Quiz Monkey
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Quiz Monkey |
| General |
| Tarot |
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This page hopefully contains far more than you'll ever need to know about the tarot. It's very rare to be asked anything other than:
| How many cards are there in a tarot pack? |
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78 |
| What are Wands, Pentacles, Cups and Swords? |
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Suits in the tarot pack |
| [Variations on] Where might you find the High Priestess, the Wheel of Fortune, the Hermit, and the Hanged Man ? |
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In a tarot pack |
| Which English occultist engaged the artist Lady Frieda Harris to paint what he called the Thoth Tarot in the late 1930s? |
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Aleister Crowley |
| What consists of the Major Arcana and the Minor Arcana? |
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Tarot pack |
The rest is background information, included here for completeness, although you do need to know the names of all the Major Arcana in order to answer questions like the third one above.
The Tarot pack is believed to have been invented in northern Italy in the 15th century. All packs are essentially similar; only the designs (and some of the names) are different.
The standard modern Tarot pack in English–speaking countries is the Rider–Waite pack – drawn by the English artist Pamela Coleman Smith according to the instructions of academic and mystic A. E. Waite (born USA but raised in England), and originally published in 1909 by Rider. Waite toned down the Christian imagery of earlier packs: the Pope became the Heirophant, and the Popess became the High Priestess.
Historically, one of the most important designs is the Tarot de Marseille(s), which dates back to at least 1650 although the term was not coined until the late 19th century and popularised in the 1930s by the French cartomancer Paul Marteau.
The Tarot pack is divided into the Major Arcana (22 cards) and the Minor Arcana (56 cards) – total 78.
The Minor Arcana are divided into four suits: Wands (a.k.a. Batons), Pentacles, Cups and Swords. Each suit consists of an Ace, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, Page, Knight, Queen and King (14 cards).
The Major Arcana are:
| 0 (no number) |
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The Fool |
| I |
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The Magician, the Juggler, or the Mountebank |
| II |
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The High Priestess, Popess, or Female Pope (Juno in the Swiss Tarot) |
| III |
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The Empress |
| IV |
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The Emperor |
| V |
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The Pope or Heirophant (Jupiter in the Swiss Tarot) |
| VI |
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The Lovers |
| VII |
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The Chariot |
| VIII |
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Strength, or Fortitude |
| IX |
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The Hermit |
| X |
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The Wheel of Fortune |
| XI |
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Justice |
| XII |
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The Hanged Man |
| XIII |
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Death (often unnamed) |
| XIV |
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Temperance |
| XV |
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The Devil |
| XVI |
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The Tower |
| XVII |
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The Star |
| XVIII |
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The Moon |
| XIX |
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The Sun |
| XX |
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Judgement |
| XXI |
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The World |
© Haydn Thompson 2017