The history of the Tarot is a hotly debated issue amongst Tarot enthusiasts, despite its having little bearing on understanding or reading the Tarot itself. The Tarot has endured numerous issues throughout the history of the system that we are aware of and continues to amaze and enchant, even without a clear understanding of its origins. Despite this, some authors and students seem fixated on establishing a glorious occult history behind the Tarot in order to validate the system.
There have been attempts to attribute the Tarot, either in its modern state or the basis for its symbols, to ancient cultures, such as that of Egypt. Modern interpretations of the Tarot have even gone as far as reworking the symbols to directly make this link. However, there is no hard evidence that this is the case. The only tentative connection that can be made between the Tarot and the practices of ancient Egypt is through the reflection of occult ideas which may have had their origins in that culture, carried forward in time in many forms, and eventually expressed in the Tarot system. This is akin to saying that the French Leer jet was of American origin, because the Wright Brothers first accomplished flying a motorized manned vehicle at Kitty Hawk. Even more fanciful explanations, such as originations in Atlantis, should be totally disregarded. The Tarot history and mythology is muddled enough without further confusion from other myths.
The Tarot is, of course, an allegorical system. Those symbols, however, are universal in nature, and thus can easily be attributed to a variety of cultures. That is the beauty of the Tarot; the images can be accurately interpreted by nearly anyone, no matter what their nationality or level of experience in the occult.
In actuality, no Tarot cards exist which predate the 14th century. The images themselves have a medieval flavor, reflecting structural symbolism that was prevalent in those times, and imagery which was common in medieval life. If Tarot images had predated this era, we should expect to find some evidence of their existence, even if reflected in the imagery used in later designs. The original designs reflected the imagery of the times, thus we can assume that the designers, having nothing from the past to draw from, instead drew from the world around them.
As the Tarot developed, Renaissance imagery was added, reflecting the contemporary models of the image represented. It is doubtful, however, that the Tarot arose whole and complete in the 14th century. A working system would take decades to develop into the format which was then familiar even in the 14th century. It can logically be assumed that the Tarot could have begun as early as the 11th century, with the modern form with which we are familiar coming into existence no earlier than the mid 12th century. The earliest known cards link the Tarot to an Italian origin but did not become readily available to the general populace until the mid 1700s.
A.E. Waite was one of the first cartomancers to attempt to create a unified system for Tarot design. His system, however, was full of flaws, made obvious to anyone who understood the spiritual evolution expressed by the ordered Major Arcana. These flaws, such as the transposition of the 8th and 11th card, may have been purely accidental, or it may have been an intentional effort to obscure the potential of the Tarot in the hands of the uninitiated. Waite further obscured the meaning of the Tarot through his overt effort to attribute Egyptian origins to his images. Sadly, most modern students begin by investing their money in the Waite set or one based upon it, and either give up the Tarot in frustration or discover the truth.
Aleister Crowely goes largely unmentioned in most histories of the Tarot, despite the invaluable information he brought to light about the system. Crowley publicly corrected many of the Tarot mistakes made in the Waite systems, which, along with his reputation, might explain why most experts on the Tarot choose to overlook his contributions. The Thoth Set brings to us its own flaws, with renditions of the images; while beautiful, often so full of obscure occult references that the meaning of the original image is hopelessly lost. This would prove to be the case with many future renditions of the Tarot; the original designs would often be completely abandoned in order to suit the perspectives of the designers.
Numerous other sets have since been designed and books written on the Tarot, with no more light being shed toward its origins. In modern times, other divinatory systems have been added to the Tarot format, or even created outright and hailed as the next, best thing. This process, while making a wonderland of images and sets for the collector, has done little for the Tarot and its students.
A Theory of Origins
Numerous theories about the Tarot's origins have been suggested, some fanciful, some practical. Others have attempted to suggest a great occult link between the Tarot and ancient civilizations as a means to validate the Tarot as a tool. These suggestions range from ascribing, with some difficulty, origins in Ancient Egyptian history and mythology to completely fantastic origins in Atlantis or other mythological societies. More practical minds suggest that the Tarot is nothing more than an extension of typical playing cards, a theory itself as unlikely as one of Atlantean origins. The Tarot is a tool created for a purpose, and understanding that purpose could help illuminate the Tarot's value.
In ancient Rome, Christianity was an outlawed cult. Christians were forced to practice their religion in secret, often in the guise of other, similar religions, going as far as adapting the symbols of those religions to their purposes. This was a common practice for outlawed cults in numerous societies, taking the symbols of an authorized practice and using it to obscure the practices and beliefs of the non-sanctioned religion. Christians often adapted symbols and stories of Apollo to reflect the allegorical tales of Jesus of Nazareth. The symbols of the Apostles are themselves alchemic symbols of the four elements. This practice of obfuscation allowed the Christians to practice their beliefs in secret and deny any wrongdoing when discovered. It also helped convert Pagans to the fledgling religion, as they would find their former beliefs reflected in the stories of that religion.
