Tarot: Timeless, Origin and History

Legend, Myth and Timeless Wisdom

                     
   Trump 03 The Empress - Wikipedia                                     Trump 09 The Hermit - Wikipedia

                       The Piedmontese Tarot Deck - Solesio 1865: Major Arcana

The history of the Tarot is a captivating and extraordinary journey that interweaves legend, myth, and timeless wisdom. While much remains shrouded in mystery, let's travel across time to unearth the roots and evolution of these enigmatic cards.

Roots? Egyptian, Hebrew, Latin, Taoist, Chinese...

According to various sources, tarot cards have survived through the ages from so distant a past that no one can accurately trace their beginning. The term "Tarot" has multiple proposed roots, including Egyptian, Hebrew, Latin, Taoist, and Chinese origins. Yet, none can be confirmed with certainty. Hence, the exact origin of the Tarot cards remains elusive. We don't know who created them, when and or their initial purpose. What we do know is some documents attest to their existence. However, the details about the tarot cards' symbolism and the figures are scarce. While the precise arrival of early Tarot decks remains uncertain, it is believed that around the 1200s, the Tarot cards began to travel across Europe, finding their way into the hands of the Nomads-People of the desert, Templars, Ramani people (Gypsies) and Common people. It is thought that when the Gypsies travelled from Europe, they brought the Tarot cards. Although their origin is obscure, authors agree that the Tarot cards have been known to the West since around 1392 A.D. It is also accepted that the earliest appearance of Tarot-like cards was in Italy around the beginning of the 1400s A.D. They were created and supposedly used purely as playing cards. As far as various literary sources can tell, the first real tarot deck appeared between 1430 and 1450, and it was around the 16th century when the tarot became connected to divination. Literature sources can be found from both 1735 and 1750 which describe a simple divinatory system for Tarot cards.

Mystical Tradition, Hermetic Qabalah, Tree of Life, Astrology...
 

The Tarot as we know it today emerged during the Middle Ages. Many scholars believe their lineage connects to ancient wisdom and mystical tradition. Other academics believe the Tarot cards have been passed down from generation to generation by an elite few who carefully preserved the mystical symbols, signs, letters and numbers of ancient times. It was in the 1900s when the famous occultist Eliphas Levie linked the Tarot to the Kabbalah, the Jewish system of mysticism. This spurred claims that within the Tarot can be found the keys to unfolding the ancient mysteries of the Tree of Life. Even though there is no documented evidence, numerous authors claim to have traced the Tarot cards to ancient Egypt or the Kabbalah. Several are convinced that the symbolism within the Tarot is the lost knowledge of Egyptian mysticism or theology. Today, this conviction lies at the heart of the Hermetic Qabalah, a Western mystical tradition founded upon disciplines from Alchemy, Astrology, Jewish Kabbalah, and other religions and belief systems. Some theories also link the Tarot cards to the hieroglyphics in the Book of Thoth, a collection of 42 mythologic and prophetic books supposedly written by Thoth, the Egyptian god of writing and knowledge. Another theory states that analogies can be drawn from the Chinese hexagrams of the I Ching (64), an ancient Chinese text spanning more than3000 years. Whatever their beginning, today it is widely believed that the Tarot is made up of an archetypical symbolism that crosses the boundaries of time and bridges the gap between the unknown and the mystical.  This is perhaps why many groups recognise the Tarot as a 'Universal Body of Knowledge'.

Es0teric Doctrine

A simple description of the Tarot: 'An esoteric doctrine based on a picture of symbols within an ancient system presented in the form of a deck of cards'.

A Universal Body of Mystery 

History shows that, through the ages, the Tarot cards have been used as a divination tool to aid and inspire intuition or insight to reveal hidden knowledge. No matter their origin or purpose, the Tarot cards make for an interesting and lively topic of conversation. And even though there is much controversy surrounding Tarot, the cards have become the most popular form of divination. While their true roots may remain a mystery, their impact endures across centuries, cultures and generations.

Ancient and Modern Tarot Cards:  Minor Arcana - The 5 Suits 

                       Swords           Batons           Cups                       Coins

We hope you enjoyed reading about the background of the Tarot. 

In our next article, we will discuss various misconceptions that have grown over time about the cards and the difference between Tarot and Oracle cards. 

Until then, as they say in Italy, "Ciao".