You have to travel back at least 600 years to find the beginnings of Tarot! The deck of illustrated cards is used as a tool for divination, with each card creating a symbol invoking knowledge hidden within the psyche. Tarot is a mirror to our inner life, pointing to philosophy, psychology and spirituality.

Legend informs us that ancient Egyptians created a hieroglyphic book of seventy-eight tablets or Chaldean mystery religions, which formed the base knowledge for the Tarot. In addition to the Egyptian history, the Knights Templar, during and after the crusades, brought religious and philosophical beliefs back from India and China, adding to a rich history surrounding the Tarot.

Tarot was first created to encompass astrology, cabbala, numerology, alchemy, magic, mythology, Egyptology, religion, Christian mysticism, Eastern philosophy and psychology. The first Tarot deck appeared in the 15th century and included 22 major arcana cards and 56 minor arcana cards.

The earliest known Tarot deck was created before 1415. Francois Fibbia, the Prince of Pisa, while in exile, invented 40 numbered cards and 22 arcana cards. He died in 1415.

In the mid 1400s Bonifacio Bembo painted the tarocchi deck for the Visconti-Sforza family. The deck consisted of 22 large cards. Click the card to open a window with examples of the Visconti-Sforza cards »

Between 1470 and 1485, the Mantegna deck was introduced as numbered cards from 1­50, divided into 5 classes of 10 cards each. Each card is an image of the universal order as perceived at the time and portrays a sequence of evolutionary stages from the Prima Causa (creation) to the Beggar (fool). « Click the card to open a window with examples of the Mantegna cards.

At the end of the 15th century, the most popular deck was the Marseilles deck. The Fool card is unnumbered, while the major arcana cards have Roman numerals. This deck was the start of Tarot has we see it today. Click the card to open a window with examples of the Marseilles cards »

In 1725 to 1784, Court de Gébelin first advanced the thesis of an ancient Egyptian origin of Tarot in his books 'Monde Primitif' and 'Du Jeu des Tarots'. He claimed that the major arcana cards were symbolic of the stages of the Egyptian or Chaldean mysteries. The 22 major arcana were remnants of the Book of Thoth. In 1781, he created a deck of 78 cards, which is foundation of the modern Tarot deck.

In the 19th century, Eliphas Levi, philosopher and cabbalist, introduced the Hebrew alphabet. He believed that 22 letters of the Hebrew alphabet were an association to tree of life 22 paths between the 10 Sephiroth.

Between 1865-1917, Gerard Encausse, a member of the Rosicrucian and Masonic order, invented the Papus Tarot. « Click the card to open a window with examples of the Papus cards.

In 1910, Dr. Arthur Edward Waite, a member of Order of the Golden Dawn, invented the Rider Waite Deck. This deck was co-created and illustrated by Pamela Coleman Smith and has become the universal Tarot used all over the world. The deck is 78 cards and has images of hermetic and Rosicrucian images on each card. Click the card to open a window with examples of the Rider Waite cards »

The most controversial Tarot deck was invented by Aleister Crowley in the 1940s. The Thoth deck was illustrated by Lady Freida Harris including symbols of an Egyptian, Eastern, Greek, Medieval and Christian background. Aleister Crowley invented a Tarot deck that encompassed his own spiritual and philosophical beliefs « Click the card to open a window with examples of the Thoth cards.