The Tarot card deck is consisting of 78 cards. For centuries, these cards were used for fortune telling. The official history of tarot is very controversial. Many claim that medieval versions date back to the early 1400s and due to the Italian imagery used in these versions, many say that they have Italian origins. Others state that the real origins of tarot cards are in China or Egypt. Throughout history, the gypsies were associated to these decks of cards because of their fortune telling uses, and, the gypsies are known to be masters of the fortune telling art. Even if they had nothing to do with the creation of the cards, they certainly had a word to say in the spreading of tarot cards.
Deepening the mystery, tarot cards are associated with Cabbalistic or Kabalistic philosophy. Although agreement of the history and origin of the cards is not to be found, it can be agreed that the tarot is a very popular mysterious oracle.
The tarot deck features 78 cards of which 22 comprise the major arcana and 56 form the minor arcana. The 22 major arcana cards supposedly depict a journey through one’s life. The range of cards begin with the fool card and ends with a cards called The World. Some interpretations reveal that this is the road of life, and some clergy have said that these cards represent the road to hell, and even the devil. The Devil is a card in the major arcane, but rather than Satan, it depicts enslavement, addiction and even misdirection. The Death card is another widely misunderstood card. It does not refer to the physical body’s death, but merely change and transformation of some kind. The fool cards are the predecessors of the Joker cards we discard before shuffling most decks for a game.
The minor arcana has the closest resemblance to our modern playing cards deck. It contains four suites that correspond to any game playing deck you may have around the house. These suits are Wands, the correspondent of Clubs, Cups, the equivalent of Hearts, the Pentacles, our modern day Diamonds and the Swords, correspondent of Spades. Also present are the Queen, King and Knight (or Jack) of each suit, plus the addition of Pages, which resemble young men, or women of court, which are not represented in the modern playing deck.
There are many decks available, from the “mainstream’’ Rider-Waite deck, which evolved in the early 1900s to tarot cards with woodland images for Pagans, feline images for Cat lovers, as well as pictures of beautiful lands both real and imagined. The decks come with complete instructions and meanings for all of the cards, so the true mystery of the tarot can be as easy as trying it for yourself, if you’re game.