The myth and mystery of tarot cards is the driving force of their rise in popularity. Lately, more and more people are showing interest in the readings of tarot cards as new generations are finding the whole segment rather appealing. The whole movement around tarot cards is based right alongside the mystery it portrays and the need to find out as much as possible about our future. The uncertainty is what makes everything even more interesting, and the idea of getting an insight into the unknown is rather desired by many.

But tarot cards were not always associated with reading what the future holds for us, and fortune-tellers were not using these cards way back in the past. Seeing all of this, it creates a spark in our curious side as we want to take a look at the beginning of tarot cards and really grasp the idea of their popularity in the modern world. That is the sole reason why we have decided on creating a complete historical guide of the tarot cards. So, let’s begin.

The Beginning

Tarot cards have started as a pack of playing cards that were used in the middle of the 15^th century, mostly in various countries in Europe. These cards were used to play card games like Italian tarocchini, Austrian Königrufen, and French tarot, most of which are still played today. With the rise of divination, which means to look for the meaning of the unknown, the playing purpose of tarot cards was slowly shifting into this direction and by the 18^th century tarot cards were used by fortune tellers to gain you an insight into your future by tarot readings.

Seeing the beginnings of tarot cards, we can notice that in the English-speaking countries, the tarot cards were not used as playing cards and their purpose was solely for divinatory. Tarot Explained can offer you a chance to see all of this in practice.

Tarot Gaming Decks

This was the original purpose of the tarot cards and it has many regional variations. The Italian-suited game is the oldest one and the occult tarot cards are based on these decks. Other variations of the tarot game include an Italo- Portuguese tarot deck, a French-suited tarot deck, and a German-suited tarot deck.

All of these deck have their significant differences and there are several types that have survived the period of time and are still played in today’s card games.

Tarot Occult Cards

When we are thinking about the real history of the tarot cards we know and love today, we are thinking about the occult variation of the tarot game cards. As previously mentioned this tarot variation originated back to the oldest tarot card game, the Italian-suited game. The cards were adapted and often varied from religion to religion, but we can notice that today, in this modern world the tarot cards have a rather generalized meaning.

In the mid-1400s, Italian artists were taking interest in the tarot game cards and stared painting additional cards with impressive illustrations to function as an extension to the existing tarot decks. These cards were only painted for the wealthiest members of the society which often looked for talented artists and paid them to create their personalized deck of tarot cards that featured their family member and their closest friends.

Later on, divination has started to become more and more popular and people were really showing their interest in finding the answers to what will eventually happen to them. In the late 16^th and early 17^th century card games and divination have started to intertwine and we can see the beginning of the tarot readings as we know it today. But, it is important to note that those first readings were drastically different as they used simple methods for their readings.

We have seen that up until the 18^th century tarot readings are considered fairly simple, however, by the 18^th century, people were slowly assigning specific meanings to each card.

Seeing how tarot cards progressed from simple playing card games to a fortune reading purpose we have nothing but appreciation to the outstanding meanings and design of the cards themselves. Many adaptations were made, and it is impressive that they are still thriving with popularity among new generations. There is something truly mystical about the tarot cards.

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