The oppression of other religions became even more radical when the Christians came to power in the Roman Empire under Constantine. Pagan religions all over Europe where driven underground, and the followers of those beliefs where forced to either adapt of be destroyed. In many cases, the practices and symbols of those cultures where also adapted by the missionaries in their attempt to convert the Pagans to Christianity, just as during the conversion of Rome. Those cultures would often continue to practice their beliefs and customs, openly and in secret, through the cross adaptation of their religious symbols. Christian religious practices are immersed in this process, from the conversion of Pagan Gods into saints to the blatantly Pagan symbols in Christmas celebrations.
It has been suggested that the Pagan religions are less valid than Christian or other major religions because they lack any common documentation delineating their beliefs and practices. Pagans do lack any great religious written work. This is not difficult to understand with the majority of Pagan cultures being illiterate and their histories being oral. It is interesting to note that those who make this argument would also invalidate the religions of Ancient Egypt, despite those practices being well documented on the walls of the pyramids and other monuments. The Tarot, however, may provide documentation of Pagan beliefs oppressed by the Christian Church.
The 22 images of the Major Arcana, when placed in order, present a story which has been interpreted as representing the spiritual evolution of the individual. Certain ideas are presented in the Tarot which are integral to that development; the cycles of death and re-birth, the ideas of unity between spirit and flesh, the embracing of the physical as equal in value to the spiritual. These ideals could not be openly expressed in the oppressive environment of Christian Europe, but the images could easily be interpreted as reminders of the Pagan oral tradition, even by the illiterate followers of those beliefs. Furthermore, the 22 images did not have to be read in order, but could be re-ordered to express a number of different allegorical tales, taken individually or in groups. Even the individual cards could be used as keys reflecting familiar stories from the Pagan traditions.
It is apparent that, over the course of their development, the Tarot images have had Christians symbols added. This was most likely to make their presence more acceptable amongst the populace. Standard playing cards represented the life of the court and allowed games to be played which represented courtly affairs. The images of the Tarot could easily be passed off as simply images of everyday life, with cards like the Lovers representing the chivalrous treatment of women, or Aeon the coming judgment. In this way, students of the occult could pass off their studies as simply "playing cards," although this practice could have also lead to the idea that playing cards was a sinful frivolity. Furthermore, when we look at the potential time of the development of the Tarot, around the 12th and 13th centuries, we see not only the possibility for sets to be made, but also the environment for them to be necessary to this cause under the Inquisition.
The Tarot may have, in its own way, helped keep alive the Pagan ideals of pre-Christian Europe. While the direct link between those times and the students of the Tarot may have been lost, the bourgeois and aristocratic dabblers of the occult would have found the cards and interpreted the symbols even without the aid of a teacher, which is why the Tarot has enjoyed such success. The process of discovering the past in the Tarot could have also lead to the idea that the future could be discovered in those images, as it is in knowing the past that one can recognize cycles that could repeat. While the theory is based on speculation, its evidence is observable in the cards.
Modern Practice
The Tarot came into vogue with other parlor games in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, although it had been a part of the popular conscious for a much longer period. In those days, the Tarot was a typical part of the "swami" routine, with most so-called spiritualists being nothing but charlatans who helped escalate the misconception that the Tarot is purely used for divination. This blurred the more practical use of the cards as a tool for introspection.
With the coming of World War II and the very public knowledge of Adolph Hitler's interest in the occult, the Tarot fell out of the popular mainstream and was regulated to primarily a Hollywood prop in B horror films until the 1960s. It was in the 60s that all things spiritual were taken back off the shelf to be re-examined.
The so called "Age of Aquarius" brought the Tarot into the hands of both the enlightened and unenlightened alike, creating not only a boom in Tarot study and available information, but also big business for the charlatans out to make a buck producing cheap varied, and obscure sets which only further blurred meaning of the images. Still, with some ebb and flow relative to the times, the Tarot has remained a part of the popular psyche.
Modern cartomancers have stepped away from the ideas of the Tarot being used for purely divination and have begun to explore deeply the Tarot's value in meditation and spiritual understanding. Modern Tarot sets have become more varied, with new additions attempting to incorporate other occult tools and schools of thought into the Tarot system. However, the information on the Tarot has become more honest in the same period of time, as authors begin to take a responsibility for their craft. This provides the student with some hope of at least separating the wheat from the chafe, and discovering for themselves the Tarot and its potential.