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- Title
The Serious Game: Towards a Hermeneutic Understanding of the Tarot.
- Authors
Frost, James Edward
- Abstract
The images of tarot cards are rich in symbols which invite interpretation and speculation. In this paper I explain the predominant uses of the tarot cards. In parts of Europe the tarot is still played as a game; in Britain and the United States it is used for divination. Particular attention is given to the writings of Antoine Court de Gebelin and Jean-Baptiste Alliette, in the eighteenth century, as key turning points in the use of the cards from gaming to fortune-telling or cartomancy. As the practice of visual interpretation and the disclosure of truth are central to divination with the tarot, I refer to the philosophical hermeneutics of Hans-Georg Gadamer as an appropriate way of understanding the practice. I utilize Gadamer's notions of play, festival and symbol to explain the relationship between gaming and reading the cards. From this I am able to formulate an understanding of cartomancy as a form of serious play, related to but differing from game play in the nature of its encounter with the symbol.
- Subjects
TAROT cards; HERMENEUTICS; DIVINATION; FORTUNE-telling by cards; ASTROLOGERS
- Publication
International Journal of the Image, 2016, Vol 7, Issue 2, p15
- ISSN
2154-8560
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.18848/2154-8560/cgp/v07i02/15-32