What Is Tarot?

Definition

Tarot is a set of 78 cards used for both card games and divination (fortune-telling). The deck is divided into two main groups: 22 trump cards known as the Major Arcana, and 56 suit cards known as the Minor Arcana. The term "tarot" (pronounced /ˈtæroʊ/) derives from the Italian tarocchi, which itself evolved from the earlier Italian word trionfi (meaning "triumphs" or "trumps").

"Tarot (/ˈtæroʊ/, first known as trionfi) and later as tarocchi or tarocks is a set of playing cards used in Tarot card games and fortune-telling or divination. From at least the mid-15th century, the tarot was used to play trick-taking card games."
— Wikipedia, "Tarot"
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tarot

Structure of the Deck

The standard tarot deck consists of 78 cards organized into two groups:

Major Arcana (22 cards)

The 22 Major Arcana cards represent life's karmic and spiritual lessons. They depict archetypal figures and universal themes — the Emperor, the Devil, the Fool, the Sun, the Moon, the Star, Strength, the Tower, and Death, among others. These cards are numbered from 0 (The Fool) to XXI (The World) and are considered the core narrative backbone of the deck.

"The 22 Major Arcana cards represent life's karmic and spiritual lessons. They represent a path to spiritual self-awareness and depict the various stages we encounter as we search for greater meaning and understanding."
— Biddy Tarot, "Tarot Card Meanings"
Source: https://www.biddytarot.com/tarot-card-meanings/

Minor Arcana (56 cards)

The 56 Minor Arcana cards reflect the trials and tribulations of daily life. They are divided into four suits:

• Swords — associated with thoughts, intellect, and the element of Air
• Cups — associated with emotions, relationships, and the element of Water
• Pentacles (Coins) — associated with material aspects, finances, and the element of Earth
• Wands (Batons) — associated with actions, creativity, and the element of Fire

Each suit contains 10 numbered cards (Ace through Ten) and 4 court cards (Page, Knight, Queen, King), for a total of 14 cards per suit.

"The 56 Minor Arcana cards reflect the trials and tribulations that we experience on a daily basis. These Tarot cards highlight the more practical aspects of life and can refer to current issues that have a temporary or minor influence."
— Biddy Tarot, "Tarot Card Meanings"
Source: https://www.biddytarot.com/tarot-card-meanings/

"Rather than using the French suits of spades, clubs, hearts and diamonds that are more commonly known in England, tarot cards use the Italian suits of swords, cups, coins, and batons or wands. In tarot today, the suits are understood to represent aspects of life or the four elements – swords (thoughts or air), cups (emotions or water), coins/pentacles (material aspects or earth), and batons/wands (actions or fire)."
— Victoria and Albert Museum, "A history of tarot cards"
Source: https://www.vam.ac.uk/articles/tarot-cards

Origins and History

15th-Century Italy: A Card Game

Tarot originated in 15th-century Italy as a trick-taking card game played by the nobility. The earliest surviving tarot cards are hand-painted and gilded Italian cards from the 1490s. The oldest known tarot deck — the incomplete Visconti di Modrone deck — has been dated to between 1437 and 1442 through advanced imaging techniques and watermark analysis.

"The elusive origin of tarot has been variously traced back to India, Egypt, and to the invention of papermaking and playing cards in China and Korea in the early 12th century. It was not until the 15th century that tarot entered Europe, most likely through the ports of Venice at the height of maritime trade."
— Victoria and Albert Museum, "A history of tarot cards"
Source: https://www.vam.ac.uk/articles/tarot-cards

"Researchers from Yale managed to discern stationers' watermarks to definitively date one of the world's oldest tarot decks to an impressively narrow range, between 1437 and 1442."
— Smithsonian Magazine, "The Colorful History of Tarot Is as Mesmerizing as the Decks Themselves"
Source: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/colorful-history-tarot-mesmerizing-decks-themseles-180986811

The Visconti-Sforza decks, commissioned for the wedding of the daughter of Filippo Maria Visconti (Duke of Milan) to Francesco Sforza, offer the earliest blueprint for modern tarot. Physical evidence — worn edges, lost pigments, separating layers, and replacement cards — confirms these were used for actual gameplay, not merely displayed as art.

"Pozzi's research has shown that the surviving cards bear signs of regular use: worn edges, lost pigments, separating layers. Her lab has confirmed that several cards are replacements, suggesting that their owners wanted a full deck, and corroborating the idea that these cards were meant for gaming."
— Smithsonian Magazine, "The Colorful History of Tarot Is as Mesmerizing as the Decks Themselves"
Source: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/colorful-history-tarot-mesmerizing-decks-themseles-180986811

From Card Game to Divination (18th Century)

In the late 18th century, tarot cards began to be used for fortune-telling. In 1770, Jean-Baptiste Alliette (writing under the pseudonym Etteilla) published one of the world's first guides to cartomancy. Around the same time, French pastor Antoine Court de Gébelin proposed (without evidence) that tarot contained ancient Egyptian wisdom, sparking a European craze for occult interpretations of the cards.

"In the late 18th century, tarot cards began to be used for fortune-telling. In the 1770s, self-proclaimed master of cartomancy Etteilla (born Jean-Baptiste Alliette) created the first deck of cards to be used specifically for divination."
— Victoria and Albert Museum, "A history of tarot cards"
Source: https://www.vam.ac.uk/articles/tarot-cards

The Occult Era (19th–20th Century)

In 1861, French occultist Eliphas Lévi published Dogma et Rituel de la haute magie, transforming tarot from a parlour game into an esoteric tool. Lévi introduced the terms "Major Arcana" and "Minor Arcana" and connected tarot to Kabbalah and numerology.

