Different Tarot Decks

The first description of tarot decks appeared as early as the beginning of the 15th century when Martiano da Tortona mentioned some card games that resembled a lot to tarot. The motifs on these early illustrations were Greek deities with the suits made of four different types of birds, which differed greatly from the regular Italian suits. These forefathers of tarot decks counted only sixteen cards, and their popularity seemed to be quite impressive at the time. Later, other tarot decks are described by Italian documents throughout the 15th century. The ideology and the symbolism of the cards were very impressive even then with social, heraldic, poetical and philosophical implications.

The oldest tarot decks preserved to our times were designed according to the specifications of the Visconti family. There are sixty-six cards in the deck and they are displayed at the Yale University Library of New Haven. Another famous deck was painted by Bonifacio Bembo at the request of Maria Visconti, two cards from these tarot decks were lost or missed from the very beginning. These latter tarot decks are known as Visconti-Sforza and their design is very popular nowadays too.

Lots of modern imitations combine coins, cups, swords and batons with trump cards as the clear image of traditional iconography specific to the Renaissance and the Enlightenment.

An analysis of the first-made tarot decks indicates a reduced number given the painstaking effort required for their design. Old tarot decks have survived to our days from Switzerland, Egypt or Marseilles, and the centuries gave them the occult or mystical connotations they have today. Occultism and magic fans were the ones to embrace and widely use the cards for all sorts of symbolic interpretations that have passed on to our modern world too.

Tarot decks cannot be given a clear origin, yet, some scientists revealed that the etymology of the word tarot is Egyptian, meaning the royal road. In the line of tradition, Gypsies are said to have spread the tradition of card reading in the first place, but the exact period when tarot decks started to serve for predictive purposes is not clear. As for the passage of tarot popularity to the English speaking world, Eliphas Levi was the one to make the transfer possible, and introduce tarot to aristocratic and middle classes too.

For more about psychic tarot and tarot decks, check out our website at psychics4you.co.uk

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