The history of tarot is fairly complex, with many twists and turns, according to historians. However, if we maintain a high-level overview, it can be explained rather easily.
The Origins of Tarot
The earliest evidence of tarot cards that we can find takes us to the early 15th century in northern Italy. Ordinary playing cards preexist tarot, but the adding in of the “fifth suit” of cards is traced back to the year 1420 or so. These cards are the predecessors of what we call the Major Arcana today. They were intended to be a set of trump cards to be played with a regular deck of 56 playing cards in a game called Tarrochi, which is still played today and is very much like Bridge.
Northern Italy was a manufacturing mecca for the creation of these types of cards. However, the number of trump cards varied by manufacturer, as did the order of the cards. They were often unnumbered and unnamed, so our understanding of the order that some decks were created in is often vague. Incidentally, The Fool card was often treated not so much as a trump card but as a sort of wild card in these decks.
We’re blessed to have some very famous examples of these ancient decks because the very wealthy would commission artists to hand-paint the cards for them. These decks were considered works of art that were cared for and passed down through generations. Decks that were created via the printing press have rarely survived, and there are few examples of those cards.
Italians loved their tarot cards, and the business of creating them was robust! Tarot then spread to France when that country seized control of Milan in 1499. Within 20 years, Marseilles had become the center of tarot manufacturing in France. Slowly, not only did the cards get their numbering and naming conventions, but the order of the cards and the construction of the Major Arcana had largely become consistent. So, too, had most of the symbolism in the cards.
Tarot as a Divinatory Tool
There’s evidence that ordinary playing cards were used for divinatory purposes earlier than the existence of tarot. This leads us to believe that tarot could have been used as a divination tool from its beginnings, in addition to being a playing-card game.
In the late 18th and early 19th centuries, alternative forms of spirituality became all the rage in France. Stories of tarot originating in ancient Egypt and then being brought to Europe by gypsies were spread in the streets, even though there’s no evidence that this is true. Men who claimed to be able to read ancient Egyptian identified and attributed secret messages to the tarot, which were later found to be completely false by those who could decipher the language.
It’s also important to note that there was no paper in ancient Egypt. When this was pointed out to those who were spreading the stories, they then claimed that the images were printed in Egypt on gold or other precious surfaces. Again, no evidence of this has ever been found. Still, these stories captured the public’s imagination and led to the sense of secrecy and mystery surrounding tarot.
In the late 19th century, some secret societies claimed tarot as part of their teachings, using them in initiation ceremonies and in the training of their members. This further compounded the sense of fear and suspicion around tarot. It wasn’t the cards themselves creating this fear; it was the people who were using them! Astrology, numerology, and other mystical arts were linked to individual cards in the tarot by these groups.
Two members of a secret society worked together to create a famous deck called the Rider-Waite Tarot. Arthur Edward Waite partnered with artist Pamela Coleman Smith to create this groundbreaking deck. (The word Rider referred to the publishing company of the deck at that time.)
Overflowing with symbolism and hidden meanings, this deck came out in 1909 and was heavily influenced by the Marseilles decks of France. The images were often tragic, if not outright frightening, and also difficult to understand.
It was at this time that Waite did the unconventional and flipped the positions of the Justice card and the Strength card in his deck, a departure from the way they’d been for centuries. He did this to line up the cards astrologically in a manner that he preferred. Incidentally, many tarotists today refer to this deck as the Waite-Smith deck in order to give credit to the artist for her part in its creation.
Alternative spirituality was also on the wane at this time, so tarot wasn’t moving around in the circles of greater society. When people did see the cards, it was at a county fair being displayed at the booth of a fortune teller. The mystery and fear surrounding tarot was further compounded by the development of the movie industry. Tarot cards were never seen being used by average people seeking enlightenment, but rather were featured as tools of unscrupulous mediums who frightened those seeking advice by revealing fear-provoking images.
Time for a Change
As the decades marched on, many new interpretations of tarot were created. However, most of these decks followed the Rider-Waite deck very closely; the imagery and wording rarely changed. These new decks largely provided a new artist’s interpretation, or were novelty decks reflecting a theme such as the Victorian Age or perhaps the time of King Arthur. By the year 2000, the options were endless. And yet, many of these decks were even more frightening and distressing than the centuries-old ones!
Many sensitive people were fascinated by tarot and wished to take advantage of this amazing tool, but their searches through the shelves of metaphysical bookstores left them feeling that there was just too much fear displayed on the cards.
Doreen: I’d been using tarot cards for my readings with clients before Hay House published my first deck of Healing with the Angels Oracle Cards. When I used tarot cards, I threw away the Minor Arcana cards and the frightening Major Arcana cards. By connecting with the angels and the remaining nine or ten tarot cards that I used, I was able to give very detailed and accurate readings.
Still, I dreamed of creating an angel-based tarot deck. I envisioned tarot cards based upon the original system of 78 cards. Yet, in my vision, there would be no scary symbols, images, or words in this gentle deck of angel tarot cards. Yet I knew that I couldn’t create this deck alone. I needed to work with a tarot expert who also had a strong connection with the angels. Enter my friend Radleigh Valentine.
I first met Radleigh when he took my Angel Therapy Practitioner® course in Laguna Beach, California. We became instant friends, and he soon joined my staff, where he helped with Angel Therapy Practitioner courses for many years. Radleigh was well known in that circle for his work with tarot and astrology. He even taught the graduates of the Angel Therapy Practitioner program all-day classes about tarot. He was also a CPA, although he eventually gave up accounting work in favor of giving angel readings.
One day, I had a clear vision of Radleigh co-authoring a gentle deck of Angel Tarot Cards with me. I was scheduled to sign books in Denver, Colorado, where Radleigh lives, so when I approached him with the project in 2011, he was elated because his vision was to demystify tarot and make it accessible to everyone.
Working with artist Steve A. Roberts, the two of us removed frightening words and images and replaced them with vocabulary and artwork that retained the depth and accuracy of tarot. After all, the cards are truth-tellers, but always in a kind and loving way. They were never meant to be frightening!
After centuries of secrecy and darkness, tarot has been brought back out into the light where anyone can use the cards to get answers and guidance from Heaven and the angels.
