The Mysteries of Tarot

As a writer, I find I am often steered towards magical items and objects that fulfill my need for adventures.

In this blog, I will be exploring the rather strange origins of tarot cards. In today’s world, we are well aware of their divination purposes and how they oddly seem to help us make sense of our lives. Fortune tellers and tarot readers alike happen to read the future with tarot decks of all kinds.

Even in my family, there is a deep-set love for the decks. My parents both earning themselves a deck in their early lives and me continuing the tradition. I will vouch for the mysterious magic of tarot… But these cards weren’t always used for fortune-telling. Without further ado, let’s get into uncovering the mysteries of tarot cards.

In the 14th Century, a game similar to that of mash arose, this was known as Tarocchi Appropriati. It was used as an imaginative game for enjoyment by Italian and French nobles. The cards were used to create narratives to engage players.

The minor arcana cards consisted of cups, swords, coins (now known as the pentacle suit), and polo sticks (now the wands). Hence the reason why the major arcana are known as being the trump cards of the deck - though they weren’t added to later when the Duke of Milan Filippo Maria Visconti created them. The court cards were also a later addition, these being the king and queen cards of the various suits.

It was only during the sixteenth and early seventeenth century when tarot began to gain attention as a method for divination. During the 18th century, people assigned meanings to each of the cards, offering suggestions to their divinatory messages. It was also in the 18th century where mysticism took a rise. There was a growing interest in spirituality, through the use of seances, contacting the dead, and tarot to make predictions on the world.

Tarot wasn’t common in England till occult practitioners took over. One famous example of these occultists is Arthur Waite who created the Rider-Waite tarot deck known today. He and the artist Pamela Smith took inspiration from sola Busca for the deck. These cards are the most popular in the divination world. This brings us to their use in today’s society where we hope to gain insight into ourselves and the world around us.

What do you think of tarot?

Do you think it could help writers?