'The Magician' Tarot Card Tarot Cards - History

Rainbow Line Gif

There are no definite answers concerning the origins of the Tarot, only speculation. The Tarot are a pictograph system, a means of displaying information in a visual form. They were intended to teach the students of various "mystery schools," while simultaneously obscuring their metaphysical knowledge from those not part of these "secret societies."

The fourteenth century has been claimed as the time that the cards first surfaced. Supposedly, the cards were brought to Italy from Spain around 1375 AD, introduced by the Moors. Others claim that they originated in Egypt, because Tarot-like hieroglyphics have been discovered there. It is likely that both claims are correct, in a sense; Egyptian symbology plays a part in the Tarot, as does classic Western European, Mediterranean, and Eastern symbology. In short, they are a combination and culmination of many mystical theologies.

The 22 cards now known as the Major Arcana were the first of the Tarot decks, and the 56 Minor Arcana were added later. At first, the 22 Cards of the Major Arcana were kept hidden, safe from the prying eyes of the Roman Catholic Church, the practitioners fearing the accusation of witchcraft. The 56 cards of the Minor Arcana were first used openly in an Italian game called Tarrochi, and were later to evolve into the 56 card decks of playing cards used widely today, the suits metamorphosing from Cups, Wands, Swords, and Pentacles into Clubs, Spades, Hearts, and Diamonds.

These two decks are believed to have been combined into the one deck collectively known as the Tarot as they traveled from the Mediterranean region into Western Europe. They were hugely popular in the French court during the sixteenth century, being used as both a divination method and for variations of Tarrochi. They have drifted in and out of popular usage for more than half a millennia.

Two members of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, a mystery school founded in late 19th century/early twentieth century England, Edward Arthur Waite and Aleister Crowley, are primarily responsible for the modern resurgence of the Tarot to prominence. Each designed a deck, the Rider-Waite Tarot and the Thoth Tarot respectively, wrote books regarding their decks and the Tarot in general, and promoted the use of the Tarot as a valid divination system.

Recently, with the increase in New Age/metaphysical adherents, the Tarot has enjoyed an overwhelming surge of popularity. The number of decks on the market seems to increase each month, bookstore shelves are jammed with various authors interpretations, and the Internet's World Wide Web has many Tarot resources. The Tarot's origins may be uncertain, but it's present is definite; there has never been a time that the Tarot was more popular, more widely accessible, or more enjoyable to use.

BACKTo The Tarot Main Page
BACKTo The Divination Main Page

Rainbow Line Gif
Rainbow Home | Ecology | Metaphysics | Computers | ...And More
Rainbow Line Gif

This page hosted by Get your own Free Home Page

This page was last updated on - May 1997. "Toto, I don't think we're in Kansas anymore!"
Copyright © 1997 Lia Wolf-Gentry A member of
The HTML Writers Guild 1