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A Brief History Of Tarot Card Readings

By Christopher Hill


The first tarot decks originally appeared as far back as 1440 in Italy. In this case, the deck contained the 22 cards now considered to be the Major Arcana. During that time, these cards were often referred to as Visconti Trumps. Whereas, most psychic and tarot card readings are now performed with a variety of different decks.

It is believed that the Italian Trumps were originally developed and designed for royalty. Whereas, it was not until centuries later when the cards became popular once again. During that time, divination and psychic readings became popular uses for the cards. Prior to that time, the cards were most often used in different games by the Nobles.

It was long after the cards had become standardized in France during the eighteenth century that the cards once began became popular. For, before that time, those whom played the Trumps could often decide to substitute, exclude or discard cards as needed. As such, the Tower, Death and Devil cards were often thrown out because of rumors the cards allowed the Devil to steal the souls of the people who played with them.

It was not so much the meaning tied to the cards but the images which caused religious leaders of the time to attempt to banish the Trump cards. In fact, the first specific reference to these cards was in a sermon. The sermon provided by an Italian Franciscan Friar some time in the mid-1400s contended that the Tower, Death and Devil cards were invented and named by the devil, with the latter being a namesake.

Even when using the cards for a simple game, the Friar suggested the devil was using the cards to win the souls of the people who played games with the Trump cards. As such, the sermon condemned the use of the cards whether for games or other purposes.

The rebirth of Tarot and the use of decks in divination is attributed to Antoine Court de Gebelin in the late 1700s. For, Antoine believed the cards to be of Egyptian origin which contained knowledge of a mystical nature. De Gabelin also believed the symbols were purposefully included in the Major Arcana, also known as the Trumps. Unlike the Friar, Antoine saw no association between the Devil and the art of tarot.

Antoine held a strong belief that tarot cards were keys to the lost mystical wisdom of the ages, originally produced and written by the Egyptian God of writing, Thoth. It was from this point that the Major Arcana started to evolve into cards which would later be produced and distributed by secret societies. Since that time, a number of psychics, mediums, mystics, and spiritualists have created decks on a number of topics.

In the beginning, regular playing cards were also used for divination, tarot readings and separating different suits of cards. Whereas, there were numerous decks published later which only featured the Major Arcana. Now, most decks feature the 22 cards of the Major Arcana along with all the minor suits.




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