Of all the methods used through the ages to peer into the future, the tarot remains one of the most fascinating. Supernaturalism aside, a tarot deck contains strong symbolism that underlies humanity's fables, legends and dreams: dramatic images that evoke our primal emotions. Working with tarot can reveal answers to challenging problems, answers hidden in plain view. Bold claims, indeed! So, you ask - what is the tarot? Where did it come from? What makes it special; so much so that it is used by some psychologists? What does it all mean and how does one use it? In this guide, I will explain this and more. You will learn to navigate a tarot deck and give yourself a basic reading.

A brief history of the tarot

In its basic form, tarot originated in Italy during the Renaissance. Historical records first point to a game called Triumphs that was played with a deck of cards bearing the four suits of modern tarot pip cards. Though the rules of this game have been lost, we know that it was in vogue among aristocrats, who commissioned artists to make beautiful decks. There were also numerous court cards similar to the modern versions. The cards we know as Major Arcana, which depict such concepts as Judgment and Justice, had not yet appeared.

Tarot was introduced next to Germany, and pops up in various European locales throughout the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. In the 1700s, French occultists began to seek out correspondences between the figures of the tarot, astrology, and other subtle forces believed to exist in the universe. However, history is mostly silent on further changes in the tarot until 1800s.

In the 1800s, an English organization expanded upon and popularized the use of tarot as a decision-making tool. The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn was an association of philosophers and mystics who created a vast system of self-improvement based on esoteric Hebrew and Greek teachings. Two members developed a new deck that incorporated symbolism from ancient lore. With bold colors and striking, antique-style designs, their Rider-Waite deck is still one of the most widely used.

In the 1900s, psychologist Carl Jung was the first mainstream academic to recognize the use of tarot for self-discovery and mental health. Jung felt that the individual cards represented archetypes, universal symbols that are so common to human experience that anyone can relate to their meaning. Whereas the Golden Dawn associated the pip cards with the mystic qualities of earth, wind, water and fire, Jung associated them with sensation, thinking, feeling and intuition.

In the modern era, tarot has been popularized thanks to New Age and neo-pagan religious movements, depictions on television and in novels, and so on. Though many people look at tarot as a superstitious or deceitful practice, more genuine students of tarot are practicing now than ever before, and there are several respectable professional organizations for tarot readers throughout the United States.