We often think of the origin of the Tarot as an ancient mystical thing, but it actually isn’t that old. The first Tarot-like deck was made around the 1400s, and for centuries, the Tarot was just a card game, and not used for divination at all.
But before the Tarot deck could exist in the first place, something so mundane you may not even think of it had to happen first.
The Invention of Paper in China
We take paper for granted today. Consequently, it’s really hard to imagine a time when it didn’t exist.
Paper was invented in China in 100 BCE where it began to be used for many new things: wrapping, tea bags, books, money, game pieces, and even toilet paper (finally!) While papyrus, bamboo, and silk were also used around the same time for similar items, these materials were very fragile.
Paper’s first use in games was as a cheaper substitute for carved wood and stone game pieces. It was quickly discovered that these new game pieces could be thin, stackable and have illustrations on them.
The first cards were born.
Playing Cards Arrive in Europe
When paper playing cards finally arrived in Europe, playing card decks had already proliferated throughout Turkey, Persia, and the rest of the Middle East.
The first proto-Tarot decks that we know of are from the mid-1400s in Florence Italy and were certainly based on earlier Middle -Eastern card decks.
It was at this point in Italy that the additional suit of Triumphs was added to the other four suits of Cups, Staves (Wands), Swords, and Coins. The fifth suit was originally called “trionfi” meaning “triumphs” and comprised 22 individual illustrations. The emerging Tarot deck was now called carte da trionfi, or “triumph cards”
Why is it Called the “Tarot” Today?
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By the early 1500s, the deck was called “Tarocho” and “Tarochi in Italy, and “Taraux” in France, which evolved to the name we know today. No one really knows where the original word came from, but Robert Place, author of The Tarot: History, Symbolism, and Divination, has a plausible theory.
He writes, “One guess is that it’s derived from the name of the Taro river…in Northern Italy. Rivers like the Taro were a necessary source of power to turn the mill-wheels in the first paper mills. The Taro River might have been the center of a paper and card-making industry.”
Divine Intervention
One-of a kind handmade decks were made by artisans for wealthy clients, some of which survive today. The Tarot in this era was still a card game and not used for divination.
In the 1700s, the Tarot, formerly just a card game, became a means for divination using metaphor and imagery, potentially in response to a rising wave of writing thanks to the Renaissance and the printing press.
While the origin of the physical Tarot deck was rooted in card games, its meaning evolved in the 18th and 19th centuries, which saw a mystical resurgence that included the proliferation of secret societies, multiple new religions, and the rise of the occult.
All of these were often based on personal revelation and the mythical “golden age” when there was thought to be “one true religion” and language for all of humanity.
These in turn influenced many others, including Rudolf Steiner (who was the founder of the Waldorf education movement), the emerging ideas of personal intent in art and literature, and eventually the New Age in the twentieth century.
Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes
The names of the Tarot cards have always changed as the culture around it changed. In Italy in the 1700s, the Hanged Man card was called “The Traitor”. This was because the punishment for being a traitor was to be hung upside-down by one foot, which is the image on the card.
In France, they weren’t aware of this reference, not having that punishment, so there the card name was changed to “Le Pendu”, meaning “The Hanged Man” or “The Hanging One”.
Other cards were changed to reflect new inclinations that wished to eliminate Christian religious references.
Around 1800, Court de Gébelin commissioned an artist (known only as Mademoiselle Linote) to create Tarot deck illustrations to go with his writings and pontifications on the Tarot. In these illustrations, the “Papesse” and the “Pope” cards became the “High Priestess” and the “Hierophant”.
Card names have evolved in many decks today too. For example, the Motherpeace Tarot deck changes some of the card names to reflect the feminist focus of the deck. My own deck, the SparkTarot® has new names for about half of the cards.
People have always had a desire to play games and be entertained by each other. Likewise, seeing the future, or looking for a way forward is a constant desire for humanity.
The Tarot is one such magical portal, during a time where magic is just beginning to re-emerge. I’ve noticed that even those who don’t believe in magic somehow believe in the Tarot. Its history is still unfolding.
Source:
Place, Robert M. The Tarot: History, Symbolism, and Divination Penguin Books LTD, London, England 2005