Tarot is most well known as a tool for divination. However, is was probably developed originally as a tool for Spiritual Development and Elightenment, (see this article for the myths, legends and facts about the Origins of Tarot), for the various ancient mystery schools such as the Order of Melchiseldec and the Kabbalah. It is the personification of the soul's journey and our individual search for the meaning of life. This is the specific purpose of the 22 Major Arcana cards.
Spiritual/Self-Development
The Fool, for example, follows the journey of life through the archetypal energies and ‘rites of passage’ of the other 21 cards to the completion of a cycle and back to the beginning, where he begins again with more knowledge and wisdom this time. The Fool symbolically is the essence of our pure potential. He is led by his inner calling to go forth into the unknown, to explore and experience all of life. To see what he is made of. To stretch himself and achieve his full potential. There are 21 rites of passage, each a necessary part of the evolution of the soul. As he passes through them, he attains experience and older and wiser he returns to the beginning ready to embark again on the next cycle.
In the overall scheme of the Major Arcana we see that the first half of the journey is active as the Fool travels seeking knowledge from his experiences, where he struggles to gain his own autonomy in the world and experiences conflicts between his emerging will, his ego mind and his emotions. He embarks on the journey to discover his individual identity, who is he, who can he become. Rather like young people do nowadays when going to university or taking a gap year. It is where he re-evaluates what he has already learned from his culture, society, parental background and begins to explore his own individual ideals. This often leads to conflict within himself and with others as he must reconcile his inner ideals with the reality of the day to day world. It is why, through the ages the younger generation have rebelled. The student riots of the 1960’s is a point of fact.
This is followed by the rites of passage through maturity as he begins to bring to bear his own experience of life and balance it with the reality of the outside world. He is balancing his ego with his knowledge, emotions, and dreams as he progresses through maturity towards old age. As he continues the journey towards old age, he begins to contemplate the greater meaning of life and how this effects the different realities he has experienced within his life so far. It is a time of reviewing the past, of acceptance of what was and is. It is a re-evaluation of life and its lessons and a search for inner truth. This is followed by the rite of passage through the darkness to strip away the illusions both within the world and within self (currently known as the mid-life crisis), thus renewing energy and re-igniting hope, faith, trust and intuition. Slowly things become clearer, as he weighs up everything that has happened in his life as he proceeds towards the light of understanding and the certainty of the cycle that is about to begin again.
This is the journey of the Major Arcana, the journey of the ego to the soul, of the personality to express the divine energy within. Otherwise often called the Journey to Enlightenment.However, the Minor Arcana also has a role to play because each card holds symbolism and meaning to assist us in breaking down the bigger picture and making it our own.