The Little History of Tarot Cards

The Tarot is a set of cards that was originallywriters have traced the Tarot Deck back to ancient
invented in Europe in the late fifteenth century toEgypt but these reports are unproven and there
play a selection of card games such as French Tarothave been no recorded use of Tarot Cards for
and Italian Tarrochini amongst others. It was only inmystical purposes before the eighteenth century.
the late eighteenth century that the cards came toOne of the first people to popularise the use of
be used by mystics as a map to spirituality and aTarot 'Divination' was a Frenchman called Etteilla and
guild to mental pathways.was known for being the first person to make a
The tarot deck has four suits much like the moreliving from Tarot reading. Etteilla was also the first
common decks of playing cards. Each suit has whatperson to create his own revised deck of Tarot
are known as pip cards that run from ace to ten andcards solely for the use of Spiritual readings.
four face cards making the total of each suit to beTarot reading revolves around the idea that the
fourteen cards. The tarot deck differentiates itselfcards can help an individual to gain an insight into the
by containing a trump suit of twenty one cards and afuture of another individual. It is thought that the
single card called the Fool. The Fool has many usescards are guided by a spiritual force such as Gaia and
depending on the game, most often than not theythat the cards can help an individual tap into their
are either used as the top trump or used to notcollective unconsciousness.
follow a suit.There have been many cultural and historical changes
The occult have long since had a history of using andrelated to the Tarot Deck and it is generally
incorporating Tarot Cards into their beliefs. They callaccepted that each reader should interpret the cards
the trump cards and the Fool card 'The Major Arcana'in their own way based on the common meanings of
and the pip cards 'The Minor Arcana'. Some occulteach card.