Why the secret symbols of magic and witchcraft fascinate us
Earlier this summer, a collection of Sylvia Plath's personal items went up for sale at Sotheby's. It included intimate love letters, recipe cards, a rolling pin, family photo albums and her and Ted Hughes's gold wedding bands. The rings sold for a respectable $38,000 (£28,000) but this was mere pocket change compared to the most sought after item in the lot: Plath's personal tarot deck. Originally expected to fetch between $6,000 (£4,351) and $9,000 (£6,527), it eventually went for $206,886 (£150,037).
The Tarot de Marseille deck was a 24th birthday gift from Hughes. Plath wrote in her journals of her wish to get better at reading tarot but it played an important part in her art, too. She references the practice in her poem Daddy ("With my gypsy ancestress and my weird luck/ And my Taroc pack and my Taroc pack" , while The Hanging Man takes its name from a tarot card.
Tarot has been a muse for countless writers, artists and designers in their work TS Eliot wrote of the "wicked pack of cards" in The Waste Land, Salvador Dalí created his own deck, while Andy Warhol made a film of the Velvet Underground having their cards read. Earlier this year, fashion house Dior cast models as the characters from a deck of tarot cards for its spring/ summer 2021 couture show (Christian Dior himself had his cards read before every show). Recently, the costume designer for the sci-fi film Dune revealed that tarot cards were a source of inspiration.
arot has been a muse for countless writers, artists and designers in their work TS Eliot wrote of the "wicked pack of cards" in The Waste Land, Salvador Dalí created his own deck, while Andy Warhol made a film of the Velvet Underground having their cards read. Earlier this year, fashion house Dior cast models as the characters from a deck of tarot cards for its spring/ summer 2021 couture show (Christian Dior himself had his cards read before every show). Recently, the costume designer for the sci-fi film Dune revealed that tarot cards were a source of inspiration.
https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20211102-why-the-secret-symbols-of-magic-and-witchcraft-fascinate-us
_______________________________________________________
Article gets better. As a (very) beginning Tarot reader I found it interesting
Deep State Witch
(11,309 posts)It's not only used for divination, but can be used for personal growth.
(Disclaimer: I am part-owner of The Fool's Dog tarot app. http://foolsdog.com)
peacefreak2.0
(1,029 posts)I use the Rider Waite mostly every day. Its getting worn and bent. Ill use it until it gets as soft as cloth. My new favorite is the Muse deck.