Think of Tarot cards and one immediately thinks of gypsies, mystery, magic and forbidden knowledge. But what are the cards all about anyway? And why have they endured for so long?

How did the Tarot begin?

It’s thought that the Tarot deck was first used as a card game, way back in fifteenth century Europe.

As far as we know, regular playing cards were first used as a means of divination in 1770, when Jean-Baptiste Alliette (also known as “Etteilla�? published the clairvoyant meanings.

Antoine Court de Gebelin theorised in 1781 that Tarot cards contained mystical knowledge originating from the Egyptian deity Thoth, god of wisdom, and the Tarot deck became increasingly popular due to his influence. Following de Gebelin’s theory, a deck designed by Etteilla was the first to be made publicly available expressly for clairvoyance.

A hundred years on, Eliphas Levi speculated on a possible link between Tarot and the Jewish mysticism of the Kabbalah. No proof was available to support the notion that the Tarot originated in Israel, but the theory remains popular today.

A number of secret societies and mystical organisations adopted the Tarot, including the Rosicrucians, the Theosophical society, the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn and the Church of Light, all of which brought their own nuances to bear on the Tarot folklore.

So why does Tarot still remain relevant?

Tarot cards have often received very bad press, but perhaps their ultimate message is a hopeful one: that life is not meaningless and that we can learn and grow from what happens to us. Because you are continually asked to reflect on the card’s personal relevance to your life, you can become more self-aware and in tune with your inner experience through them.

What is a Tarot deck?

There are literally hundreds of Tarot decks, reflecting nearly every kind of religious and philosophical tradition, but the version most widely accepted today is Arthur Edward Waite’s version.

Each Tarot deck contains 78 cards, and is made up of the major and minor arcana. There are twenty-two cards in the major arcana, while the minor arcana are made up of four suits, which are Cups, Swords, Wands and Pentacles. The suits are numbered from ace to ten, as in a normal deck. There are also four types of court cards, identified variously as Pages, Knights, Queens and Kings; or Princes, Princesses, Queens and Knights in certain decks.

While the numbered cards tend to deal with relationships or events, the court cards almost always relate to people in the Querent’s life. (The person for whom the Tarot is dealt is known as the Querent.)

The major arcana is perhaps the most intriguing aspect of the deck. This is made up of twenty-two cards which represent archetypal events or experiences in the journey of life.

There’s nothing terribly esoteric about the cards per se �?their prophetic powers come from their position in the spread once dealt. Each card has a general meaning attached to it, and if you become a regular reader, you might find that you start attaching personal meanings to them too. Connections are often made between Tarot cards and Zodiac or alchemical symbols; whether or not you accept this in your own reading is a matter for personal choice.

The Tarot symbolism is flexible enough to suit a wide variety of beliefs and interests and there are probably just as many ways to read them as there are different packs. If you want to take it up, it’s important to find a deck whose artwork fits in with your personal values.

The Major Arcana

The cards of the major arcana, in order, are: