Seventy-eight cards, six centuries of pictures.
The history and symbolism of tarot as an object of art: the Italian card game it began as, the Major and Minor Arcana, and the decks of Marseille and Rider–Waite–Smith. No readings, no predictions.
From Trionfi to Tarot: A Card Game Before a Mystery
Tarot began as a deck for playing a game in fifteenth-century Italy. Its reputation as a book of hidden wisdom came centuries later.
OriginsXXIThe Major Arcana: Twenty-Two Allegories
The named picture cards are the part of tarot most people recognise. They began as the trumps of a card game and became a gallery of allegories.
TrumpsIVThe Four Suits of the Minor Arcana
Most of a tarot deck is made of ordinary suit cards. They are the link between tarot and the playing cards in a kitchen drawer.
SuitsMCMIXThe Rider–Waite–Smith Deck: How a 1909 Pack Became the Default
For English speakers, the image of tarot is usually the Rider–Waite–Smith deck. Its look comes from an artist whose name was long left off the box.
Deck historyXVIIIThe Tarot de Marseille: The Pattern Behind the Legend
Before the Rider–Waite–Smith deck, the standard tarot in France was a woodcut-style pattern that card players used for games, and that occultists later read as a secret book.
Deck historyXChance, Shuffling and Reflection: What Cards Can and Cannot Do
A shuffled deck produces a random order. That is a useful prompt for thinking, and it is not a forecast.
Chance