A Brief History of Tarot

Ah! Yet another history that is shrouded in the mists of time. One might be tempted to use these cards to divine the truth of their origins, however I can't attest to how successful you might be! The main rumors about these cards are that their beginnings have been lost or wild theories of its birth from far off lands such as Egypt, China, or India. Many tarot specialists tend to agree anymore that it was developed in the 15th century in Italy from a card game that was popular among the nobles. The forerunner of the tarot was three decks of cards called the “Visconti Trumps”. Centuries later, it reemerged as a system of divination. With modern decks, the familiar popular images are generally derived from the 1910 set of A.E. Waite, which feature his own system of magical symbols.

In the original Visconti deck the Trump cards were highly customizable, with both the images and what cards were included being dictated by the commissioner of the deck. Cards such as Death, the Devil, and the Tower were often viewed as offensive by the nobles and could be excluded or replaced. Then, in the latter half of the 15th century, the card makers in France began to standardize the Trumps and such unique decks began to disappear. In fact, the Trumps gained notoriety from a sermon given by a Franciscan friar claiming that the Devil named the cards and that the Evil One would win the souls of those who played the game.

So, how did it rise from being a game created by the Devil to having the ability to divine the future? Well, it's rebirth as a divination system is generally credited to one Antoine Court de Gebelin in the late sixteenth century. De Gebelin believed the cards to have migrated in from Egypt and that they were the keys to lost Egyptian magic. He further theorized that the Thoth, the Egyptian God of Knowledge, wrote the information they contained. The idea persisted into the mid 1800's even though the translation of the Rosetta Stone didn't help to unlock the hidden secrets of the Trumps. Helping the idea along was the introduction of the Romany Gypsies, long thought to be the descendants of Egyptians, who were said to have brought the cards with them on their journeys through Europe.

As the fame of the cards spread, Eliphas Levi got his hands on them and developed a system of correspondences between the Tarot and the Kabbalah. This blending of systems brought about the idea that the cards had been invented in Israel and held the wisdom of the Tree of Life. While this helped to blur the origins of the cards, it also did one important thing - it cemented the idea that the symbolism of the cards could cross any boundaries. From then on the cards were absorbed into many different esoteric and occult groups and their symbolism adapted to many different magical systems. From this, we see some of the true magic of these cards - the Tarot can cross any barrier, be they linguistic, cultural, or geographical. Its archetypal images have the power to speak to anyone, in any magical system or religion.

Because of societies such as the Golden Dawn, the Church of Light, and the Theosophical Society helped to secure the Tarot in the eye of the public. Then A. E. Waite, the master of fame mentioned before, hired Pamela Smith to create his deck called the 'rectified' Tarot. His version of the cards became the standard and is still one of the most popular decks on the market. However, the most famous part of his rectified Tarot deck is the pip cards, the face cards numbering 1 (Ace) to 10. Waite commissioned Smith to paint images depicting the meaning of the cards, which helped readers convey the nuances to their querents.

The classic pack of tarot consists of 78 card divided into the Major Arcana containing 22 trump cards with pictures that symbolize man's journey through life, showing the obstacles and opportunities that will be found along the way. The first card of the Major is the Fool, who bears no number, so the final card of the World bears the number 21. The Minor Arcana holds 56 cards that are broken up into four suits similar to regular playing cards. In fact, it is believed that ordinary playing cards were developed from them. In the Minor Arcana, there are four Court Cards (usually King, Queen, Knight, and Page) and the suits (each representing an element) are Wands (Air), Swords (Fire), Cups (Water), and Pentacles (Earth). In some decks, the elements corresponding to Wands and Swords are reversed. Each card is illustrated with certain symbols and the skill of reading the cards lies in interpreting the symbol on the card as well as the cards around it and knowing how they interact.

When using the cards in a reading, the tarot deck is first shuffled and then laid out in one of a various number of spreads. After which the pattern interpreted to tell a story of the future, or to answer a specific question that the querent asked. The whole reading is based on a knowledge of the meaning of the cards and their positions, but also relies on the person giving the reading having an intuitive gift. Cards may be upright or reversed (upside down) in readings and when reversed the meaning of the card changes. Usually it "reverses" the meaning or tells of a delay in the outcome of the card.

Choosing a Deck

Although tradition dictates that your first deck should be a gift, this often doesn’t work out very well. Mainly this is because finding a deck is a very personal thing and what suits one person may not fit your needs. Choose a deck that fits your hands, if they're too big and keep falling on the table as you shuffle this can be an inconvenience (to say the least!). However, from time to time a card or cards will slip out of your hands while shuffling, be sure to look at it before replacing it! At times, these cards may be the answer you are looking for or may shed light on the spread. Also big cards tend to take up a lot of room and if you start doing large, complicated spreads then you may run out of table space!

