The Tarot Trumps and The Holy Grail

Rating:
Summary: spiritual & love mysteries from the middle ages in the tarot
Review: I just love the book, and Margaret Starbird has made a believer of me. Perhaps this is the ultimate "cross-over" book as it combines impressive knowledge and scholarship of medieval Europe with a bold and heart-opening interpretation of Christianity and Tarot that occult scholars will also appreciate. Starting with the obvious, the earliest extant tarot deck, Starbird quickly shows, with some impressive fanfares along the way, including the possible origin of the "Pope" and "Emperor" cards, how the mystery of the original "church of love," as she puts it, i.e. the gnostic church's belief in the sacred marriage, was continued and carried by followers of Mary Magdalene, throughout Europe, possibly by troubadours. This is one hell of a mystery, (I suspect even for major sceptics!)and Starbird's book proposes the most plausible "real" origin of the tarot ever to come along. As a teacher of English and someone who has studied tarot for twenty years, I can only say, brava!

Rating:
Summary: spiritual & love mysteries from the middle ages in the tarot
Review: I just love the book, and Margaret Starbird has made a believer of me. Perhaps this is the ultimate "cross-over" book as it combines impressive knowledge and scholarship of medieval Europe with a bold and heart-opening interpretation of Christianity and Tarot that occult scholars will also appreciate. Starting with the obvious, the earliest extant tarot deck, Starbird quickly shows, with some impressive fanfares along the way, including the possible origin of the "Pope" and "Emperor" cards, how the mystery of the original "church of love," as she puts it, i.e. the gnostic church's belief in the sacred marriage, was continued and carried by followers of Mary Magdalene, throughout Europe, possibly by troubadours. This is one hell of a mystery, (I suspect even for major sceptics!)and Starbird's book proposes the most plausible "real" origin of the tarot ever to come along. As a teacher of English and someone who has studied tarot for twenty years, I can only say, brava!

Rating:
Summary: Buy the Alabaster Jar...
Review: If you read Margaret Starbird's book THE WOMAN WITH THE ALABASTER JAR you won't find very much new material in THE TAROT TRUMPS AND THE HOLY GRAIL. TT is a synopsis of the Tarot material found in her earlier book and not nearly as good because she does not link the Tarot cards to paper watermarks, fairy tales, and other material as she did in her earlier book.

Starbird suggests the Tarot cards were used as an 'Ars memoria' or a technique for creating mental images that allow one to store and recall information. Thus used, the cards would have proved invaluable for relaying 'heretical' information in a sub rosa fashion in a climate where "thinking outside the box" got one burned at the stake. The notion the Tarot cards were used as memory devices for transmitting verboten information is not new. For example, Cynthia Giles makes a similar point regarding a possible hidden link between Gnostic material and the Tarot cards in her book THE TAROT published in 1991.

However, Starbird specifically links the Tarot cards with the notion that Mary Magdalen was the "holy grail" who carried Jesus' child (as well as the founder of the "church of love"). Furthermore, she suggests the Tarot cards can only be seen as an 'Ars memoria' for the Grail story and have nothing to do with gypsies, Egypt, or India.

Starbird's argument for the exclusivity of the Grail-Tarot connection hinges on the date of the first appearance of the so-called Charles VI or Gringonneur deck which she links to the Grail story. Starbird suggests that if the Charles VI deck dates from the end of the 14th century it had to have been created before the arrival of the gypsies who are thought to have arrived in Europe in the 15th century. (Cynthia Giles suggests the Charles VI deck first surfaced at the end of the 15th century which means they "arrived" about the same time as the gypsies. Joseph Campbell suggests the earliest date of the cards as 1392 CE. However, Campbell also suggests the Tarot cards carry archetypical symbols that can be linked to many 'religious' systems and/or works of art).

The clothing of the figures in several of the Charles VI cards such as "The Lovers" became popular at the end of the 15th century which would support Giles dating of the deck, but Starbird suggests the Charles VI cards might have been "updated" with "modern" clothing in a later edition.

I enjoyed reading Starbird's suppositions and comparing them with similar proposals by other Tarot writers. However, I don't think she has proved her point in this book. She presents a much more compelling case in the WOMAN WITH THE ALABASTER JAR.

