fortune-telling. The first tarot decks were created in Italy in the 1430s by adding a fifth suit of 21 specially designed cards called trionfi (“triumphs”) and an odd card called il matto to an already existing four-suited pack (“the fool). (The modern joker, which was created in the late 19th century as an unsuited jack in the game of euchre, is not related to the fool.)
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For what purpose were tarot cards created?
Tarot cards were initially used to play games. A text written by Martiano da Tortona before 1425 contains a very brief explanation of the rules for a deck that resembles the tarot. Before the earliest known detailed explanation of game rules for a French variation in 1637, there are two centuries of hazy accounts of game play or game vocabulary. There are numerous regional variations in the tarot game. Although the game of tarocchini has persisted in Bologna and is still played in Piedmont and Sicily, it is less well-liked in Italy than it is elsewhere.
Tarot experienced its greatest resurgence in the 18th century, when it rose to prominence as one of the most played card games across all of Europe with the exception of Ireland, Britain, the Iberian peninsula, and the Ottoman Balkans. France has the largest tarot game community, and French tarot has undergone another rebirth since the 1970s. Within the boundaries of the old Austro-Hungarian empire, central Europe is a popular location for playing the regional tarot games known as tarock, tarok, or tarokk.
Did tarot cards come from Egypt?
The pack created by Pamela Colman Smith under the supervision of Arthur Edward Waite, whose book “The Pictorial Key to the Tarot” was released in 1910, served as the inspiration for the deck that is currently in general use and features a variety of artistic interpretations. Although a large portion of this research was male-dominated, the occult rebirth in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century produced some noteworthy studies. One exception was Helena Blavatsky’s writings, which connected the history of Tarot with Ancient Egypt by mentioning it in “The Secret Doctrine” and “The Unveiling of Isis.”
Tarot was compelled into the shadows in medieval Europe as a system of esoteric interpretation and mystical meaning. The Tarot was disguised as a game to allow users to continue using it without fear of retribution. The Christian Church referred to it as “The Devil’s Picture Book,” and those who used it were executed. Because of this, records are sporadic and the Tarot seems to only reappear sometimes. Those in the know always used it, although they could do it covertly if necessary.
In “The Book of Thoth: A Short Essay on the Tarot of the Egyptians” (OTO 1944), Aleister Crowley stated that the origin of tarot is quite immaterial, even if it were known. It must be judged according to its own merits.
Contrary to Crowley, a lot of people are interested in the origins of the Tarot, and among these historians, practitioners, healers, mystics, and writers, a lot of people hold the opinion that Ancient Egypt holds the key to the solutions. Theosophists, who claim that Ancient Egypt is older than we think and that the Ancient Egyptians guarded the wisdom and knowledge of Atlantis, are the alternative Egyptologists who followed Madame Blavatsky and her seminal work “The Secret Doctrine” (1888). These writers include John Gordon and Katy Noura Butler.
What kind of faith did the tarot cards come from?
Tarot cards are frequently cited as a component of New Age thought and practice along with astrology, aspects of Buddhism, paganism, and First Nations teachings in the eclectic scholarly approach to the New Age.
Who was the first tarot reader?
Things become a little mystical around Halloween, when horror movies are playing nonstop on TV and your holiday-loving neighbors’ yards are decorated with grotesque decorations. We decided to explore the background of tarot cards in honor of one of the most enchanted seasons of the year.
Tarot cards were initially just another card game, one that was a lot like the bridge that is played today, despite the fact that we now link them with the occult. Like other decks, the earliest known tarot cards appeared in Europe in the fifteenth century, with the wealthiest households in Italy purchasing the most well-liked sets. It was expensive to commission what was practically dozens of tiny paintings because there was no printing press and only hand-painted cards were available.
These early tarot cards, known as tarocchi in Italian, included suits, trump cards, and even pips, just like any other deck.
While others experimented, the mainstream use of tarot cards for divination didn’t begin until Frenchman Jean-Baptise Alliette produced the first comprehensive book on tarot card reading in the late 1700s. Under the alias Etteilla, he published his own deck along with a user’s manual for the cards. He incorporated ideas about astronomy and the four elements to give each card a purpose. He asserted that he had taken extensive inspiration from the Book of Thoth, a work purportedly penned by Thoth, the Egyptian god of wisdom.
He incorporated ideas about astronomy and the four elements to give each card a purpose.
Etteilla was the first to allocate the cards to a certain sequence and spread, including a front-to-back method that is still in use today. He issued a revised edition of his manual in 1791 when his writings gained popularity, making him the first known professional tarot reader.
