Year at a Glance

Year at a Glance

Friday, September 17, 2010

Tarot Trivia

William Shakespeare's King Lear mentions the Wheel of Fortune card.

Social strata were reflected in the suits of the Minor Arcana.
Pentacles=Merchants
Cups=Clergy
Swords=Nobility
Wands=Peasants.

The suits in an ordinary deck of cards can represent one in the Tarot deck. 
Pentacles=Diamonds
Cups=Hearts
Swords=Spades
Wands=Clubs

Some famous racehorses have been named after tarot cards.

1854-The Hermit
1879-Wheel of Fortune
1942-Sun Chariot

Pentacles were originally Coins.

Wands were originally Batons or Staves.

Arcana comes from the Latin 'arcere' and means secret.

The poet WB Yeats wrote poetry influenced by his passion for spirituality and his love of the occult arts and Tarot cards when he began an Hermetic Order of his own in Ireland.

2 comments:

  1. Interesting post!

    Wands were polo sticks before they were clubs (see ttp://a_pollett.tripod.com/cards.htm).

    TS Eliot wrote about Tarot cards in The Waste Land.

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