What Is Tarot?

Tarot is a deck of cards rich with symbolism, archetypes, and stories. Today, tarot is often used for reflection, intuition, and exploring questions about life, relationships, and the self.

But tarot wasn't originally created as a fortune-telling tool. Its story begins much earlier.

A Brief History of Tarot

The earliest known tarot cards appeared in 15th-century Italy, where they were created as playing cards for wealthy European families. These early decks, often known as tarocchi, included the cards that would eventually become the Major Arcana.

For several centuries, tarot was primarily a card game rather than a mystical practice. Its association with occultism and divination developed much later, particularly during the 18th and 19th centuries.

French occultists began connecting tarot with ideas from astrology, Kabbalah, alchemy, and ancient symbolism. These interpretations helped transform tarot from a card game into the esoteric system many people recognize today.

The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn

One of the most influential groups in the history of modern tarot was the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, a secretive esoteric society founded in Britain in 1888.

The Golden Dawn brought together different mystical traditions, including Kabbalah, astrology, alchemy, ceremonial magic, and tarot. Its members developed detailed symbolic associations between tarot cards and these systems, greatly influencing how tarot was studied and interpreted in the modern era.

The tradition associated each card with layers of symbolism rather than treating it as a simple prediction. This helped establish the idea that a tarot card could represent an archetype, a psychological pattern, or a particular stage of a person's journey.

The Rider–Waite–Smith Tarot

The influence of the Golden Dawn can also be seen in one of the most famous tarot decks in the world: the Rider–Waite–Smith Tarot, first published in 1909.

Created by A. E. Waite and illustrated by Pamela Colman Smith, the deck transformed the Minor Arcana by giving its cards detailed scenes and imagery. This made the symbolism of tarot much more accessible and helped shape the visual language of modern tarot.

Today, the Rider–Waite–Smith tradition remains one of the most widely used foundations for learning and interpreting tarot.

The 78 Cards of Tarot

A traditional tarot deck contains 78 cards, divided into two main groups.

The Major Arcana contains 22 cards, from The Fool to The World. These cards often represent larger themes, archetypes, transitions, and significant experiences.

The Minor Arcana contains 56 cards divided into four suits: Wands, Cups, Swords, and Pentacles. These cards tend to explore the more everyday aspects of life, including emotions, relationships, challenges, ambitions, and material matters.

Together, the cards create a symbolic language that can be interpreted in countless ways.

So, What Does Tarot Actually Do?

Tarot doesn't have to be about predicting a fixed future.

Instead, you can think of a tarot reading as a moment of reflection. The imagery of the cards can help you look at a situation from a different angle, notice patterns, explore your emotions, or consider possibilities you may not have thought about before.

A card doesn't decide what happens next.

You do.

Tarot simply gives you another way to look at the story you're already living.

And sometimes, seeing something from a new perspective is all the clarity you need.