The next significant change to tarot cards occurred in 1909. You’ve probably seen the pictures for the Rider-Waite deck, created by publisher William Rider and tarot reader A. E. Waite. The Rider-Waite deck, like Etteilla, came with a written manual explaining how to interpret the cards and what each one meant. When the cards in this deck were arranged together, the intricate scenes presented a narrative. The Rider-Waite Deck was updated and reprinted in the 1970s, along with a new instruction manual by Stephen Kaplan, which led to the most recent tarot card renaissance.
Tarot cards or playing cards: which came first?
With the surge in popularity of alternative religions, witchcraft, and paganism, tarot reading and tarot cards have grown increasingly popular in recent years. It seems fitting that the Tarot is one of the most obvious and approachable gates to that path as topics like astrology, energy work, and more become more widely known. But how did the Tarot come to be used as a tool for divination and self-examination, and where did it originate?
At first glance, one may think that the Tarot has some kind of ancient history; some have even asserted that the cards represent the remains of an old Egyptian manuscript that was destroyed in the Alexandrian library fire. Were they aliens? the divine? Actually, no. We are aware of no ancient origins for tarot. It was most likely developed much more recently.
Since nobody actually knows who made the original card decks that would later develop into the Tarot as we know it, I suggest “probably.” It turns out that conventional playing cards work the same way. Sometime in the 14th or 15th century, playing cards initially arrived in Europe from, well, somewhere that wasn’t Europe. We don’t know if it was Arabia or China, but considering the lack of connection between Mah Jong and our current card decks, my money is on China. Therefore, it is difficult to say for sure whether Tarot or playing cards emerged first, while either might have happened and it is possible that they both descended from a single, long-lost ancestor.
Is astrology a branch of tarot cards?
These days, almost everyone you know possesses a tarot deck and regularly receives readings. Tarot is no longer simply for the esoteric. Tarot has evolved over time into an intuitive art that may assist you in planning for both the best and worst scenarios. Tarot cards are filled with symbolism, but you might not be aware of how closely it is related to astrology. For instance: In the Major Arcana, a card corresponds to each sign of the zodiac.
Do tarot cards have an Indian origin?
Tarot cards are thought to have its origins in Egypt, China, India, and the Islamic World (Farley 2014; Levine 2004; Decker 2013). While some authors include facts to back up their arguments, others depend solely on conjecture. For instance, those who assert that the tarot cards originated in India often mention the Indian card game Ganjifa, which has ten suits and twelve cards in each of them (Farley 2014). Others, like French Protestant Pastor Court de Gebelin in the eighteenth century, believed that tarot cards originated in Egypt since their visuals reminded him of that country (Levine 2004). There is some evidence to imply that tarot cards were at least utilized in Egypt, even if they did not originate there, despite the fact that mere supposition is not a good foundation for an argument.
A 56-card deck from the Egyptian Mamluk Empire dating to the fifteenth century was discovered in Istanbul and contains playing cards in the four suits of coins, polo sticks, cups, and swords (Farley 2014; Wintle 2015). The King, Lieutenant, Second Lieutenant, and Assistant are the four court cards in each suit, together with cards for the numbers 1 through 10. (Wintle 2015). This deck is devoid of queens, just like all other non-French or non-English tarot decks are as well (Farley 2014). Additionally, each card has an Arabic inscription, which is frequently whimsical, prophetic, or odd. The design of this deck and the Italian Brambilla and Visconti di Modrone tarot cards share commonalities, in addition to the obvious connections between the suits of the Mamluk deck and modern decks (Farley 2014).
The idea for the Mamluk cards is said to have originated in Persia, where polo was created and was the national game of the nobles (Museum of Polo and Hall of Fame 2017). In addition, the Persian language work Dabistan-ul-mazahab (The School of Manners) recounts the adventures of Mahabad, the first prophet and human, who divided society into four classes: Magi (priests), Kings and warriors, farmers and artisans, and Sudin (workers). Therefore, the four suits of the Mamluk deck can stand in for the four social strata in ancient Persia. It is probable that the polo stick suit was altered to wands because polo was not a popular sport in Italy at the time. This is because there is some consensus that tarot cards arrived in Europe through Italy (particularly through the important port city of Venice) (Farley 2014).
We may now focus on the names of these cards because we’ve covered the history of the tarot cards. Sadly, we are unaware of the name of the Mamluk deck. What is known is that these cards are known as “tarot” in French and taro, tarok, or tarocco in other European nations (Giles 1994). According to some authors, the term “taro” is an anagram of the Latin word “rota,” which means “wheel,” and that it refers to the wheel of fate and the ability to utilize the tarot cards to predict one’s future (Decker 2013; Giles 1994). Others contend that the name “tarot” has its roots in the Italian tarocco cards, which were originally known as cartes de trionfi, or “cards with trumps.” This is related to the theory that tarot cards entered Europe through Italy, and one of the first reports of trump cards that we have comes from Umbria, Italy.
