FAQ's

The History and Mystique of the Tarot

Although it is more romantic and intriguing to believe that the birth of the Tarot came forth from the Gypsies of Romania or the Egyptians, historical documentation shows the actual beginnings of the tarot, as we know it today, dates back to Italy in the early 15th century.

Before 1375, there were no references to cards anywhere throughout Europe. The earliest references were for a type of plain card that entered Europe from the Islamic world, where they were common and had been known for centuries.

The tarot card is first referenced around 1440 as a triumph card. This reference is from the Ferrara area of Italy, describing the acquisition of some triumph cards for use at the royal court. A letter from the newly installed Duke of Milan, Francesco Sforza, requests several packs of triumph cards and playing cards, clearly distinguishing them as separate entities. This request for both cards indicates that the intended use was for play, not divination. The game played with the triumph cards was akin to current day bridge. Secondly, this request shows us the cards were being manufactured and sold for general use: they were not strictly expensive art objects commissioned by the royalty, like the few surviving decks from this period.

The name tarot seems to have arisen from the Italian name for triumph cards – trionfi – which was changed to – tarocchi – probably to distinguish triumph cards from playing cards. What isn’t known is the origin – or meaning – of the word “tarocchi”. It is known that the French version of this word is ‘tarot’. And it’s the French word that has stayed with the cards since that time.

The tarot deck was comprised similarly to the regular card decks of the time including number cards (1-10) in four suits, and court cards page, knight, and king. But the tarot deck had more: a queen was added to each of the courts, and 22 special cards, not belonging to any suit, were added. These special cards were symbolic pictures, with such subjects as the Emperor, the Pope, The Wheel of Fortune, Death, the Devil, and the Moon.

The tarot cards were used to play a new type of card game, as mentioned above, similar to bridge, but with 21 of the special cards serving as permanent trumps, which could be played regardless of what suit was led, and outranked all the ordinary cards. This Game of Triumphs, as it was called, became extraordinarily popular, particularly among the upper, royal, classes. As the game spread throughout Europe, the symbols on the picture cards changed according to local culture and customs.

Tarot cards continued to be used for gaming until the late 18th century in France. At this time someone decided to start using them for divination – information, advice, and predicting the future – probably based on the incorrect belief that they came from ancient Egypt and their pictures contained mystical symbolism.

Centuries later, devotees of the occult in France and England encountered the tarot and saw mystical and magical meaning in the enigmatic symbolism of the cards. Their fascination with the cards led to the reputation tarot presently holds as a divination tool and occult artifact.

By the late 19th century tarot cards were quite popular with mystical groups like the Rosocrucians, the Theosophical Society, and the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. Some groups even created their own versions of the cards. But the cards’ fame really spread when they were essentially reinvented at the beginning of the 20th century by Arthur Edward Waite.

It wasn’t until the late 1800’s that A. E. Waite realized that the cards could be used to predict possible future events. Waite created the Rider-Waite Tarot deck based on the works of Eliphas Levi, and published the cards in 1896. The Rider-Waite deck is the most widely used version currently in existence.

The Tarot was then introduced into Western culture in the early 1900’s, and was extremely popular during World War I.

In our current day world, more people are opening up to the idea of Tarot Readers, Astrologers, and Psychics, yet there are still some who believe the cards are evil, or hold some kind of evil power. Have you ever heard the expression…what goes around, comes around…? The cards are neither good nor evil. The person for whom the cards are being ‘read’ – interpreted – is the one with the positive – good or the negative – evil energy. The cards show what is in one’s subconscious and conscious. Therefore, the message is an interpretation of the energy of the person being read. And, about that earlier expression…if you live a life of negative energy…always saying, doing and thinking ‘bad’ thoughts about others…then that negative energy will come back to affect you. So, be careful!

The Tarot are best suited for learning about oneself, and one’s reactions to life’s seemingly never ending struggles, to increase self awareness, and possibly to obtain a new point of view of life itself. They can help to clarify past events, understand why the events took place and possibly give some insight into how to avoid making the same mistakes again, or even how to make good events happen again. The cards can also predict possible future events. Sometimes, just knowing ahead of time that an event may occur, is enough to change the person’s path and future outcome.

The Tarot Today

The tarot isn’t used just for readings – interpretations. Its symbolism is in our music, movies, cartoons-anime, books, and more. Here a just a few of the myriad examples:

Novels

The DUNE SERIES by Frank Herbert mentions Tarot, which is rendered as a hexagonal card deck in the television mini series “Children of Dune”.

