Tarot is a fantastic tool for navigating our lives and finding direction when we so dearly need it, but it wasn't always used as it is today. The first semblance of Tarot began in the 1300's when Turkish game cards were first introduced to Western Europe. By the 16th Century, the Italian aristocracy founded a game known as "Tarocchi Appropriati", a game where players were dealt a random hand and had to take turns making up a story about one another, a sort of old-fashioned "choose your own adventure" type of game. These cards were referred to as "Sortes" which meant destinies.
Tarocchi Apropriati eventually evolved into a game known as "Carte Da Trionfi" or Cards of Triumph. These cards were expensively commissioned by wealthy Italians so that talented artists would create the images depicted on the cards. The deck consisted of four suits known as the Cups, the Swords, the Pentacles (or coins), and polo sticks (which later became the suit of Wands). The court cards consisted of a King, a Knight, and a Page and later evolved to include a Queen, the Fool, and what were known as the "Trump Cards". The trump cards are what are now known as the Major Arcana where the four suits and face cards are known as the Minor Arcana.
Overtime, these cards evolved from their heavily christian imagery to include more eclectic and esoteric symbolism. This transition paralleled the beginning of their divinatory purpose. The cards began to have illustrations depicting scenes on the suit cards that helped the Tarot Reader imagine a story or message from the cards.
Some decks were developed to include information about the real world such as the Geografia deck of 1725. This deck only delegated the top 1/5th of the card to illustration, whilst the rest contained information about places such as Africa or Asia. These decks were used to teach information to people who did not have access to such information elsewhere.
The first modern-day Tarot card deck (and that which continues to be the most popular today) is known as the Rider-Waite deck. This deck was commissioned by popular medium A.E. Waite and publisher William Rider to have artist Pamela Smith illustrate them in 1909.
Over the time of its existence, Tarot has had many uses from a simple card game, to a little "encyclopedia" of knowledge used to teach children, to a modern-day form of divination. With its rich history and unending depth of symbolism, it is important to learn and utilize such a profound tool as it is.
For information on the Major Arcana of Tarot, Click Here.
For information on the Minor Arcana of Tarot, Click Here.
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