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is the most commonly used today. It was conceived by the well-known Tarot authority A. E. Waite, and published in 1902 by the Ryder Co. The simplified graphic style of this deck retains the historic symbolism of earlier decks, but seems fresh and accessible to modern sensibilities.

Ancient Tarot

Other Tarot scholars are convinced that Tarot has its roots in an even earlier time. They see relationships to the Kabbalah, or to Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs. Cards, for games or prophesy, were used in China centuries before they found their way to Europe in the 14th Century, and may have been the original incarnation of the Tarot.

It may be more likely that the Tarot was brought to Europe through card games that were popular in the old world Arabia. In 18th Century France, Antoine Court de Gebelin, promoted the concept that the Tarot was derived from mystic practices in Ancient Egypt, which he described in his multi-volumed work, Le Monde Primitif. Another Frenchman, Etteillla, is considered to be the first to recreate the Tarot as a “fortune-telling” device. He is essentially the first Tarot reader. Reproductions of his Book of Thoth Tarot and other publications by Etteilla are still available today.

 The Victorian Embrace

Tarot reading emerged as a new construct during the Victorian Age’s embrace of spiritualism and the occult, setting the foundation for what would become the New Age school of thought on Tarot that we know today. 

There is extensive scholarship and research available on the history of the Tarot, whether from on-line sources or in libraries, for anyone who is interested in exploring the subject. For most of us, though, the history is not as compelling

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