Also, think about what orientation you want your cards to have. Are you Dianic? Perhaps getting one of the Goddess or women centric decks is for you. You can find a deck that is symbolically relevant to just about any leaning. There are cards that have pagan, Christian, herbal, magical, herbal and Arthurian depictions just to name a few. Shop around, many mainstream bookstores as well as specialty shops carry tarot decks these days. You can also look online at places like Amazon.com, eBay, and regular pagan outlets. You may also want to look into cards that are done by a specific artist or writer, one of my favorite decks was created by the notable artist Robin Wood.

You should also take your level of patience into consideration - how much memorizing do you want to do? If you want to be able to crack open the deck and do a reading, don't go for an overly elaborate or arcane deck. There is no single deck that can be labeled as an industry standard, although as I mentioned before, the A.E. Waite deck is rather popular for its straightforward imagery. As you gain confidence and learn the traditional meanings for cards you may want to move on to more esoteric decks or you may love working with just one set of Tarot.

When looking at a deck, especially if you can see the cards and not just the box, take note of your initial gut reaction. That will tell you almost all you need to know about them. If you immediately shy away from them, then don't buy them. Alternatively, if you think the subject of the cards is silly, don't buy them. They'll just end up being a waste of money as you won't use them or the pictures on the cards will remain locked and useless to you. Personally, I don't buy decks that have themes of movies or popular fantasy books... as much as I enjoy the Lord of the Rings I think a tarot deck based on it is just goofy. Try to pay attention to what catches your eye, however; what type of decks are you drawn to, which ones catch your eye, etc.

Make sure that what you are buying is what you are after. Do you want a traditional deck with 78 cards, with a major and minor Arcana? There are many decks, especially the Japanese ones that are major Arcana only. I also own a few Chinese decks that are called tarot, but in reality they are just 78 cards with a bunch of pretty, nonsensical pictures. Don't be fooled by the name 'tarot', it might not be a deck of divinatory card! As with all things - buyer beware!

This might be the final deciding factor in the deck that you choose, but check out prices on tarot decks. Almost all of the decks I have bought have ranged between fifteen and twenty-five dollars. I would venture to say that this is a normal range, with sets (a deck of cards and a companion book) might range upwards to about fifty bucks. Certain import decks, or antique decks, may run you several hundred (or more!) dollars. I have sold anime tarot decks (which were major Arcana only) for between $80 and $120. So, as you can see, the financial factor can play into the type of deck you buy.

Take time to browse through as many decks as you can. Check out the artwork and the symbolism; see if they call to you. The design itself doesn't matter much, but make sure you have empathy with the deck. If you don't like the cards you won't use them, so make sure it's a deck that triggers your imagination and intuition. It may take time to find the "perfect" deck or it may be the first deck you see. You may even end up with several decks (I did) and it is possible that you will use them all. If you don’t use a deck at all, you can always give it away to someone who is interested in learning the tarot. You'll find that certain decks work best under certain conditions, so play around and see what you find!

Giving a Reading

Before you rush out and give a reading, spend some time with the cards. Study each one; see if any instinctive impressions hit you, what does it remind you of? After you study each card, then read the meaning and see how (or if) that fits into the illustration. You'll find a ton of little things to jog your memory on meanings and don't be afraid to trust your hunches. If you think that it means something other than what's written, run with it. One thing that I have found invaluable is to invest in a notebook and assign one page to each card. Write down your first impressions and what images catch your eye. Once you have done that, then write out the traditional divinatory meanings and you will start to build your own set of correlations for the cards.

I would also suggest waiting until you're fairly familiar with the divinatory meanings before giving a reading for another person, or you and the questioner are likely to get frustrated while you flip through the book. So, at first, just read for yourself; I know that many places warn against doing that but there really isn't a better way to learn the cards. This also allows you the chance to start to see the patterns that certain combinations of cards will form and what it means. I will repeat this again - resist the temptation to immediately look up the meanings, just study the cards, see what you remember, see what impressions and hunches you get. Then read the meaning. When I first started, to help myself I made flash cards from index cards with the name of the card, divinatory meanings, reverse meanings, and numerology. Remember to warn people that while the tarot is extremely accurate it isn't infallible. The cards can be influenced by you, by the questioner, even other people in the room. Also, what is predicted doesn't automatically happen, the tarot shows us how things could be but we are always free to alter our own destines.

Another thing that I've learned is that readings for or about people who are absent are generally unreliable. It works best if the person in question touches the deck after shuffling so that the reading in more specific. However, you can still do an online reading or an over the phone reading. As long as you are in communication with the person, you tell the deck that you are doing a distance reading, and the person concentrates on the cards you can still give a fairly accurate reading.

One of the main messages in tarot is that of change and there are many cards, which deal with this theme. Some are extremely positive, others urge caution, and some warn of negativity while having a positive, underlying meaning. Such cards as Death, the Tower, the Devil, or the Hanged Man may alarm some so reassure them that the cards don't mean that they'll die, just that a major change in their life is approaching. Also, always err on the side of caution, if you lay out a negative spread give warnings but avoid scaring them out of their pants. Choose your words carefully, if the cards tell that the person is being swindled don't say "can't you tell that your son/sister/lawyer is taking you for all you've got?" Tact is an invaluable tool to use along with the readings that you will give.

