Tarot

The tarot (/ˈtæroʊ/; first known as trionfi and later as tarocchi, tarock, and others) is a pack of playing cards (most commonly numbering 78), used from the mid-15th century in various parts of Europe to play a group of card games such as Italian tarocchini and French tarot. From the late 18th century until the present time the tarot has also found use by mystics and occultists for divination.

Like the common deck of playing cards, the tarot has four suits (which vary by region, being the French suits in Northern Europe, the Latin suits in Southern Europe, and the German suits in Central Europe). Each of these suits has pip cards numbering from one (or Ace) to ten and four face cards (King, Queen, Knight, and Jack/Knave) for a total of 14 cards. In addition, the tarot has a separate 21-card trump suit and a single card known as the Fool. Depending on the game, the Fool may act as the top trump or may be played to avoid following suit.

François Rabelais gives tarau as the name of one of the games played by Gargantua in his Gargantua and Pantagruel; this is likely the earliest attestation of the French form of the name. Tarot cards are used throughout much of Europe to play card games. In English-speaking countries, where these games are largely unplayed, tarot cards are now used primarily for divinatory purposes. Occultists call the trump cards and the Fool "the major arcana" while the ten pip and four court cards in each suit are called minor arcana. The cards are traced by some occult writers to ancient Egypt or the Kabbalah but there is no documented evidence of such origins or of the usage of tarot for divination before the 18th century.

Tarot (film)

Tarot is a 2009 Filipino horror-thriller film directed by Jun Lana and starring Marian Rivera and Dennis Trillo.

Plot

Kara always sees her grandmother (Gloria Romero) always using tarot cards to tell the person's fortunes. She was enchanted to try to use it, despite her families' protests. She later played the tarot that reads that someone will die, which is her grandmother. Her mother put the tarot cards on her mother's grave.

Many years later, Kara (Marian Rivera) is engaged with her fiancee (Dennis Trillo) and goes into hiking. But she senses something is wrong. Her doubt is right, as a storm hits their position and her fiancee is lost in the middle of the storm. She was later rescued by her group. She tries to rebuild her life, until her fiancee returned. But after that, several mysterious and horrific events happen to them.

Later, the mysterious ghosts revealed that they are former members of a cult who sacrificed themselves, save 2 women. One of those women is her grandmother. Using the tarot card, she tried to solve the problem, but they got worse.

Divinatory, esoteric and occult tarot

Tarot reading is a subset of Cartomancy, which is the practice of using cards to gain insight into the past, current and future situations by posing a question to the cards. Variations on the reasons for such belief range from believing on guidance by a spiritual force, to belief that the cards are but instruments used to tap either into a collective unconscious or into their own creative, brainstorming subconscious. The divinatory meanings of the cards commonly used today are derived mostly from cartomancer Jean-Baptiste Alliette (also known as Etteilla) and Mlle Marie-Anne Adelaide Lenormand (1776-1843). The belief in the divinatory meaning of the cards is closely associated with a belief in their occult, divine, and mystical properties: a belief constructed in the 18th century by prominent Protestant clerics and freemasons.

Major and Minor Arcana

Tarot decks of seventy-eight cards have fourteen cards per suit plus the twenty-two trumps or only the twenty-two trump cards. The trumps and suits were part of a trump style game with many historical and national variations. It was Ellic Howe, writing under the name Ély Star coined the terms 'major arcana' and 'minor arcana' In modern times suit cards are Pentacles, Swords, Cups, and Wands. Trumps are cards like the Fool, The Magician, et al. Since the introduction of the cartomantic and occult tarot there have been ongoing attempts to "get it right." Subsequently the names of both have been played with over time.