In 1888, the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn was formed in Britain. Members Arthur Edward Waite and Pamela Colman Smith collaborated to create the Rider-Waite-Smith deck, first published in 1909 — the first deck with fully illustrated pip (numbered) cards, enabling intuitive reading. It remains the most widely used tarot deck in the English-speaking world.

"In 1861, French occultist Eliphas Levi (born Alphonse Louis Constant) published his book Dogma et Rituel de la haute magie, turning tarot from a fun fortune-telling parlour game to an esoteric tool for serious occultists... Levi also introduced the terms 'Major' and 'Minor Arcana' to refer to the trump cards and the pip cards respectively."
— Victoria and Albert Museum, "A history of tarot cards"
Source: https://www.vam.ac.uk/articles/tarot-cards

"The Rider Waite Smith tarot deck, featuring iconic artwork by Colman Smith, was first published in 1909. It was the first deck to have fully illustrated pip cards which could be read intuitively."
— Victoria and Albert Museum, "A history of tarot cards"
Source: https://www.vam.ac.uk/articles/tarot-cards

Tarot as a Tool for Self-Reflection

In modern practice, tarot is used not only for divination but also as a tool for self-reflection, meditation, and personal growth. The psychiatrist Carl Jung attributed the suggestive power of tarot's imagery to its use of "psychological images" — archetypal symbols that can take on infinite meanings in combination.

"The psychiatrist Carl Jung in 1933 attributed the suggestive power of tarot's imagery to its use of 'psychological images'—archetypal symbols, like crumbling towers and stumbling fools, that can take on infinite meanings in combination with each other."
— Smithsonian Magazine, "The Colorful History of Tarot Is as Mesmerizing as the Decks Themselves"
Source: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/colorful-history-tarot-mesmerizing-decks-themseles-180986811

"The tarot is a deck of 78 picture cards that has been used for centuries to reveal hidden truths... More and more people are seeking ways to blend inner and outer realities so they can live their lives more creatively. They have discovered in the tarot a powerful tool for personal growth and insight."
— Joan Bunning, LearnTarot.com
Source: https://www.learntarot.com/

"You do not have to have 'psychic powers' to use the tarot successfully. All you need is the willingness to honor and develop your natural intuition."
— Joan Bunning, LearnTarot.com
Source: https://www.learntarot.com/

Tarot in the Modern Era

In recent years, there has been a significant resurgence of interest in tarot, including new online communities and a proliferation of independently designed decks. While the traditional symbology remains, artists and designers have reimagined and reinterpreted the visual language of tarot for contemporary audiences.

"In recent years there has been a resurgence of interest in tarot, including new online communities. Although the traditional symbology remains, artists and designers have reimagined and reinterpreted the visual language of tarot."
— Victoria and Albert Museum, "A history of tarot cards"
Source: https://www.vam.ac.uk/articles/tarot-cards

Debates and Different Perspectives

Origin: Game vs. Esoteric Tool

There is ongoing scholarly debate about whether the earliest tarot decks were created purely as card games or whether they contained hidden esoteric meaning from the start.

View 1: Tarot began as a card game

"Tarot is a game of trick taking, as the many trump cards clearly indicate, and even though there are many variations (mostly minor), the rules of the game likely have not changed significantly since the 15th century. The present-day association of tarot with fortune-telling and the occult gained currency only later."
— The Metropolitan Museum of Art, "Before Fortune-Telling: The History and Structure of Tarot Cards"
Source: https://www.metmuseum.org/perspectives/tarot-2

View 2: Tarot contained esoteric meaning from the beginning

"For Adams, that oddness suggests that there is a foundational purpose to these cards other than simple entertainment. After all, tarot emerged during a very specific point in European history, when the wealthy courts of Renaissance Italy were retaining armies of scholars to recover hidden wisdom from ancient texts."
— Smithsonian Magazine, "The Colorful History of Tarot Is as Mesmerizing as the Decks Themselves"
Source: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/colorful-history-tarot-mesmerizing-decks-themseles-180986811

View 3: Tarot as a "mystical ladder" (scala mistica)

"Some scholars, like the tarot historian Andrea Vitali, argue the figures on such cards were meant to offer a scala mistica, or mystical ladder, instructing wayward gamblers in moral and ethical precepts—or else perhaps satirizing those precepts by allowing fools and lovers to trump popes."
— Smithsonian Magazine, "The Colorful History of Tarot Is as Mesmerizing as the Decks Themselves"
Source: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/colorful-history-tarot-mesmerizing-decks-themseles-180986811

Egyptian Origin Myth

The claim that tarot originated in ancient Egypt — popularized by Court de Gébelin in the 1770s — has been thoroughly debunked by modern scholarship.

"Court de Gébelin's entirely speculative account, which counted Louis XVI among its readers, spurred a European craze for all things ancient and Egyptian—and forever tied the origin myth of tarot with the stereotype of 'Gypsy' fortune-tellers... In reality, 'there is absolutely no evidence for Roma in the origin of tarot cards, or for any significant role in their spread,' says Egil Asprem, a professor at Stockholm University."
— Smithsonian Magazine, "The Colorful History of Tarot Is as Mesmerizing as the Decks Themselves"
Source: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/colorful-history-tarot-mesmerizing-decks-themseles-180986811

Summary

Sources consulted: Victoria and Albert Museum (vam.ac.uk), Smithsonian Magazine (smithsonianmag.com), Biddy Tarot (biddytarot.com), LearnTarot.com by Joan Bunning, The Metropolitan Museum of Art (metmuseum.org), Wikipedia.