The Tarot evokes a sense of awe…… and it comes to us through a most mysterious history. Who created these cards and for what purpose? No one knows the answer. The origins remain vague and elusive, despite a considerable number of books and articles which over decades have attempted to illuminate the darkness in which the cards are shrouded. The earliest surviving records in the West of any kind of cards date to medieval times (14th Century) when they appeared in Europe as a gambling device. Gambling was considered immoral and was banned by certain rulers and the Church, but, despite the bans, many of Europe’s royal houses commissioned card decks to be created for their amusement. By the late 15th Century several card decks had evolved, and the first documented Tarot decks (painted in Italy), spring from this period. There was no standard for these early decks and a great variety of designs were used. Even the number of cards differed from deck to deck, and by the 18th Century, a game called Tarot was played in Southern France, Spain, Italy, and Germany. The name Tarot is of uncertain origin, and may have come from the Italian word “tarocchi” or trumps. Tarot is a French derivative of tarocchi, and the guild of card makers of sixteenth-century Paris referred to themselves as “Tarotiers”. A German connection is also suggested from ‘tarock’, a German card game, and yet another theory originates from the small dots bordering early playing cards known as “tarots”. In the late 18th Century, Tarot cards were used by Gypsies for fortune telling. They wandered throughout Europe and England like nomads and were frequently credited with originating the cards and introducing them to Europe. Some say that the Tarot is the ancestor of modern playing cards, and others state that it began as a deck of 22 trumps, and sometime later came to include the 4 minor suits and court cards. Judging from the few cards that have survived from medieval times, both playing cards and Tarot cards have gone through many changes and influences since those early days. Writers on the subject of Tarot assigned the invention of the cards to a wide range of sources and while a great body of authentic lore has grown up around these remarkable cards, there is also certain amount of myth, and superstition, as well as several influences from different periods in history all of which can be seen depicted in the cards. Serious scholars and influential occultists over the last 200 years mention three main sources of the Tarot and each of these add depth and interest to the cards. They are all controversial theories, and despite extensive supporting literature none of them can be denied nor proven, and remain the subject of much examination and debate. Symbols and pictures from all the sources are found in most contemporary decks. 1. The Egyptian Theory: Some occultists theorized that the Gypsies had originated from Egypt bringing the cards with them, and that the cards embodied the secrets and wisdom of ancient Egypt. This idea was exotic and appealing and gained wide acceptance by several great occultists of the late 18th Century. However, this theory proved to be deceptive and far fetched especially in the light of more recent evidence of the Gypsies’ roots having come from India. The discovery of the Rosetta stone in 1799 and the lack of mention of the Tarot in its hieroglyphics forced occultists to look elsewhere. 2. The Kabbalah Connection. During the 19th Century the origins of the Tarot were attributed to the Kabbalah. (the mysticism of classical Judaism founded on the Torah (the first 5 books of the Bible). An important distinction must be made here between the true Jewish Kabbalah and other Kabbalahs. The Jewish Kabbalah dates from 100B.C and it has absolutely nothing to do with the Tarot. During the Renaissance, a hermetic Kabbalah was formed as an amalgam of the Jewish Kabbalah and the Hermetica. A Christian Kabbalah was also created to prove the divinity of Jesus. It mingled with the Hermetic Kabbalah and eventually most of the Christian elements were dropped. This Hermetic Kabbalah became the basis of the mainstream Western occultism and it reached its peak in the late 19th Century. Based on this theory the 22 cards of the Major Arcana were aligned with the 22 letters of the Hebrew Alphabet and the Tree of Life of the Jewish Kabbalah. The Minor Arcana (suits) were based on the four letters of the Hebrew Tetragrammaton (God’s name), and the word Tarot itself also based on a manipulation of these 4 letters. 3. The Astrology Connection The connection between the tarot and Astrology is much less controversial. Astrology became a popular science in the West during the medieval and Renaissance periods, and thus it is logical that popular cards originating in Europe at this time would have some astrological connotations. Many astrological symbols appear in modern decks. (Sun, moon, stars, scales, scorpion, lion, etc). So we can conclude that the history, development and interpretation of the Tarot is by no means definitive. Its known origins and history exist in the barest of fragments, and the precise meaning of it has been the subject of much speculation, analysis and opinion through the ages. The Tarot cards as we now know them are interesting hybrids, influenced by everything from Kabbalistic thought to ancient religions and cultures, myths, legends and astrology.