A History of Tarot Cards

What lies ahead is something most people would like to know. They go to fortune tellers or have their tarot readings. Not only will you get a reading of your future but it will also give you a glimpse of the past and the present. You can have tarot readings online or by going to a tarot card reader.

It was in the 1800s that Eliphas Levi, a Catholic Priest, writer, teacher, and a student of astronomy, astrology, and the metaphysics created the basis for tarot cards. When he created his first tarot deck, he integrated his knowledge of religions, the elements of fire, water, earth, air, and powerful astrological events and symbols. Levi made the cards as a tool to help his students have spiritual enlightenment, self-improvement, and self-awareness.

It was in the late 1800s when A. E. Waite realized that the cards could be used to predict future events that he created the Rider-Waite deck but also based it on the works of Eliphas Levi, and published the cards in 1896. The Rider-Waite Tarot deck is now the most widely used version of Tarot cards.

Tarot cards mirror our subconscious and conscious thoughts and actions. It is used to learn about yourself, and your reactions to life's never ending pressures, to increase self-awareness, and obtain a new point of view on life. They can help shed light on past events, and give some advice on how not to make the same mistakes again, or how to make good events happen again. The cards also predict future events.
 
The tarot deck is made up of 78 cards unveiling the mysteries or secrets of the person who has asked for a reading. This tarot deck is divided into the major and minor arcana. The major arcana is made up of 21 numbered cards and 1 unnumbered card referred to as "the fool." Each card illustrates a strange scene that tells a story or expresses a message. The other part of the tarot deck is the minor arcana made up of 56 cards divided into 4 suits referred to as Wands, Cups, Swords and Coins with each suit having ten Pip cards and four Court cards called King, Queen, Knight and Page.

Now let us go into how the tarot cards work. The cards are first shuffled and a "spread" is formed by taking cards in series from the top pile of the shuffled deck and putting them in the pattern with the cards facing up. The position of a card in the spread signifies the past or future of the person consulting the cards. Each card has a particular interpretation but the relationships that appear between different cards in a spread should be taken into account too.

It's nice to have a tarot reading done once in awhile. It gives us an idea of what we should have done in the past and moves on to the future guided by what we have learned. Remember it was designed and created to aid us in self-improvement and self-awareness.