1 00:00:03,090 --> 00:00:06,150 Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind, a production of iHeartRadio. 2 00:00:10,680 --> 00:00:13,260 Speaker 2: Hi, my name is Robert Lamb, and this is The Artifact, 3 00:00:13,340 --> 00:00:15,920 Speaker 2: a short-form series from Stuff to Blow Your Mind focusing 4 00:00:15,960 --> 00:00:24,400 Speaker 2: on particular objects, ideas, and moments in time. What do 5 00:00:24,500 --> 00:00:28,280 Speaker 2: you think about when a deck of tarot cards is introduced? 6 00:00:28,520 --> 00:00:31,700 Speaker 2: You know tarot cards, like these guys right here. your 7 00:00:31,750 --> 00:00:35,270 Speaker 2: mind likely turns to divination, of course. A reading of 8 00:00:35,330 --> 00:00:39,670 Speaker 2: the cards, major and minor arcana, and their various meanings. 9 00:00:39,810 --> 00:00:42,730 Speaker 2: The hanged man, for instance, is said to represent surrender 10 00:00:42,830 --> 00:00:47,230 Speaker 2: and seeing things from a new perspective. Even death doesn't 11 00:00:47,290 --> 00:00:49,710 Speaker 2: mean just an end. It can also mean a new 12 00:00:49,729 --> 00:00:53,270 Speaker 2: beginning and a transformation. And when they're all laid out 13 00:00:53,310 --> 00:00:56,200 Speaker 2: on the table by the cartomancer, they can create a 14 00:00:56,240 --> 00:01:01,750 Speaker 2: subjective model of an individual's life, motivations, and impossible future, 15 00:01:01,890 --> 00:01:05,390 Speaker 2: kind of just a model of associations that might just 16 00:01:05,440 --> 00:01:09,420 Speaker 2: sort of nudge you in one direction or another, make 17 00:01:09,440 --> 00:01:12,840 Speaker 2: you feel better about something that you're already considering, or 18 00:01:12,880 --> 00:01:16,480 Speaker 2: make you feel even better about something you're avoiding. Given 19 00:01:16,500 --> 00:01:19,420 Speaker 2: all of its occult connections, you might assume the tarot 20 00:01:19,440 --> 00:01:23,780 Speaker 2: deck's origin is itself magical or religious, but as explored 21 00:01:23,940 --> 00:01:27,450 Speaker 2: in A History of Tarot Cards by Billingham Hibbard and 22 00:01:27,550 --> 00:01:31,940 Speaker 2: Nardecchia for the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, the 23 00:01:31,980 --> 00:01:36,080 Speaker 2: tarot was originally just another deck of decorated cards for 24 00:01:36,240 --> 00:01:40,200 Speaker 2: use in trick-taking card games. In other words, no different 25 00:01:40,319 --> 00:01:44,120 Speaker 2: than the French-suited standard 52-card deck of playing cards that 26 00:01:44,280 --> 00:01:48,270 Speaker 2: still see use in games of poker, blackjack, go fish, 27 00:01:48,590 --> 00:01:52,390 Speaker 2: and so forth. The exact origin of the tarot cards 28 00:01:52,530 --> 00:01:56,130 Speaker 2: is uncertain. lost in the mists of history and sometimes 29 00:01:56,230 --> 00:01:59,650 Speaker 2: linked to papermaking and card games of 12th century China 30 00:01:59,710 --> 00:02:03,230 Speaker 2: and Korea or possibly elsewhere. We just don't know for sure. 31 00:02:03,650 --> 00:02:06,340 Speaker 2: What we do know, however, is that the cards we 32 00:02:06,400 --> 00:02:09,940 Speaker 2: know as tarot first entered Europe in the 15th century 33 00:02:09,960 --> 00:02:14,060 Speaker 2: via international trade and took on various symbols that would 34 00:02:14,120 --> 00:02:17,750 Speaker 2: have resonated with both common and regal card players alike, 35 00:02:18,160 --> 00:02:24,489 Speaker 2: including possibly Renaissance carnival processions and their associated moral lessons. 