Tarot cards also play a role in Stephen King’s DARK TOWER series. At the end of Book 1, THE GUNSLINGER, Roland finally catches up to the Man in Black, who reads Roland‘s future with a deck of Tarot cards in a Golgotha: “Death. Yet not for you.” The deck used by the Man in Black is an adaptation of the canonical Tarot, featuring some cards invented by King.

In STAR WARS based novels, the card game sabacc is highly influenced by the Tarot.

Games

Dungeons & Dragons, an influential role playing game, featured an artifact called the “Deck of Many Things” similar to the Tarot deck.

Computer Games

In the PS2 videogame, Shadow Hearts: Covenant, one of the main characters uses a deck of Tarot cards for a special attack. As more cards are found throughout the game, the number of possible results increase, but whenever the attack is used, one card is picked relatively at random. An effect will then be applied to the battle depending on the card, and will usually be positive if the card is right side up; while an upside down card can spell disaster for the player…playing Death upside down is an instant over.

In the PlayStation video game SaGa Frontier, one of the several magic types learnable by characters is Arcane, which is based on Tarot cards (and is opposed by Rune magic). It includes eight spells: The basic spells are loosely based on the minor arcana and include Saber, Shield, Grail, and Gold, and the advanced spells include the major arcana Magician, Tower, Death, and Fool.

The major arcana Tarot cards are used in the puzzle game Bust-A-Move 4 for PlayStation, in a mini-game to give out love readings. The Puzzle Story Mode also focuses on the player repairing the flow of time by sealing away the arcana cards by clearing puzzle stages.

Tarot is the main theme in the 1987 Apple Macintosh computer game “The Fool Errand” by Cliff Johnson.

Film

Tarot cards from a Swiss-style deck originally published by Muller & Cie of Shaffhouse feature are used by Marlene Dietrich’s character in the 1958 film Touch of Evil.

In the James Bond movie LIVE OR LET DIE, James confronts Solitaire, a woman who possesses the power to read tarot cards to predict the future.

Television

The Game show WHEEL OF FORTUNE gets its name from the tarot card.

In an episode of the TV show MONK, a psychic uses Tarot cards to predict Sharona’s future. The episode is “Mr. Monk and the Psychic”.

Anime

In the Anime series The Vision of Escaflowne, every episode starts with the visualization of a different Italian Tarot card. The heroine, Hitomi Kanzaki, reads Tarot cards and has a reputation amongst her friends on Earth as being able to use them to predict the future with remarkable accuracy. When she is transported to Gaia, this ability intensifies.

Music

In Madonna’s video, “Who’s That Girl”, the High Priestess Card of the Rider Waite Tarot deck is used to depict her persona. The image on the card is soon replaced by her animated alter.

Bob Dylan’s 1978 album, STREET LEGAL, includes several lyrical references to Tarot imagery, including the Magician and the Empress (“No Time to Think”) and the King and Queen of Swords (“Changing of the Guards”). There are also less specific references to a tower, lovers, fools and the sun and the moon. “No Time to Think” mentions a “country priestess” (not a High Priestess). But Dylan is notorious for mixing things up a bit. Dylan’s 1975 album, “DESIRE”, includes the Empress card in the collage on the back cover.

The first Tenacious D album inside cover art and many subsequent T-shirts use a modified version of the Devil card with Jack Black & Kyle Gass replacing the two human figures.

Bruce Dickinson’s 1998 album THE CHEMICAL WEDDING includes a song titled ‘The Tower’, the lyrics for which reference several major arcana cards in the chorus, “Lovers in the tower, the moon and sun divided…(alternately) and the hanged man smiles/the priestess kneels/the magician laughs/let the fool decide”. The video of the song also depicts the usage of a deck of Tarot cards. Also, the song ‘Dark Side of Aquarius’ from his 1997 album Accident of Birth uses the lyric “throw some scary tarot cards”.

In Summary…

The Tarot was not meant to be feared or evil. It is human nature to fear the unknown or the unexplained. Today, Tarot readers have made themselves available throughout the United States as well as on a Global basis helping millions of people cope with life’s uncertainties. Who are any of us to nay-say something that benefits so many people so often.

Contact the Conrad Center today for your personal Tarot Reading.