Oracle of Love How to Use Ordinary Playing Cards to Answer Your Relationship Questions, Predict Your Romantic Future, and Find Your Soul Mate

CHAPTER ONE About the Cards The History The precise history of the playing cards is uncertain. Theories about their origin are as varied as books on fortune-telling. Some authors claim they came from China and evolved from Dominos. Many believe they originated in Egypt, while others allege they came from India. One theory says the playing deck was born of the Tarot deck while another says they emerged separately for gaming purposes. Every writer on this subject ends up filing a similar disclaimer that goes something like this: "To the best of my knowledge, and based on my research, the following appears to be the most likely history of the playing cards." What follows here is my opinion, based on my own research. My investigation shows the Gypsies brought the Tarot to Europe from Egypt centuries ago. (The word "Gypsy" is a corruption of the word "Egyptian.") The history of numbers teaches us that the Egyptians adopted mathematics from the Sumerians. The Egyptians were so impressed with mathematics that they turned it into a minor religion and a tool for divination to create the science of numerology. They also tracked the stars in the heavens to create the science of astrology, which was the forerunner of modern astronomy. Egyptian numerology and astrology combined to create the Tarot. Here's how: The number of each playing card corresponds to that number's traditional numerological message. One astrological element (Earth, Air, Fire, or Water) governs each of the four suits of the Tarot. The message in each number is colored to reflect the interests of the suit. The combination forms the meaning of each card. The Egyptians assigned the science of card divination to Thoth, the god of inner knowledge, or intuition. Religious Egyptians believed inner knowledge was the only true knowledge and that Thoth was the custodian of all mystical secrets. The tradition of the Tarot spread to the Middle East through trade between the Egyptians and the Sumerians, who were a part of the vast Ottoman Empire. Around 1200 a.d., the Crusaders adopted the cards in the Middle East and carried them to the capitals of the European continent. As the Crusaders wound their way through the major cities of Europe, Gypsy fortune-tellers astounded and amused the reigning monarchs. Eventually, every ruler adopted a Tarot card reader as a part of his staff. Foretelling the future became popular among the aristocracy and clergy, and courtesans used the Minor Arcana of the Tarot to invent games of chance. But, as gambling got out of hand and Gypsy fortune-tellers rose to positions of influence, the cards underwent periods of disfavor. For centuries, the Tarot cards alternated between periods of acclaim and periods of passionate prohibition by the heads of church or state. Card divination has enjoyed a long roller-coaster ride of acceptance and rejection since it first arrived in Europe. I believe that during a period when gaming was legal but divination was not, the Major Arcana of the Tarot was dropped to create the playing card deck. A trimmed-down deck would have made it possible for the Gypsies to be in possession of the cards without the threat of persecution for telling fortunes. The structures of the Tarot deck and the playing card deck are so similar that they surely must have evolved from one another. Here's what I mean: A Tarot deck has 78 cards: 22 picture cards called the Major Arcana (the Greater Secrets) 40 numbered cards called the Minor Arcana (the Lesser Secrets) 16 Court cards decorated with portraits The playing deck has 53 cards: One of the Major Arcana cards-the first, known in the Tarot as "the Fool" and in the playing deck as "the Joker" 40 numbered cards[read more]