HISTORY OF THE PACK OF CARDS
active,
all
and therefore must
ii
or even suppress,
influence,
other indications.
is strong enough
times may prove
you through much evil
On the
troublous, but you will pull clear before long.
other hand, if the Fool is attached to a bad card, any
signs of good fortune, shown by the other cards, will not
be strong enough to save you from the threatened trouble,
though they may modify it to some extent.
It is a curious fact that in certain card games we still
find this all-powerful Jester, who has the happy power
of over-trumping the Ace of Trumps, whatever the suit
may be. Apart from this, our modern pack of Pla^dng
cards has entirely abandoned the twenty-two special
Divination cards of the Tarocchi, though these cards
were and still are used for games as well as for Divination
purposes in those countries where the Tarot pack is still
Associated with a good card, the Fool
to
carry
;
in regular use.
In addition to these twenty- two cards, the Tarot pack
contains fifty-six cards, divided into four suits, just as
our modern packs are divided. But the superior Western
mind has destroyed all the original clever significance
of the Tarot, and has substituted the senseless jangle
of Diamond, Heart, Club and Spade
meaningless, sense-
—
less,
nonsense
!
In the Tarot, the four suits are represented by other
emblems
:
—we
have
Vase,
the
Priestly caste of the East
;
which
represents
the
the Sword, which indicates
the Warrior caste
the Piece of Money, which clearly
shows the ]\Ierchant caste and finally the Baton or Club
;
;
gives us the
Yeoman
or Tiller of the
Here then we have four
soil.
suits of cards,
presenting a distinct class of people,
and
are covered all classes of the people
each one re-
in the quartette
— for
in
the early