36 00:02:25,150 --> 00:02:27,270 Speaker 2: And so we had a highly decorative set of cards, 37 00:02:27,410 --> 00:02:29,850 Speaker 2: full of symbols that easily interacted with each other in 38 00:02:29,870 --> 00:02:33,109 Speaker 2: a kind of semiotic emergence. It wasn't until the late 39 00:02:33,450 --> 00:02:36,630 Speaker 2: 18th century, however, that the cards were actually used in fortune-telling, 40 00:02:36,990 --> 00:02:41,290 Speaker 2: with the cardomancer Etege credited with the creation of the 41 00:02:41,340 --> 00:02:44,700 Speaker 2: first divination deck. Then swept up in the storm of 42 00:02:44,740 --> 00:02:49,420 Speaker 2: occultism in Egyptomania, ancient Egyptian origins were attributed to the 43 00:02:49,480 --> 00:02:53,940 Speaker 2: cards without evidence, Subsequent waves of occultism only intensified Tarot's 44 00:02:54,000 --> 00:02:57,990 Speaker 2: role as a tool of divination under the influence of 45 00:02:58,290 --> 00:03:02,730 Speaker 2: French occultist Eliphas Lévy, who also gave us the Goat 46 00:03:02,790 --> 00:03:06,660 Speaker 2: of Mendes. Also, the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn 47 00:03:06,720 --> 00:03:11,170 Speaker 2: played a role in popularizing the tarot as a divination tool. 48 00:03:11,490 --> 00:03:14,470 Speaker 2: And people still continue to play actual games with the 49 00:03:14,510 --> 00:03:18,180 Speaker 2: cards and still do. But the zeitgeist view of the 50 00:03:18,240 --> 00:03:22,000 Speaker 2: cards has clearly shifted. Today, you'll find a near endless 51 00:03:22,020 --> 00:03:25,880 Speaker 2: selection of designer tarot cards at your local crystal store 52 00:03:26,380 --> 00:03:29,650 Speaker 2: or the occult section of your bookstore with far fewer 53 00:03:29,710 --> 00:03:33,830 Speaker 2: playing options at the local game store. Though again, people 54 00:03:33,990 --> 00:03:36,960 Speaker 2: still play games with tarot cards And they also use 55 00:03:36,980 --> 00:03:40,180 Speaker 2: them as part of the gameplay mechanics of various tabletop 56 00:03:40,400 --> 00:03:43,790 Speaker 2: role-playing games. I know I've used them in a solo 57 00:03:43,830 --> 00:03:48,150 Speaker 2: game where the random drawing of tarot cards gives you 58 00:03:48,190 --> 00:03:52,190 Speaker 2: a randomization and symbolic engine for use in the game. 59 00:03:52,810 --> 00:03:55,580 Speaker 2: But it's such a fascinating transformation, isn't it, to go 60 00:03:55,660 --> 00:03:59,840 Speaker 2: from pure game to divination. I mean, imagine a game 61 00:03:59,880 --> 00:04:03,480 Speaker 2: of Clue or, I don't know, Operation. Being used as such. Well, 62 00:04:03,500 --> 00:04:08,040 Speaker 2: maybe not operation, but maybe clue. And definitely something like Pokemon. 63 00:04:08,420 --> 00:04:11,640 Speaker 2: I was thinking about Pokemon cards being used for divination. 64 00:04:11,900 --> 00:04:14,430 Speaker 2: And I am excited to note that I am certainly 65 00:04:14,470 --> 00:04:16,270 Speaker 2: not the first to think of this. If you do 66 00:04:16,290 --> 00:04:20,730 Speaker 2: a search for Pokemancy, there are plenty of examples of this. 67 00:04:20,770 --> 00:04:23,130 Speaker 2: People have already given this a lot of thought. And 68 00:04:23,170 --> 00:04:25,510 Speaker 2: it makes sense. Just think of the symbols, the numbers. 