There is documentation of a Franciscan friar in Umbria preaching on “the use of games” as early as 1450 AD. He categorizes all games into three categories: trumps, cards, and dice. He continues by stating that the trumps deck contains 21 cards, including the Pope, the Emperor, angels, and virtues (Giles 1994). The number zero was not counted at this time, thus it’s likely that a pack of trumps actually had 22 cards, which would be exactly the same as the Major Arcana cards in a tarot deck.
This leads us to think that trump cards and playing cards were formerly distinct entities that were later united.
Given that a complete Mamluk deck had 56 cards and a modern tarot deck has 22 trump cardsa total of 78 cardswhich is exactly how many cards are in a modern tarot deckthere is some evidence to corroborate this. This view is further supported by the absence of Queens in the Mamluk court and the earliest tarot decks. As a result, it appears that trump cards and Persian Mamluk playing cards were combined to create modern tarot decks (most likely from Italy). Tarot cards were created by combining these two games at some point, and given the mysterious writings on the Mamluk cards, it is not hard to see how playing cards came to be used for divination.
The controversy over whether playing cards or tarot cards came earlier is also answered by the fact that Mamluk playing cards may be traced back to ancient Persia. The oldest evidence of playing cards in Europe dates to at least 1371 AD in Aragon (current-day Spain), while the first mention of trump cards dates to 1442 in Ferrara, Italy. Given that the Arab invasion of Persia began in the seventh century and that the Moorish colonization of Spain began in 711 AD, it seems logical to conclude that playing cards, which originated in Persia, were brought to Europe by the Moors. Tarot cards were allegedly first created in Spain and then transported to Italy (Decker 2013).
Now there is a bit less mystery surrounding the tarot cards. The majority of it is a blend of two distinct card games, one most likely from Italy and the other probably from Persia. It is simple to picture how the writing on the Mamluk cards become fortunes for the seeker through games of chance like “choose a card.” Each card’s names, designs, and meanings have evolved over time to fit its particular period and location. Tarot decks are widely accessible now and come in a variety of styles and levels of difficulty, all of which contribute to the story told by the cards.
References
A History of the Occult Tarot, by Decker and Dummett, Duckworth Overlook, London, 2013.
Farley, H. 2014, “Cultural History of Tarot: Entertainment to Esotericism,” I.B. Tauris, London, accessed September 21 via ProQuest EBook Central.
The Tarot: History, Mystery, and Lore, by C. Giles, Simon & Schuster, Cammeray, New South Wales, 1994.
The Beltane Papers, vol. 33, p. 42, Levine, N. 2004, “The Diving Arts: Wisdom from the Land of Isis,” accessed September 21, 2017, through ProQuest.
Wintle, A. (2016). Mamluk playing cards. World of Playing Cards. Accessed 23 September 2017.
Where is the Thoth book?
The piece of writing, which the editors refer to as the “More than 40 Graeco-Roman Period papyri from Berlin, Copenhagen, Florence, New Haven, Paris, and Vienna’s collections contain the Book of Thoth. A papyrus with fifteen columns, located in the Berlin Museum, serves as the main witness. The Book of Thoth, which is nearly fully written in the Demotic script, was likely created by scribes of the “Scriptorium of the Temple, House of Life. It mostly consists of a conversation between the divinity He-who-praises-knowledge (probably Thoth himself) and the mortal He-who-loves-knowledge. The book covers subjects including the scribal art, sacred geography, the afterlife, knowledge of animals, temple ritual, and wisdom. One section (the) stands out as particularly noteworthy “Vulture Text), in which a vulture is used to represent each of Egypt’s 42 nomes. The language is poetic, and the lines are frequently arranged into verses in a clear manner. Many scholarly issues are raised by the subject, dialogue structure, and striking phraseology; particularly intriguing are the potential connections between this Egyptian work, in which Thoth is called “Hermes Trismegistos plays a significant role in both the classical Hermetic Corpus and the thrice-great. Interpretative articles and discussions of certain topics, including the manuscript tradition, script, and language, are included in the first book. The transliteration, translation, and discussion of the Demotic text make up the bulk of the publication. The first volume is concluded with a consecutive translation, glossary, bibliography, and indexes. Nearly all of the papyri’s photos in the second book are of their original size.
Do you know how to say “tarot”?
Depending on whether British English or American English is being used, the proper pronunciation of “tarot” in English significantly changes. The “t” in “tarot” is never uttered, in any scenario. The word “tarot” is pronounced “tah-row” in British English and “teh-row” in American English.
