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Tarot.

Tarot.

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Tarot.
Tarot, first known as trionfi and later as tarocchi or tarocks) is a set of playing cards used in tarot games and in fortune-telling or divination. From at least the mid-15th century, the tarot was used to play trick-taking card games such as Tarocchini. From their Italian roots, tarot games spread to most of Europe, evolving into new forms including German Grosstarok and modern examples such as French Tarot and Austrian Königrufen.
Tarot is commonly found in many countries, especially in English- and Spanish-speaking countries where tarot games are not as widely played, in the form of specially designed cartomantic decks used primarily for tarot card reading, in which each card corresponds to an assigned archetype or interpretation for divination, fortune-telling or for other non-gaming uses.
The emergence of custom decks for use in divination via tarot card reading and cartomancy began after French occultists made elaborate, but unsubstantiated, claims about their history and meaning in the late 18th century. Thus, there are two distinct types of tarot packs in circulation: those used for card games and those used for divination. However, some older patterns, such as the Tarot de Marseille and the Swiss Tarot, originally intended for playing card games, are also used for cartomancy.
Tarot has four suits that vary by region: French suits are used in western, central and eastern Europe, and Latin suits in southern Europe. Each suit has 14 cards: ten pip cards numbering from one (or Ace) to ten; and four face cards: King, Queen, Knight, and Jack/Knave/Page. In addition, the tarot also has a separate 21-card trump suit and a single card known as the Fool. Depending on the game, the Fool may act as the top trump or may be played to avoid following suit. These tarot cards are still used throughout much of Europe to play trick-taking card games.
Copyright Popular Culture and Religion.
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  • 18 - Tarot Cartomancy. (part 2).

    18 - Tarot Cartomancy. (part 2).
    Jun 18 2026
    Tarot Cartomancy. (part 2). Post-1970 Global Spread. The post-1970 era marked a significant democratization of Tarot card reading, driven by the New Age movement's emphasis on personal spirituality and self-reflection, which shifted Tarot from esoteric circles to mainstream accessibility. Eden Gray's books, such as The Tarot Revealed (1960) and A Complete Guide to the Tarot (1970), played a pivotal role by presenting Tarot as a tool for psychological insight rather than strict fortune-telling, influencing a broad audience during the 1970s countercultural surge. This approach aligned with New Age ideals of holistic growth, making Tarot appealing to those seeking empowerment amid social upheavals. In the 1980s and 1990s, feminist and queer communities further adapted Tarot to reflect marginalized perspectives, fostering decks that centered women's spirituality and non-normative identities. The Daughters of the Moon Tarot (1984), created by Ffiona Morgan, exemplifies this by featuring all-female imagery and round cards symbolizing equality, drawing from goddess archetypes to support lesbian and feminist spiritual practices. Such innovations challenged traditional gender roles in Tarot iconography, promoting inclusivity and self-affirmation within women's and queer circles. The 1990s onward saw digital technologies propel Tarot's global expansion, enabling online readings and apps that transcended geographical barriers. The Labyrinthos Tarot app, launched in the mid-2010s, offers interactive learning and virtual readings, amassing millions of users by integrating gamified lessons with traditional symbolism. Concurrently, multicultural decks emerged, incorporating diverse symbols; for instance, the Sacred Roots Tarot blends Afro-Indigenous ancestral motifs with Tarot structure, while the Chinese Tarot (1993) fuses Eastern philosophy and artwork. These adaptations reflect Tarot's internationalization, appealing to global audiences seeking culturally resonant divination. Commercialization accelerated this spread, with Tarot festivals and celebrity involvement boosting visibility since the 2000s. Events like the Los Angeles Festival of Tarot (inaugurated in 2025) and earlier conventions such as TarotCon (starting in the 1990s but expanding post-2000) gather practitioners for workshops and vendor expos, fostering community and commerce. Celebrities including Jada Pinkett Smith and Beyoncé have publicly endorsed Tarot for guidance, amplifying its cultural cachet. The global Tarot cards market, valued at approximately $1.3 billion in 2023, underscores this growth, projected to rise with increasing digital and inclusive offerings. The Tarot Deck. Structure of Major and Minor Arcana. The standard Tarot deck consists of 78 cards, divided into the Major Arcana and the Minor Arcana. This structure, while rooted in 15th-century Italian playing cards, was formalized for occult purposes in the 19th century. The Major Arcana comprises 22 cards, often referred to as trumps, numbered from 0 to 21. The sequence begins with The Fool (0), symbolizing the start of a journey, and culminates with The World (21), representing completion. These cards depict archetypal figures and concepts, such as The Magician, The Lovers, and Death, and were originally added as special trumps to the Italian tarocchi game's suits in the 1440s. The term "Major Arcana" was coined by French occultist Éliphas Lévi in his 1856 work Dogme et Rituel de la Haute Magie, emphasizing their significance in esoteric traditions. The Minor Arcana includes 56 cards, organized into four suits, each containing 14 cards: numbered cards from Ace to 10, plus four court cards (Page, Knight, Queen, and King). The suits are Wands (or Batons), Cups, Swords, and Pentacles (or Coins), derived from the Latin-suited playing cards of 15th-century Italy. In occult interpretations, these suits correspond to the classical elements: Wands to fire (creativity and action), Cups to water (emotions and intuition), Swords to air (intellect and conflict), and Pentacles to earth (materiality and stability). This elemental association was elaborated in early 20th-century esoteric texts, such as P.D. Ouspensky's The Symbolism of the Tarot (1913), which linked the suits to elemental spirits like salamanders for fire. Historically, the Tarot deck evolved from the tarocchi packs of northern Italy in the 1440s, used primarily for card games without a fixed divinatory sequence. By the 19th century, occultists like Lévi standardized the numbering and arcana divisions, integrating Kabbalistic and astrological influences to create a cohesive esoteric framework. This shift marked the transition from gaming to symbolic divination. In Tarot readings, the Major Arcana cards address overarching life themes and spiritual lessons, while the Minor Arcana provide insights into daily events and practical matters.[46] This distinction allows readers to balance profound ...
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    14 min
  • 17 - Tarot Cartomancy. (part 1).

