Divination did not stem from one culture.
I am going to vent here a little bit because I just saw a post from someone I follow, in short saying they were upset that people who were not Romani practiced divination (namely tarot), palm reading, and cartomancy. And that these people, the non Romani, could stop divining at any point in time and that divination was, and in some places still, the only way Romani can earn a living.
Now, I do not want to put down Romani or this person so I'm not going to specifically link them. But, I will say that these forms of divination do not just come from a monoculture. I had to double-check myself here too, I didn't want to assume. But, I remember my grandmother, and old Italian woman, who would use tarot divination as well as pendulum divination for little things. And, I was always under the assumption that a lot of different forms of divination came from different cultures, different religions, and this Melting Pot of fortune-telling, witch, magic, whatever you call it, borrows from a lot of different sources.
So after a little Google searching brought me down through the history of tarot cards, I thought I would share.
I have come to find out that tarot stemmed from a series of card games. Most believe that the first tarot card game originated in Turkey, and traveled to other parts of Europe in the 14th century. In the 15th century, in Northern Italy it was a very popular form of fortune-telling card game among the rich by the name of "Tarocchi Appropriati". The Italians were the ones to commission the cards of triumph, which is where we get the suits of Cups, Pentacles, wands and swords from. The game then traveled to France where it gained even more popularity. Originally, the cards had very little divine meaning or use of divination until occult themes became more popular in the 18th century.
But tarot and card divination was definitely a game and later a tool of many all throughout Europe.
I do not think it's fair for anyone think so poorly of those who practice a skill when they are not of the same culture as them. I, personally am an Italian witch. I know I hold some things of Italian culture in my witch studies, but I would not be so bold as to snicker at those who do things I would consider "Italian". Before we are Romani, or Italian, are African, or Asian, or any other culture, race, or religion, we are humans. And as humans our story is one and Universal. I would hope that we would use these commonalities to bring us more together rather than draw us apart.
Again, I am no Romani, and I do not claim to know the extent of the suffering and the hardships their people have faced. But I would hope that one who comes from a culture that has long been persecuted would not seek to persecute others for sharing in like interests.
