History of the Tarot
The tarot, pronounced /tɑːroʊ/, is a pack of cards (most commonly numbering seventy-eight), used from the mid fifteenth century in various parts of Europe to play card games. Tarot cards would later become associated with mysticism and magic . Tarot was not widely adopted by mystics until the 18th and 19th centuries.
Playing cards first entered Europe in the late 14th century, probably from Mamluk Egypt, with suits very similar to the Tarot suits of Swords, Wands, Cups and Coins (also known as disks, and pentacles) and those still used in traditional Italian, Spanish, and Portuguese decks. The first documentary evidence is a ban on their use in 1367, Bern, Switzerland. Wide use of playing cards in Europe can, with some certainty, be traced from 1377 onwards.
The first known Tarot cards were created between 1430 and 1450 in Milan, Ferrara, and Bologna in northern Italy when additional trump cards with allegorical illustrations were added to the common four-suit pack. The oldest surviving Tarot cards are from fifteen fragmented decks painted in the mid 15th century for the Visconti-Sforza family, the rulers of Milan.
The most famous was painted to celebrate Francesco Sforza and his wife Bianca Maria Visconti, daughter of the duke Filippo Maria. Of the original cards, thirty-five are in the Pierpont Morgan Library, twenty-six are at the Accademia Carrara, thirteen are at the Casa Colleoni, and two, 'The Devil' and 'The Tower', are lost or else never made. This “Visconti-Sforza” deck which has been widely reproduced, reflects conventional iconography of the time to a significant degree. Mystic Magick sells a reproduction of this deck.
Hand-painted tarot cards remained a privilege of the upper classes and, although some sermons inveighing against the evil inherent in cards can be traced to the 14th century, most civil governments did not routinely condemn tarot cards during tarot's early history. In fact, in some jurisdictions, tarot cards were specifically exempted from laws otherwise prohibiting the playing of cards. Because the earliest tarot cards were hand painted, the number of the decks produced is thought to have been rather small, and it was only after the invention of the printing press that mass production of cards became possible.
Divination using playing cards is in evidence as early as 1540 in a book entitled The Oracles of Francesco Marcolino da Forli which allows a simple method of divination, though the cards are used only to select a random oracle and have no meaning in themselves. But manuscripts from 1735 ( The Square of Sevens) and 1750 ( Pratesi Cartomancer) document rudimentary divinatory meanings for the cards of the tarot as well as a system for laying out the cards.
Tarot cards are currently used throughout much of Europe to play card games. In English speaking countries, where these games are largely unknown, Tarot cards are now used primarily for divinatory purposes. The tarot has four suits of cards (Swords, Wands, Cups and Coins). Each of these suits has pip cards numbering from ace to ten and four face cards for a total of fourteen cards. In addition, the tarot is distinguished by a separate 21-card trump suit and a single card known as the Fool. When used for divinatory purposes the trump cards and the Fool are called the “major arcana (greater secrets)" while the ten pip and four court cards in each suit are called “minor arcana (lesser secrets)”.
The variety of decks presently available is almost endless, and grows yearly. Click here for more information on various tarot card decks.
Two of the most common tarot card decks used for divination are the Rider-Waite-Smith and the Crowley-Harris Book of Thoth decks. Below is some brief information on both decks.
Rider-Waite-Smith-deck
The Fool from the Rider-Waite tarot deck
The tarot created by A.E. Waite and Pamela Coleman Smith departs from the earlier tarot design with its use of scenic pip cards and the alteration of how the Strength and Justice cards are ranked.
Crowley-Harris Book of Thoth deck
Cover of the Thoth Tarot deck
Each card in the Thoth deck is intricately detailed with Astrological, Zodiacal, Elemental and Qabalistic symbols related to each card. Colors are used symbolically, especially the cards related to the five elements of Spirit, Fire, Water, Air and Earth. Crowley wrote a book—The Book of Thoth (Crowley) to accompany, describe, and expand on his deck and the data regarding the pathways within. Unlike the popular Waite-Smith Tarot, the Thoth Tarot retains the traditional order of the trumps but uses alternative nomenclature for both the trumps and the courts.
