<![CDATA[Fern Forest Tarot

<![CDATA[Fern Forest Tarot - Blog]]>Tue, 19 Mar 2024 17:30:15 -0700Weebly<![CDATA[The Hanged Man Card]]>Fri, 15 Mar 2024 16:35:13 GMThttps://fernforesttarot.com/blog/the-hanged-man-cardI chose the image of a Snowy Owl for my Hanged Man card, inspired by a memory from my childhood:
One foggy winter morning a snowy owl appeared on the lakeshore near our house. It was just sitting still on the frozen beach for the longest time until it was discovered by one of us and then one by one we children all crept down to the shore to catch a glimpse of this big white magical bird.

The Hanged Man card in the traditional tarot deck shows a person with a rope tied around their ankle hanging suspended upside down from a tree branch. They aren't dead, but they can't go anywhere stuck up there like that, so for a while they just have to be still and consider the world from a different perspective (upside down!)

Why was the snowy owl waiting on the beach that day? Was it waiting for the fog to lift? For some food to appear? Could it have been waiting for us to discover it?

We will never know. But we do know that when you draw this card in a reading it means that it's time to be still - to watch and wait for a new perspective.

]]><![CDATA[It turns out the cards came from Asia!]]>Thu, 14 Mar 2024 07:00:00 GMThttps://fernforesttarot.com/blog/it-turns-out-the-cards-came-from-asiaIn my previous post I repeated the Eurocentric story that the cards originated in 15th century Italy, but I have since learned more. Let's take a trip back to the land where the very paper on which they were printed was invented.
According to The History of Information website, "there is little doubt that both playing cards and dominoes originated in China and that both games were influenced by certain forms of divination and the drawing of lots." These cards were probably first produced in the 9th century.

Chinese "sheet dice" Image Source: facweb.cs.depaul.edu

Playing cards, along with countless other cultural treasures, were brought to the West by Silk Road merchants. They were then brought up into Europe by the North African Moors who ruled the kingdom of al-Andalus on the Iberian Peninsula (modern day Spain and Portugal) from 711 until 1492.

Mamluk Playing Cards, 15th c Egypt image: wops.co.uk

The practice of playing with cards was already popular enough in 14th century Europe to have been banned by the Christian church (mostly due to the dangers of gambling!)
These early decks, like our modern playing cards, were divided into four suits, which in the tarot deck are called the minor arcana. I learned from an occult historian that the four card suits probably evolved from the four artifacts or weapons that are held by the four armed Hindu deity, Lord Vishnu.

Four-Armed Vishnu (Vishnu Chaturbhuja) ca. late 8th century, Sandstone, Probably Cambodia. Collection Seattle Art Museum

Lord Vishnu is the Hindu deity who is most involved in the day to day affairs of the world. The meanings of the minor arcana card concern minor, everyday events, so it makes perfect sense that they may have evolved from Vishnu's four power objects.
In the next post we'll take a look at the symbolism of Vishnu's power objects and how they relate to the meanings of the tarot's minor arcana cards.

]]><![CDATA[A Brief History of the Tarot]]>Wed, 08 Apr 2015 04:18:07 GMThttps://fernforesttarot.com/blog/a-short-history-of-the-tarot

Tarot decks originated in Northern Italy in the 15th century. The 78 card decks were originally used to play card games. The Minor Arcana cards of swords, wands, cups and coins are the predecessors of our modern playing card suits: spades, clubs, hearts and diamonds. As early as the 18th century there are records of Tarot cards being used to “fortell the future.” The modern day popularity of Tarot cards can be traced to a group of magicians and occultists in early 20th century England who were responsible for creating two of the most popular Tarot decks in use today: the Rider-Wait-Smith Tarot and the Thoth Tarot.

The Fern Forest Tarot is my humble contribution to this tradition. May your time with the cards be fun, relaxing and inspirational! -Rebecca

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