My family background in commerce, as well as my graduate studies naturally predestined me to be in business. My Armenian cultural heritage & ancestral traditions predestined me to follow that path, which I did; although working in business was interesting & rewarding, it did not truly fulfil me. My passion was elsewhere...

From a younger age, I was attracted to the mystical world & other unexplained phenomena. I knew there was more to life than the reality in which we lived & I wanted to know more about it.

My first encounter with esoteric knowledge happened at 16, I discovered books by Krishnamurti & Yogananda. They opened up to me a treasure trove of wisdom & knowledge that nurtured my curious mind.

Although I don't think I grasped the depth of their messages at that time, I was nevertheless fascinated by their insights. A door to the hidden mysteries had opened; all I needed was to cross over...

My real journey into the world of understanding consciousness began when I read "Seth", by Jane Roberts in 1986. A series of esoteric books followed, like those of Alice Bailey & other authors of the same ilk.

A year later, I came across a Numerology course based on the Tarot of Marseilles, taught by Kris Hadar in Montreal. He used the 22 Major Arcana of the Tarot of Marseilles to analyze someone's birth date & called it the Numerology of 22 Numbers. I studied his technique which was different from the Pythagorean system of numerology based on 9 numbers.

As Hadar's numerology was based on the definition of the 22 Major Arcana of the Tarot of Marseilles, I naturally explored the latter to understand it in further depth.

While studying it, something about it bothered me. Although I was fascinated by the potential of the cards to tell the future, I will not hide that initially I disliked the Tarot's predictive use. I had consulted many tarot readers & every time felt anxious & unsure if I really wanted to hear what was going to come out of the reading, either good or bad!

I observed that the interpretation of the cards was a function of the reader's knowledge. If he/she had an open mind or if on the contrary had limited views, then aspects of the divination were influenced accordingly. My question thus was: could a session be biased by mindset of the tarot reader?

Because I never liked people telling me what I should or should not do or what I should think, I became weary of a Tarot reader's interpretation of a spread: was I being programmed about an outcome with no alternate options? Was that their true meaning or was it the reader's perspective? What about the concept of free will? Did I have a say in the decision making process?

This way of reading the Tarot made me feel stuck in a system I could not escape out of, as if my future was rigidly predestined. I didn't want anyone taking my power away & I certainly didn't want to become another tarot reader with a similar approach.

A sense of rebellion against this made me search for the Tarot of Marseilles' true nature & find its hidden intention. As the impressive design of some of the cards often brought fear instead of peace, it seemed to me that throughout the ages, the Tarot had lost its fundamental purpose & that it was important to re-identify & recognize its true message & inherent nobility. That is why I looked up the definitions of the 22 Major Arcana given by different authors.

What was the meaning behind the images of the cards disguised as a playing deck? Was the Tarot's main objective to secretly pass on the Seven Laws of the Hermetic tradition? Was it to inform those who had "eyes to see" about the notion of free will & consciousness, hidden from religious constraints?

Even today, we still do not know when the Tarot of Marseilles was conceived. Different opinions claim that it was an Egyptian, Jewish, Christian, Islamic, French or Italian concept.

Philip Camoin, a descendent of the House of Nicolas Conver's famous 1760 TAROT OF MARSEILLE, restored it after years of collaborative historical research with Alejandro Jodorowsky & said: "The historical and geographical origins of the Tarot are complex. Historians generally agree that it surfaced in 14th century Italy. But Alejandro Jodorowsky & I discovered that the Tarot of Marseille emerged in the first century and not in the 13th or 14th century". As for Alexandro Jodorowsky, described it thus: "The Tarot is anonymous because it’s a sacred art, and all sacred arts are anonymous".

The Tarot of Marseilles depicts archetypes. It is the story of one's evolution when faced with different challenges in life to reach individuation, a concept dear to Carl Jung. It is a tool of self-knowledge. It informs a person about his/her inner state of being at a fixed point in time.

The Tarot of Marseilles reads the future, but also deciphers the psyche of the person whose cards are being read. It is a journey into self-discovery & wisdom, a tool of self-awareness & empowerment par excellence.

Through pictorial indications of a state of mind & of emotions, its first & foremost task is to awaken the conscious observer within, in order to journey on a path in full awareness & to become a conscious player in one's own reality.

That is why, in my opinion, the Tarot resonates with the current theories of Quantum Mechanics. The latter tells us about the importance & implication of the observer in the movement of particles. The Tarot itself is a pictorial tool to observe our inner state, to perceive what we truly feel & need, & thus opt to alter our reality consciously.

Personally, the reason why I initially preferred Numerology to the Tarot was because the latter helped understand one's psyche. From Hadar's basic teachings, I developed a numerological structure that linked the five elements of Air, Water, Fire, Earth & Ether to a birth date & I designed a chart that explained someone's multiple aspects of personality, giving keys to awaken one's intuition & accordingly, reach one's highest potential.

Numerology helped me make peace with the Tarot. Today I use the Tarot alongside my numerology readings as an added tool, to find answers to a specific issue at a specific point in time. My preferred Tarot of Marseilles deck is the Camoin & Jodorowsky deck.

The time has come to give the Tarot of Marseilles the noble recognition it rightfully deserves. Although the Tarot continues to evoke fear in many people as it is still considered to be merely a tool of divination, its main role is to give insights regarding an issue, & to reconnect with one's intuition to choose an outcome consciously.

The idea of The Sofaïa Key is the product of my quest to show the Tarot as a tool of wisdom. It is an oracle game, based on the 22 Major Arcana of the Tarot of Marseilles inspired by Socrates' art of Maïeutics & the wisdom of the Goddess Sophia in Gnosis.

If you seek to understand yourself better at this present moment, then The Sofaïa Key game is the tool to find the compassionate guidance & wise insight you seek.

Wishing you a wonderful journey of self-discovery with Sofaïa!

With much love & gratitude,

Tamik Minassian

www.thesofaiakey.com