    17 - Tarot Cartomancy. (part 1).
    Jun 18 2026
    Tarot Cartomancy. (part 1). Tarot card reading. Tarot card reading is a form of cartomancy, or divination using cards, in which a practitioner interprets a deck of 78 illustrated cards to provide insights into a querent's past, present, future, or personal circumstances. The practice draws on the symbolic meanings of the cards, often arranged in specific layouts known as spreads, to facilitate self-reflection, guidance, or prediction of events, with ethical guidelines often advising against readings that seek information about third parties without their consent. While rooted in esoteric traditions, it is also employed for psychological exploration and therapeutic purposes, helping individuals process emotions and motivations without relying on supernatural claims. The Tarot deck originated in 15th-century northern Italy as a playing card game called tarocchi, with the earliest known decks dating to the 1440s in cities like Milan and Ferrara. These early decks were commissioned by wealthy families, such as the Visconti-Sforza, and featured hand-painted artwork by artists like Bonifacio Bembo, emphasizing themes from classical mythology, virtues, and cosmology. The association with fortune-telling emerged much later, in the late 18th century, when French occultists like Antoine Court de Gébelin proposed mystical origins linking the cards to ancient Egyptian wisdom, though historical evidence supports only the gaming roots. By the 19th century, Tarot had become integrated into Western esotericism, influencing movements like the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn and inspiring modern decks such as the Rider-Waite-Smith, which standardized symbolic imagery for divinatory use. Structurally, the Tarot consists of two main divisions: the Major Arcana, 22 cards representing archetypal life themes and spiritual lessons (e.g., The Fool symbolizing new beginnings, The Hanged Man representing surrender and new perspectives, Temperance embodying balance and moderation, The World signifying fulfillment and completion, or The Tower denoting upheaval), and the Minor Arcana, 56 cards divided into four suits—Wands (fire, creativity), Cups (water, emotions), Swords (air, intellect), and Pentacles (earth, material matters)—each containing numbered cards from Ace to 10 and four court cards (Page, Knight, Queen, King); for instance, in the Swords suit, the 9 of Swords symbolizing anxiety and despair, the King of Swords representing intellectual authority and logic, and in the Pentacles suit, the 9 of Pentacles signifying self-sufficiency and abundance. In a reading, the querent typically shuffles the deck while focusing on a question, after which the reader lays out cards in spreads ranging from simple one-card draws to more complex spreads like the Celtic Cross (10 cards) to interpret their upright or reversed positions relative to the query. Interpretations blend card symbolism, numerology, astrology, and intuition, with psychological explanations attributing efficacy to phenomena like the Barnum effect, where vague statements feel personally applicable. In contemporary contexts, Tarot reading spans entertainment, spirituality, and therapy, with decks adapted for diverse cultural and social applications, including social justice and personal development. Studies highlight its role in fostering self-awareness, as practitioners use it to externalize inner conflicts and gain perspective, supported by its multi-sensory engagement through visuals and narrative. Despite skepticism from scientific communities regarding predictive accuracy, its enduring popularity underscores its value as a reflective tool rather than a literal oracle. Origins and History. Early Associations with Divination. The origins of cartomancy trace back to the introduction of playing cards to Europe, which derived from Mamluk decks originating in the Islamic world of Egypt and Syria during the 13th and 14th centuries. These early cards featured suits such as cups, coins, swords, and polo sticks, as evidenced by a preserved 15th-century deck in the Topkapi Sarayi Museum in Istanbul. Traders and sailors brought these cards to European ports, particularly in Italy and Spain, around the 1370s, where they were adapted with local suits like batons replacing polo sticks. Initially used exclusively for gaming, these cards laid the groundwork for later divinatory practices by providing a medium for chance-based interpretation. The first documented associations between cards and divination emerged in late 15th-century Europe, amid growing moral and religious opposition. Sermons in German-speaking regions during the 1480s explicitly condemned the use of cards for fortune-telling, portraying such predictions as sinful inventions linked to gambling and superstition. These prohibitions, including early bans in Switzerland from 1377 that extended to predictive uses, reflected broader ecclesiastical concerns over cards as tools for glimpsing the ...
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    16 min
  • 16 - Tarot card reading. (part 2).

