My copy of The Tarot Book by Jana Riley arrived the other day. I haven't had a chance to get beyond the first page but I think the Author's Note hits the last couple of posts really well. I'm going to quote from it.
"In 1888, a group of people in England began a secret society known as the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. The society itself lasted only a short time, but it provides the foundation for most modern tarot decks and interpretations. In one way or another, what is now known as the Golden Dawn System is incorporated into many tarot decks of the 20th century."
It is an auspicious time for a new System to come along. Besides the two we really have, (throws the French/Continental System up as well as a product of the same era and having some of the same paradigm regarding gender roles and what "masculine" and "feminine" mean)
I suspect (and hope) for more than one. But what the Golden Dawn represented the kinds of people it attracted, and the effect they had on the world beyond tarot? How the tarot was part of a bigger change going on? It was so about so much more than wicked packs of cards, lol. Or lotus wands.
I am convinced we will get there but it's all an evolution, not a revolution. And there will be as much resistance to it as there is to any other movement. Resistance isn't a bad thing (in any kind of paradigm shift) so long as everyone involved is being ethical and intellectually objective.
... humans are really BAD at being ethical and intellectually objective though (IMO).
Which is the problem. With a lot more than tarot but I think that's brushing as close to the Bigger Picture as I can without getting what we pseudo-fondly call "political" and anyone who wants to chat the Politics of Tarot (or anything else) can always PM me.