Tarot

By the 19th century, the Tarot came to be regarded as a »bible of bibles«, an esoteric repository of all the significant truths of creation.

The trend was started by prominent freemason and Protestant cleric Antoine Court de Gébelin who suggested that the Tarot had an ancient Egyptian origin, and mystic divine and kabbalastic significance. A contemporary of his, the Comte de Mellet, added to Court de Gébelin's claims by suggesting that the Tarot was associated with Gypsies and was in fact the imprinted book of Hermes Trismegistus.

Like common playing cards, the tarot has four suits. Each suit has 14 cards, ten pip cards numbering from one (or Ace) to ten and four face cards (King, Queen, Knight, and Knave). In addition, the tarot has a separate 21-card trump suit and a single card known as the Fool. Depending on the game, the Fool may act as the top trump or may be played to avoid following suit.

These tarot cards, without occult symbology, are still used throughout much of Europe to play card games.

The classic Rider-Waite Tarot is the best known Tarot deck. The vibrant cards, featuring full scenes with figures and symbols, were drawn in 1909 by Pamela Colman Smith under direction of Arthur Edward Waite.

The RiderWaite tarot deck (originally published 1910) is one of the most popular tarot decks in use for divination today in the English-speaking world.