When the time comes and you are ready to give a reading, it's best to do it in relaxed surroundings, on a large table, without a large audience. While shuffling take note of any cards that fall out of the deck as they may give a hint to the reading or carry a message of their own. Lay the cards out in the spread of your choosing and go to town! Remember to stay relaxed, and if the person asked a question (make sure it isn't a yes/no type) they can tell you or not, it won't affect the reading and the person will most likely understand without you spelling it out for them. The thing that I've found most effective is to simply trust myself and not over think the cards or situation. Tell them your hunches, I'll bet you turn out right!

One thing that I always do is I try to see how the cards link together in a reading. Just because the cards aren't near each other doesn't mean that they don't link together! I tend to see a reading as a story that has been laid out before me; I don't just go from one to another, forgetting the previous card as I move along. I see them as a whole, each one building on the others, interacting to help uncover ideas or psychological underpinnings of the situation.

This section is really just the bare bones of how to give a reading. I would highly suggest finding a good book to learn the true ins and outs of tarot reading from or finding a good teacher. There are tons of people online who will give you readings, many of them for free, so if you just want a reading or two you might consider going that route.

How I Got Started

Well, it's kind of an odd story....see, my Aunt gave me my first deck which was the Rider-Waite Tarot. I read the booklet that came with it and was hooked! I tried on almost a daily basis to do a reading, some of which were eerily accurate. The down side was that I had horrible, horrible nightmares every night and one of the Rider-Waite cards would have center stage. The worst one was with the three of swords, in it someone very dear and close to me was pierced by three swords and whey the blades pulled themselves from the body they had the person's heart impaled on the ends. I still shudder.

So, being a big ole wimp, I quickly got rid of the deck and the dreams stopped but I was sad that I no longer had a deck to 'play' with. Well, the Goddess Fortuna decided to guide my footsteps and led me into a little hole in the wall store that happened to have a ton of tarot decks, books, and pouches. Since this was the mid-eighties, by a ton I mean more than five. Probably about ten decks and two book on the tarot. I studied each deck thoroughly before letting the Goddess guide my hand to one that would be right for me.

Being a devoted cat lover, I was drawn by the cool blue box that housed the Tarot of the Cat People, and I was immediately enamored of the reproduction of the Wheel on it. The kitties were just an added benefit. Instead of buying it right away, I hemmed and hawed over the decision for almost six months. Eventually I broke down and bought them, which was the beginning of my downfall. With that first deck I innocently purchased everything snowballed. I ended up buying other decks that caught my eye and then family members thought I was collecting decks so they would buy them for me as well. Eeek!

I now own over twenty decks and I keep collecting more. I mainly use my Cat deck (see below) and the Thoth deck (because they give excellent readings) and the others are around because I liked the artwork on them. Running a close second to the Cat Deck is Robin Wood's cards. I absolutely adore the deck, the cards have such a sweet temperament that I enjoy working with. I also find that having a large complement of cards allows me to 'double check' myself. Sometimes I think my Cat deck gets pissy with me and stops giving accurate readings. Anytime I think it might be playing with me I try a different deck to see. If the cards are similar, then I'm just being paranoid. If the cards are radically different, it's time for me to put them all away because I'm obsessing over the question.

I store each deck and the booklet it came with in small fabric pouches that I make. I've found that having a cloth bag for them saves the deck wear and tear from the boxes. I've also seen beautiful wooden boxes for sale to hold decks, but I prefer to make the container for my cards myself. I've also found out another reason (excuse) to have so many decks! It really helps the reading when the querant picks his/her own deck. They have the intuitive knack of choosing the cards that best compliment their personality, something I the Reader cannot do. Plus it seems to remove some of the skepticism that many first time querants have with the decks. I guess that they feel that if there are so many of the darn things, it must be true!

My Tarot Collection

OK, this section will showcase my cards. Below you will find links that will lead to a picture of the deck (they might be a little fuzzy because I scanned them in myself) and a short blurb about the deck. Sorry if the images aren't all that good! I might add extraneous information to these ancillary pages... or I might not. It depends on how lazy I'm feeling and how quickly I get this updated. heh.

I've rearranged this section to streamline it a bit, and now all the cards are in alphabetcal order.

Aliester Crowley's Thoth Deck

Art Nouveau Tarot

Avalon Tarot

Celtic Dragon Tarot

Escaflowne Tarot

Faeries' Oracle

Faery Wicca Tarot

Gundam Wing Tarot

Hanson Roberts Tarot

H.R. Giger Tarot

Herbal Tarot Deck

Legend: Arthurian Tarot

Luis Royo Black Tarot

Medicine Cards

Miracle Tarot

Mystic Faerie Tarot

Robin Wood Tarot

Saiyuki Tarot

Sol Bianca Tarot

Tarot for Cats

Tarot of the Cat People

Ukiyoe Tarot

Unknown Tarot Deck

Weiss Kreuz Tarot

Winged Spirits Tarot

X Tarot