Original Major Arcana And Tarot Card Readings

By Christopher Hill


Tarot cards originated as far back as 1440 in Italy with the original 22 cards of the Major Arcana when the first deck appeared. In most cases, the Italian decks were called "Visconti Trumps" and are often considered the forefathers of the decks which are now available. Whereas, readers often now use a number of different decks to gain as much insight out of tarot card readings as possible.

Rumors have suggested that the Italian cards with all the beauty and symbolism were created with royalty in mind. Whereas, it was not until much later that the cards became popular and associated with psychic readings and divination. Once the cards were more accepted and used for divination, readings and personal insight became associated with entertainment as much as the occult.

Eventually, the Trumps became the standard playing cards among the Nobles. Before this time, those whom played the Trump cards in various games often had to decide whether to hold, discard or substitute other cards. Most nobles of the time saw the Tower, Devil and Death cards as being offensive, thus these cards were often discarded. For, it was believed that the souls of those playing such cards would be won by the Devil.

It was not so much the meanings which have been tied to the cards imagery rather the titles which were offensive. In fact, there were times when religious leaders attempted to have these cards banished. It was a sermon by an Italian Franciscan Friar which caused the belief that the cards were inventions whom the devil named the Death, Tower and Devil, the latter being a self-titled namesake.

Even when using the cards for a simple game, the Friar suggested the devil was using the cards to win the souls of the people who played games with the Trump cards. As such, the sermon condemned the use of the cards whether for games or other purposes.

Tarot readings and the use of decks for divination was in large part brought about by Antoine Court de Gebelin in the late 1700s. For, de Gebelin believed the cards to be of Egyptian origin while containing knowledge of Egyptian mystical lore. In addition, Antoine believed that the imagery was intentionally included and placed on specific cards in association with this lore and wisdom. For, unlike the Friar, Antoine saw no connection between tarot and Satan.

Antoine held a strong belief that tarot cards were keys to the lost mystical wisdom of the ages, originally produced and written by the Egyptian God of writing, Thoth. It was from this point that the Major Arcana started to evolve into cards which would later be produced and distributed by secret societies. Since that time, a number of psychics, mediums, mystics, and spiritualists have created decks on a number of topics.

Originally regular playing cards were often used in place of the Trumps or full decks. In fact, the symbolism in most modern decks is actually based on the face and suit cards of regular decks. As such, regardless of whether playing with a regular deck or one authored by an artist or writer, the meaning behind the different suits are often the same, if not similar in nature.




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