#e that had recei$ed a teaching about it, ser$ed as amnemotechnica# de$ice together with the $erses that described the p#ates.


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The abo$e mentioned *a +ia del 'acrohas a#so the purpose to find in Eastern traditions thosee:p#anations of s%mbo#s of the aor 4rcana that are missing at present. The Count de e##etthinks, perfect#% #ogica##%, that if the cards with their s%mbo#ica# images were what had sur$i$ed ofan ancient wisdom, the% had to be e:p#ained b% aphorisms or poemsF we ma% a#so suppose that athis time these captions were sti## e:isting, or their memor% was sti## present in the occu#tist circ#es.

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Tara and the Tarot