The History of Tarot: A Six-Hundred-Year-Odyssey of Cards

A Deck of Cards Was Originally a Game

Tarot did not first appear in Egypt or Atlantis. It emerged in the courts of northern Italy in the 15th century. In cities like Milan and Ferrara, a card game called 'tarocchi' became popular, and the 78-card structure we use today was established then.

The 78 cards consist of 14 cards in each of four suits (56 cards) plus 22 trump cards. These trumps were called 'trionfi' in Italian at the time, a term referring to the triumphal processions of Renaissance festivals. Today's 'Major Arcana' is a renamed version of that concept.

One of the oldest surviving decks is the Visconti-Sforza deck, created in Milan in the 1440s. These cards, adorned with gold leaf and lapis lazuli pigment, were owned by actual nobility. Crucially, they were designed for play, not divination.

Tarot as a game is still alive today. France's 'Jeu de Tarot,' Austria and Germany's 'Tarock,' and Bologna's 'Tarocchini' are card games that use the same structure.

1781: A Single Essay Turned a Game into an Oracle

The transformation of the game into divination was both late and surprisingly simple. In 1781, Antoine Court de Gébelin, a French clergyman and scholar, published an essay in his book 'Le Monde primitif' claiming that tarot was the 'Book of Thoth,' a compressed repository of ancient Egyptian esoteric wisdom.

There was no evidence for this claim, but it was difficult to refute. Egyptian hieroglyphs were not deciphered until Champollion's work in 1822. An argument based on an unreadable script gained strength for a long time without verification.

Later in the same century, Jean-Baptiste Alliette (known as Etteilla) created the first deck and interpretive system specifically designed for divination. Most of the formats we recognize in tarot reading today were established around this time and during the 19th century.

1909: Illustrations Changed How We Read

The most widely used format today emerged in London in 1909. Arthur Edward Waite conceived the deck, and Pamela Colman Smith illustrated it, published by Rider & Company. It is known as the Rider-Waite-Smith (RWS) deck, named after the three contributors.

The decisive innovation was depicting scenes on the 56 Minor Arcana cards for the first time. Previously, number cards featured only repeating patterns, and interpretations relied on numbers and suits. With illustrations, reading the images became possible.

Smith's name was omitted for a long time. The deck was called 'Rider-Waite' for decades, and her 78 illustrations and contributions only received proper recognition much later.

This was not entirely unprecedented. The Sola Busca deck, created in 1491, had already featured figures and scenes on Minor Arcana cards, and Waite and Smith were aware of that precedent.

The Kabbalah Connection Is a 19th-Century Invention

The correspondence between the 22 Major Arcana cards and the 22 Hebrew letters was popularized by Éliphas Lévi in the mid-19th century. The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, founded in 1888, systematized this, and most contemporary tarot-Kabbalah interpretations trace back to this lineage.

There is no historical basis for this connection. No records from 15th-century Italy, where the cards were created, support such a correspondence. However, as a symbolic language that links images together, it remains useful. It is prudent to distinguish between evidence and interpretation.

Literature and Psychology Adopted the Cards

In 1922, T.S. Eliot included 'Madame Sosostris, famous clairvoyante' in 'The Waste Land,' who deals 'a wicked pack of cards.' This marked tarot's full entry into literature.

In 1969, Italo Calvino used tarot arrangements as the very structure of narrative in 'The Castle of Crossed Destinies.' Laying out cards generates different stories, and characters, deprived of speech, communicate solely through the cards.

In the late 20th century, tarot became intertwined with Jungian archetypes and established itself as a tool for self-reflection. Instead of predicting the future, it serves to view present questions from different angles.

1980: What History Clarified

Philosopher and card scholar Michael Dummett, in his 1980 book 'The Game of Tarot,' systematically documented tarot's origins and early records. After this work, the Egyptian origin theory ceased to be regarded as fact in academic circles.

Thus, tarot's history is not a lineage of ancient mysteries but a cultural history built on accumulated misconceptions. The interpretation of card 13 as a death omen is a similar case. This card was originally a trump indicating change and closure; the fearful imagery was superimposed by 20th-century popular culture.

Knowing these facts does not render reading meaningless. On the contrary, it clarifies what the cards actually contain. On this blog, we read symbols but do not claim that cards determine the future.

Where This Deck Comes From

The 78 cards on this site draw colors and patterns from Korean mother-of-pearl lacquerware (najeonchilgi) and traditional dancheong painting. They are illustrations, not physical objects made from these materials. Najeonchilgi is a craft where thin pieces of abalone shell are inlaid into lacquered surfaces, reaching its zenith during the Goryeo period and continuing today, centered in Tongyeong and Wonju.

Dancheong is the coloring applied to wooden buildings for protection and ornamentation. The five colors—blue, red, yellow, white, and black—symbolize directions and seasons. The border patterns and colors of the cards follow this grammar.

The images are generated by an image model, while the composition of scenes and color choices are made by the operator. Even for the same card, this deck reinterprets it with the colors and light of mother-of-pearl and dancheong. They are illustrations, not physical items made from those materials.

How This Blog's Articles Are Written

Card interpretations are written by an AI (a large language model) based on traditional symbolism and layout structures. They are not individually authored by a human.

Before publication, code checks length, paragraph structure, prohibited words, and links. If errors are reported, the operator verifies and corrects them, and verifiable information is cross-checked and rectified.

Readings and articles on this blog are for entertainment and self-reflection. They do not replace professional judgment in fields such as medicine, law, or investment. If you are struggling mentally, we encourage you to talk to a professional or someone you trust.