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ABSTRACT:
Tarot cards, considered by some a tool to predict the future and understand one's inner issues, originated in ancient Egypt and remain popular in our day. The clash between the paranormal and the nonparanormal explanations revolves around people's claims that the cards accurately reflect their own individual issues. The paranormal explanation claims that the cards portray opportunities, hidden motives, and potentials, therefore allowing clarity concerning the individual's questions and conflicts. The cards, according to the paranormal explanation, provide a reflection of the client's inner processes. The nonparanormal explanation, on the other hand, is based upon two psychological explanations: the Barnum effect and "cold reading." The Barnum effect refers to our tendency to interpret general statements as applying specifically and accurately to one's own unique circumstances, whereas "cold reading" refers to a set of deceptive psychological techniques that are being used in the psychic reading to create the impression that the reader has paranormal ability. This review juxtaposes these two perspectives while reporting studies that involve tarot cards.
It is estimated that more than 400 different tarot decks exist today, representing ideas derived from different occults, religions, and spiritual brotherhoods (Decker & Dummett, 2002). The roots of the word tarot derive from the Italian word taroochi (referring to the tarot deck) from the beginning of the 16th century; the French derivative of this Italian word is tarot and this is why the final t is silent. The origin of tarot cards is a topic of heated debates and arguments but remains nonetheless obscure. One of the earliest existing tarot decks is the hand-painted German "hunting" pack of Stuttgart, which dates back to about 1420 and depicts a hunting series with dogs, stags, ducks, and falcons for suit signs (Kaplan, 1980). There are different theories as to the origins of tarot prior to recorded history. One of the popular theories points to ancient Egypt; some researchers claim that the major arcana constituted the Egyptian hieroglyphic book of Thoth (Egyptian god of wisdom), which is also known as the book of tarot (Willis, 1988).
Almost all tarot decks follow the same 78-card structure, which is divided into the major arcana (22 cards), and the minor arcana (56 cards); arcana is a Latin word meaning mysteries. The...