The Graduate Theological Union's Flora Lamson Hewlett Library has launched a new online exhibition, The Spirit of the Tarot: The Search for God's Picturebook.
The launch corresponded with the 2023 Reading of the Sacred Text lecture, presented by Rev. Dr. Justin Sabia-Tanis entitled, "Divining Freedom: Queer Reconceptions of the Tarot Deck."
The exhibition explores the religious and spiritual aspects of the Tarot over the past 500 years. From a game, the cards became a way to perceive the future and a tool for meditation and personal development. A reading of the cards can suggest alternative views or approaches to a situation. Meditation on a card provides insights, both in thoughts and for action. Study enhances insight into oneself and the world.
Victoria Christian writes: “The Tarot and art go hand in hand. Simply, the Tarot cannot exist without some type of visual image. Furthermore, art, like Tarot, may be employed to represent, and has a way of stimulating, the human mind and imagination in a way nothing else can. It is known among mystics that if one meditates on a symbol long enough, the meaning of that symbol will become clear even if it has never been explained.” ("Melanie Gendron: The Imaginative Delphic Oracle,” Feminine Mysticism in Art: Artists Envisioning the Divine, 2018, p 212.)
This is the second online exhibition created by the Library's Art Exhibition Committee. The first one launched in March 2021: The Sacred World Art Collection.
The exhibition is made possible by the Jane Dillenberger Fine Arts Endowment Fund.