69 00:04:25,910 --> 00:04:28,030 Speaker 2: All of these systems interact with each other, and Pokemon 70 00:04:28,070 --> 00:04:31,430 Speaker 2: themselves are full of deeper meaning, as we've discussed in 71 00:04:31,450 --> 00:04:35,650 Speaker 2: the show before, often based on folkloric and pop culture 72 00:04:35,730 --> 00:04:39,110 Speaker 2: symbols as well as animal forms. So certainly if there's 73 00:04:39,170 --> 00:04:42,560 Speaker 2: a system of symbolism, there's room for expansion into the 74 00:04:42,630 --> 00:04:46,279 Speaker 2: realm of divination. After all, one of the oldest models 75 00:04:46,440 --> 00:04:51,020 Speaker 2: of divination, sortilage, consists of casting or drawing lots, essentially 76 00:04:51,160 --> 00:04:55,530 Speaker 2: rolling the dice as a kind of uncertainty engine. helping 77 00:04:55,690 --> 00:04:59,270 Speaker 2: out our ancestors as they tried to make decisions when 78 00:04:59,310 --> 00:05:03,050 Speaker 2: they felt frozen or unsure in their own decision-making. And 79 00:05:03,089 --> 00:05:07,210 Speaker 2: we still turn to modes of divination like this, as 80 00:05:07,250 --> 00:05:09,730 Speaker 2: well as other options out there, such as the opinions 81 00:05:09,770 --> 00:05:13,800 Speaker 2: of other people in choosing the exact twists and turns 82 00:05:13,980 --> 00:05:16,659 Speaker 2: in our path. Again, we may have a gut feeling 83 00:05:16,680 --> 00:05:18,240 Speaker 2: we want to go this way or that way, but 84 00:05:18,260 --> 00:05:21,200 Speaker 2: we just can't quite act. And we need something to 85 00:05:21,260 --> 00:05:23,080 Speaker 2: point us in the right direction, something to kind of 86 00:05:23,620 --> 00:05:25,719 Speaker 2: tell us that our gut is correct or to tell 87 00:05:25,740 --> 00:05:28,100 Speaker 2: us our gut is incorrect. And that can come in 88 00:05:28,140 --> 00:05:30,040 Speaker 2: many forms. It can come in the form, again, of 89 00:05:30,080 --> 00:05:34,060 Speaker 2: someone's opinion, you know, a father figure or a religious 90 00:05:34,120 --> 00:05:37,380 Speaker 2: leader advising you, or it can come in the form 91 00:05:37,740 --> 00:05:40,900 Speaker 2: of something like this, where you have a system of chance, 92 00:05:41,360 --> 00:05:46,400 Speaker 2: a system of randomization that is standing in. And if given, 93 00:05:46,580 --> 00:05:50,609 Speaker 2: you know, if given some sort of occult or supernatural flavoring, 94 00:05:50,990 --> 00:05:55,150 Speaker 2: it takes on the form of divine message. Tune in 95 00:05:55,279 --> 00:05:58,440 Speaker 2: to additional editions of The Artifact, The Monster Fact, or 96 00:05:58,500 --> 00:06:01,820 Speaker 2: Animalia Stupendium each week. As always, you can email us 97 00:06:02,060 --> 00:06:04,960 Speaker 2: at contact at stufftoblowyourmind.com. 98 00:06:15,080 --> 00:06:17,520 Speaker 1: Stuff to Blow Your Mind is a production of iHeartRadio. 99 00:06:17,900 --> 00:06:21,229 Speaker 1: For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple 100 00:06:21,250 --> 00:06:23,600 Speaker 1: Podcasts are wherever you listen to your favorite shows.