Tarot History
TarotDefinition
The documented evolution of tarot decks from 15th-century Italian playing cards to modern divinatory tools, spanning roughly 600 years of cultural transmission.
Origin
The earliest known tarot decks (the Visconti-Sforza and Cary-Yale Visconti, c. 1440s) were luxury commissions for Milanese aristocrats, used to play the trick-taking game tarocchi. Earlier four-suited decks reached Europe from Mamluk Egypt c. 1370.
Development
Tarot was a card game for three centuries before Antoine Court de Gébelin (1781) and Etteilla (1780s) recast it as an esoteric tradition allegedly descended from Egyptian priests. This historically baseless claim shaped tarot's modern identity. The 19th-century Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn standardised modern occult correspondences.
In Practice
Knowing the history matters in practice: many "ancient" interpretations are actually 19th- or 20th-century inventions. Distinguishing pre-1781 game cards from post-1781 esoteric decks helps readers understand which traditions they are working within.
Deeper Reading
The Egyptian-origin myth was thoroughly debunked by 20th-century historians (Decker, Depaulis, Dummett). Modern tarot is no less meaningful for being European-medieval rather than Egyptian-ancient; its real history is itself a rich tradition worth honouring.
See Also
- history of tarot
- origins of tarot
- historia del tarot