Rating:
Summary: Message of the Tarot
Review: In her relentless Quest to restore the lost Bride of Christ - the sacred feminine so long ignored and repudiated by the Church -Margaret Starbird's journey takes a new turn with a fascinating interpretation of the 22 cards that form the Major Arcana of the Tarot. Delving into a world most people associate with fortune telling, she explores European history, medieval art and Scripture to conclude that the earliest Tarot Trumps sprang directly from medieval roots in northern Italy and the Languedoc of Southern France. Readers will be impressed with her powerful arguemnts suggesting that the Major Arcana is in fact a visual depiction of the 'Great Secrets' of the alternative Christian church, the 'Church of the Holy Grail', preserved in a fashion that would not arouse the suspicions of those who sought to stamp it out completely.

Rating:
Summary: Disappointed
Review: In her summary, Margaret Starbird complains that other theories on the Tarot are "...purely speculative and not supported with hard evidence...." This could be the subtitle to her own book. She has written an interesting, even intriguing, thesis and this work is her first chapter, but where is the rest of the book that supports her thesis? I've been a student of Tarot through the BOTA system for 22 years and am engrossed/obsessed with the Holy Grail theories, ala "Holy Blood, Holy Grail." I was hoping for insight on the two issues, but found only unsubstantiated theory here.

Rating:
Summary: Disappointed
Review: In her summary, Margaret Starbird complains that other theories on the Tarot are "...purely speculative and not supported with hard evidence...." This could be the subtitle to her own book. She has written an interesting, even intriguing, thesis and this work is her first chapter, but where is the rest of the book that supports her thesis? I've been a student of Tarot through the BOTA system for 22 years and am engrossed/obsessed with the Holy Grail theories, ala "Holy Blood, Holy Grail." I was hoping for insight on the two issues, but found only unsubstantiated theory here.

Rating:
Summary: Disappointed
Review: In her summary, Margaret Starbird complains that other theories on the Tarot are "...purely speculative and not supported with hard evidence...." This could be the subtitle to her own book. She has written an interesting, even intriguing, thesis and this work is her first chapter, but where is the rest of the book that supports her thesis? I've been a student of Tarot through the BOTA system for 22 years and am engrossed/obsessed with the Holy Grail theories, ala "Holy Blood, Holy Grail." I was hoping for insight on the two issues, but found only unsubstantiated theory here.

Rating:
Summary: Cohesive theory
Review: This book presents an unusually coherent and cohesive theory about the origins of the Tarot Trumps and their relationship to the "Grail" heresy: the belief in medieval Europe that Jesus was married and that his bloodline survived in the Merovingians and related families in Europe. The trumps are here explained purely as an historical artifact without any reference whatever to divination. The images provide a "flash-card catechism" for the Grail story, including connections with the Knights Templar, the alleged "guradians of the Grail." In my view, other theories of the origin of Tarot trumps do not provide as plausible an explanation for their images in a purely historical context as does this little book.

Rating:
Summary: Cohesive theory
Review: This book presents an unusually coherent and cohesive theory about the origins of the Tarot Trumps and their relationship to the "Grail" heresy: the belief in medieval Europe that Jesus was married and that his bloodline survived in the Merovingians and related families in Europe. The trumps are here explained purely as an historical artifact without any reference whatever to divination. The images provide a "flash-card catechism" for the Grail story, including connections with the Knights Templar, the alleged "guradians of the Grail." In my view, other theories of the origin of Tarot trumps do not provide as plausible an explanation for their images in a purely historical context as does this little book.

Rating:
Summary: Behind the Tarot Trumps
Review: Well all I can say is bravo! Mrs Starbird. I bought this book and I could not put it down. I read it through, twice, in one sitting. It was so logical, historical, well written, thoroughly researched, and extremly easy to read. Like many people I am sure, I looked at the Tarot Deck and wondered what the story was behind those trumps. I have seen playing card decks, from other countries, that look like tarot cards minus the Trumps which sparked my interest even more, but what about those Trumps? Have you ever wondered the same?
Pick up this book! You will not be disappointed in what Margaret Starbird presents to you in a clear concise manner. Once you read it you will just step back in awe, and say that makes so much sense.
A must read for any student of religious history.