hysterikos—suffering in the womb, hysterical
Hysteria, as I use it on this site and in discussions of Tarot, is more than just the plentiful supply of bad history or antihistory that so characterizes the popular misunderstanding of Tarot. Nor is it summed up by that often mysterious and fanatic faith of Tarotic true believers concerning what this bad history is supposed to signify. The Greek root given above refers to the point—for Tarot, until the present time, has been suffering in the womb, both in the sense of being unable to get properly born, as well as in the sense of what the Greeks really meant of course, that Tarot has also been the victim of an afflicted clan of hysterical people, composed of numerous genders and agendas, but all suffering from the same malady—an interminable case of PMS (Putative Mythological Syndrome).
Nor is this problem of bad history only confined to the narratives of what are obviously bad historians—or hysterians—that is those occultists who clearly never had any interest or motivation to discover or report the facts of Tarot. Another way of saying this is that their motive (or mania) was clearly opposed to the accurate reporting of the facts, and that motive of dishonesty continues to inspire the writers and creators of what is sometimes known as pomotarot—that is the egalitarian (so anti-occultist) and anti-rationalist Tarot that has devolved as the 20th century frantically downsized all pearls1 to Purina pig chow.2 What is truly strange about the Final Days struggles of Tarot, is that even supposedly respectable and rational writers, such as Michael Dummett, have taken their turns carving up (and sometimes deleting) the facts to make them serve personal agendas.
The links below will take you to more information about the history of Tarot, and much more about the many hysteries of Tarot.
1—See, the fact that you don't get this allusion is part of the problem. The Bible warns us against casting our pearls (of wisdom) before swine, because they won't understand what the pearls are and will trample them and then turn on you for casting rocks at them and will tear you to pieces. Happily, in the Final Days, our merchants have determined that so long as you don't burden the swine with too many notes, and you don't waste your time and money actually supplying them with REAL pearls—plastic ones do just fine thanks—they'll gobble them up like popcorn and candy, and won't turn about and attack you but will instead meekly and weekly ask you for another sir. Thus the already bad history of the occultists, which did at least have some low-grade (but often complex) mythological value, is dumbed down nearly to death, hallmark-carded with fluffy illustations and newage affirmations backed up by one of several pomotarot myths claimed as better-than-historical justification for the whole enterprise, and of course your payment.
2—Happily distributed to all little piggies by organizations such as Stuart Kaplan's US Games.