    16 - Tarot card reading. (part 2).
    Jun 18 2026
    Tarot card reading. (part 2). Waite and Crowley. The Rider–Waite–Smith deck, released in 1909, was the first complete cartomantic tarot deck other than those derived from Etteilla's Egyptian tarot. (Oswald Wirth's 1889 deck had only depicted the major arcana.) The deck, designed by Arthur Edward Waite, was executed by Pamela Colman Smith, a fellow Golden Dawn member, and was the first tarot deck to feature complete scenes for each of the 36 suit cards between 2 and 10 since the Sola Busca tarot of the 15th century, with certain designs likely based in part on a number of photographs of them held by the British Museum. The deck followed the Golden Dawn in its choice of suit names and in swapping the order of the trumps of Justice and Strength, but essentially preserved the traditional designations of the court cards. The deck was followed by the release of The Key to the Tarot, also by Waite, in 1910. The Thoth deck, first released as part of Aleister Crowley's The Book of Thoth in 1944, represent a somewhat different evolution of the original Golden Dawn designs. The deck, executed by Lady Frieda Harris as a series of paintings between 1938 and 1942, owes much to Crowley's development of Thelema in the years following the dissolution of the Hermetic Order. While the deck follows Golden Dawn teachings with respect to the zodiacal associations of the major arcana and the associations of the minor arcana with the various astrological decans, it also:- reverted to the traditional Marseille numbering of Justice and Strength as arcana 8 and 11, respectively (though it retained the swapped associations with respect to the Hebrew alphabet). - swapped the Hebrew alphabet associations of the fourth and seventeenth arcana (The Emperor and The Star, respectively), in accordance with Crowley's Liber Legis of 1913. - renamed several of the major arcana. - renamed the suits of Batons and Coins to Wands and Disks (the latter instead of the Golden Dawn's "Pentacles"), and, - adopted the Golden Dawn's court cards, except that the Knight was not renamed. While Crowley managed to print a partial test run of the standalone deck using seven color plates included in The Book of Thoth, it was not until the 1960s, after Crowley and Harris's deaths, that the deck was first printed in its entirety. Tarot divination in the United States. Two of the earliest publications on tarot in the English language were published in the United States, including a book by Madame Camille Le Normand entitled Fortune-Telling by Cards; or, Cartomancy Made Easy, published in 1872, and an anonymous American essay on the tarot published in The Platonist in 1885 entitled "The Taro". The latter essay is implied by Decker and Dummett to have been written by an individual with a connection to the occult order known as the Hermetic Brotherhood of Luxor. While it is not clear to what extent the Hermetic Brotherhood used tarot cards in its practices, it influenced later occult societies such as Elbert Benjamine's Church of Light, which had tarot practices (and an accompanying deck) of its own. Adoption of the esoteric tarot practices of the Golden Dawn in the United States was driven in part by the American occultist Paul Foster Case, whose 1920 book An Introduction to the Study of the Tarot made use of the Rider–Waite–Smith deck and assorted esoteric associations first adopted by the Golden Dawn. By the 1930s, however, Case had formed his own occult order, the Builders of the Adytum, and began to promote the Revised New Art Tarot,[m] by Manly P. Hall with art by J. Augustus Knapp, as well as Case's own deck. Executed by Jessie Burns Parke, the artwork of Case's deck, the B.O.T.A. Tarot, generally resembles that of the Rider–Waite–Smith deck, but the deck also shows influences from Oswald Wirth and the original design of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn tarot. Case promoted the deck in his 1947 book The Tarot: A Key to the Wisdom of the Ages, which also marked one of the first references to the work of Carl Jung by a tarotist. Esoteric use of the Rider–Waite–Smith Tarot was also promoted in the works of Eden Gray, whose three books on the tarot made extensive use of the deck. Gray's books were adopted by members of the 1960s counter-culture as standard reference works on divinatory use of tarot cards, and her 1970 book A Complete Guide to the Tarot was the first work to use the metaphor of the "Fool's Journey" to explain the meanings of the major arcana. Tarot divination since 1970. The work of Eden Gray and others in the 1960s led to an explosion of popularity in tarot card reading beginning in 1969. Stuart R. Kaplan's U.S. Games Systems, which had been founded in 1968 to import copies of the Swiss 1JJ Tarot, was well positioned to take advantage of this explosion and reissued the then out-of-print Rider–Waite–Smith Tarot in 1970, which has not gone out of print since. Tarot card reading quickly became...
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    12 min
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