With their mysterious imagery, such as the Hanged Man or Hierophant, tarot cards have inspired fantastical tales about their origins. Today, often associated with divination, tarot is frequently believed to have originated in East Asia.
Researchers now believe that the rules of tarot did not originate in China or India but in Renaissance Italy. Initially a card game for the Italian elite, the use of tarot decks for fortune-telling emerged much later.
Throughout its long process of “evolution,” tarot has maintained a “constant” – its adaptability. As Helen Farley writes in “A Cultural History of Tarot,” “tarot has evolved and adapted within the cultural currents of different eras.”
Image of card players in the fresco at Palazzo Borromeo in Milan, painted in 1450 – around the time the game tarocchi first appeared (tarocchi later became known as tarot by French speakers). (Source: National Geographic).
The early use of tarot reflected criticism of the power of the Catholic Church. Then, in the early 19th century, the cards marked a shift from rationalism to mysticism. This role resonated during the tumultuous times of the Spanish flu pandemic (1918-1919) and the two World Wars.
The Triumph of the Cards
Although tarot is a European invention, the card games from which it originated were invented in China and later spread westward to the Arab and Islamic worlds. Arriving in Italy in the 1300s, possibly from Egypt, card games quickly became popular across all social classes in Europe.
A surviving deck from Egypt, found at the Topkapi Palace in Istanbul, “labels” the royal cards as kings but does not depict human figures.
In contrast, the first European decks featured human images: fishmongers or clergymen, alongside kings and queens… familiar figures in modern decks.
By the 1370s, shortly after its arrival in Europe, the card game began to face opposition from the Church. Attempts were made to ban the game, considering it a frivolous gambling activity. Records from cities document efforts to prohibit card games in Florence and Paris during the 1370s and in Barcelona and Valencia during the 1380s.
In fact, banning card games was difficult to enforce, and card playing thrived nonetheless. Such games were immensely popular among the nobility, who possessed intricately hand-painted decks stored in beautifully decorated boxes.
The first clue to the emergence of tarot can be found in a letter written in 1449 – from a Venetian army captain to Queen Isabella of Anjou of Naples, in which he gifted her a special deck of cards. The letter indicates that a young prince of Milan, Duke Filippo Maria Visconti, had invented the game 30 years earlier.
According to the letter, Visconti commissioned Michelino da Besozzo, a renowned painter, to depict the cards “with the utmost skill and exquisite decoration.”
Francesco Fibbia with some of his cards. (Source: Alamy/National Geographic)
The deck did not survive through the centuries, but it is believed to have included 16 classical deities, divided into four categories: Virtue, Wealth, Chastity, and Pleasure. For example, Venus belongs to the Pleasure category, while Apollo belongs to Virtue.
Historians believe the description in the letter marks a transitional phase between the standard Renaissance decks and the development of today’s tarot deck.
Other decks that formed in the history of tarot include the Visconti-Sforza deck, commissioned by Visconti’s son-in-law, Francesco Sforza.
In the 1440s, another deck emerged in the Italian city of Bologna, developed by the nobleman Francesco Fibbia. This 62-card deck was used to play a game known as “tarocchi” – a game that, as it spread throughout Europe, became known as “tarot” in French.
On the Cards
The popularity of tarot during the Renaissance was perhaps not coincidental.
As author Farley notes, the Renaissance was characterized by “the joy of earthly pleasures and an increasing awareness of independence and personal expression.”
Amid the splendor of art, Renaissance Italy was also ravaged by war, while the ostentatious display of the Church’s wealth provoked disdain.
The design of tarot cards mirrored that chaos. The Visconti-Sforza deck reflects the prevalence of corruption within the Church and the looming presence of violent and sudden death. One of the images in the deck is of a skeleton holding a bow and arrow.
Despite such violent imagery, for 200 years, tarot remained a game. Then, at the end of the 18th century in France, it underwent a transformation. In response to the rationalism revered during the Enlightenment, mysticism gained popularity.
After Napoleon’s campaign in Egypt in the late 1700s, this mysticism was fueled by a fascination with all things Egyptian.
The Spiritualization of Tarot
The common assumption that tarot is an artifact of ancient wisdom is largely the work of 19th-century French writers, particularly Antoine Court de Gébelin, who was captivated by “Egyptomania” – a term referring to ancient Egypt in Western imagination.
He hypothesized that tarot originated from an ancient Egyptian priest who used the Book of Thoth to conceal their secrets within a game to ensure their survival.
A familiar image from tarot cards, the Wheel of Fortune, decorated on the floor of Siena Cathedral in Italy from the 14th to the 16th century. (Source: Alamy/National Geographic).
Across the English Channel, members of the mystical Golden Dawn redesigned the tarot deck. Mystical scholar Arthur Edward Waite and artist Pamela Colman Smith created the Waite-Smith deck in the early 1900s, linking it to mysteries surrounding the Holy Grail, medieval tales focused on the location of the cup used by Jesus during the Last Supper – the final meal Jesus shared with his disciples before being betrayed and arrested.
In the years following World War I, many Europeans and North Americans regained interest in spiritualism to reconnect with loved ones lost in the war. As a divination tool, tarot once again became popular.
American poet T.S. Eliot used the cards in his 1922 poem “The Waste Land” – a chronicle of spiritual devastation after the war.
Modern Revival
In the 1970s, the New Age movement became a force for peace amid the chaos and tension of the Cold War.
Once again, the role of tarot changed to reflect the times. The previous divinatory and spiritual functions of tarot transformed into a self-healing function.
In recent years, tarot has once again become a cultural trend, signaling a new demand for spiritual wisdom. As the need for mental health support rises, many are turning to this game.
The standard 78-card deck is seen by players as a tool for enhancing emotional awareness during this time of global anxiety. Tarot decks boast countless popular themes, reflecting the timeless desire for imagery that is both relatable and an escape from reality.
During the chaotic and war-torn Renaissance, the earliest tarot users also found similar solace.
