How and why were these meanings given to the cards? What is the origin story?

[Guest]

Hello fellow TTM-ers,

 

I have always wondered about the tarot cards and their meanings, and how, whoever decided the meaning or designed the cards ended up with associating these keywords to their respective cards? 

 

Sometimes it feels very random. For example, 

 

Strength: The strength cards means courage and determination BUT it also means patience. Patience is such a contradictory word to 'courage' or 'determination' and every 'Strength' itself. I see 'patience' as a PATH of achieving strength but not 'Strength' itself. 

 

Lovers: This card means everything you can imagine around the word 'Lovers'. It is a very positive card that means Love, Harmony, Peace, Trust. What baffles me is why add the keyword 'Choices'? Why cant this card purely be about love. And if you think about it, there is no other major arcana card that represents pure 'Love'. So whenever I do a relationship reading with someone, the Lovers comes off as the most positive card but the keyword 'Choice' always puts me off and confuses me about their relationship. What if their relationship is purely 'Love' and there is no choice to be made? Why cant the 'Choice' part be kept to the twos of the Minor Arcana? 

 

I have a lot more examples of how there would be just one keyword that would throw me off in the over all meaning. 

 

But I really want to get into the depths of how and why these meanings were decided from the creators.

[Raggydoll]

To understand this, you need to have some basic knowledge about tarot history. I feel that it really is too big of a question to give a quick, condensed reply. I think you are mostly asking about contemporary keywords that are to be found in books and on the internet, bu there is no way of explaining the origin of different traditions without going into the origin of tarot. Maybe another member feels able to give you a short and succinct explanation, but in the meantime I will link you a book that I think is a good place to start: https://www.amazon.com/Tarot-History-Symbolism-Divination/dp/1585423491