History of Tarot

The history of the tarot is obscure. It originated thousands of years ago, and directly related to a system of theosophy known as the Quabbalah. The Quabbalah (or Cabbala) is the name of the Jewish oral tradition or esoteric doctrine.

Many people who have studied the origins of the Tarot believe that the Chinese system whereby numerous sticks, each painted with characters and possessing its own unique meaning, were handed around in a thin box or holder. Each person in the room selected on stick, similar to a thin chopstick. The stick selected related to its holders immediate situation.

These sticks still found in China and in the temples of Thailand, are a popular way for locals to solve problems. Temple visitors give a donation to the temple, select one stick and meditate upon its inscription.

The Tarot surfaced in this current form in fourteenth century Italy as a game called Tarocci. The French adaptation of the world was Tarot. Modern Italian playing cards still display the symbols of Wands, Cups, Swords and Pentacles.

The Church of Rome attempted to quell those philosophies and theosophies it felt were growing in direct competition to it, and the Tarot was outlawed as a method of divination. The Church leaders feared that the Tarot might put the power of God into the hands of men.

However, as with all beliefs which are based upon universal truths, the Tarot has survived. In fact, the Vatican has the largest occult library in the world today, collected mostly during the twelfth, thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. Count Louis Hamon, in his book Confessions: Memoirs of a Modern Seer, writes of the afternoon he spent exploring the Vatican library, after a 90-minute conversation with Pope Leo XIII, a keen numerologist. He describes rooms full of priceless books, written in many languages.

Many of the popular Tarot packs in use today originated with members of a group called The Golden Dawn, founded in England in 1888 as a secret magical fraternity.

Its members are credited with designing three Tarot packs. These are the Thoth Deck, by Aleister Crowley, the Golden Dawn Deck, by Israel Regardie, illustrated by Robert Wang, and the Rider-Waite Deck, by Arthur Edward Waite, and illustrated by Pamela Coleman Smith. We at ISHTAR use the Rider-Waite Tarot Deck.