Original Major Arcana And Tarot Card Readings

By Christopher Hill


The first tarot decks originally appeared as far back as 1440 in Italy. In this case, the deck contained the 22 cards now considered to be the Major Arcana. During that time, these cards were often referred to as Visconti Trumps. Whereas, most psychic and tarot card readings are now performed with a variety of different decks.

Rumor has it that these cards were originally designed and created for Nobles. Whereas, it was centuries later in which the cards once again became popular. It was at this point and time when tarot cards were first used as tools of divination.

Later, the Trump cards became standardized in the second half of the fifteenth century in France. Before this standardization, those whom played with the Trumps could decide to include, exclude or substitute cards as needed. Whereas, the Devil, Death and Tower cards were often discarded as these were often offensive to Nobles.

It was not so much the implied meaning of the cards but the imagery which led to this belief among religious zealots and leaders. In fact, at one point religious leaders attempted to banish the Trumps. A sermon provided by a Friar sometime in the mid-1400s suggested that the Trump cards were tied to the Devil and that the cards were created and named by the demon.

Even when only using the cards in game play, the Friar suggested that the devil was merely using the cards in an attempt to steal the souls of those whom played such games. As such, while the sermon condemned the use of the cards whether being used for games or other purposes, religious leaders failed to banish the cards which have since become popular with psychics and spiritualists around the globe.

The rebirth of Tarot and the use of decks in divination is attributed to Antoine Court de Gebelin in the late 1700s. For, Antoine believed the cards to be of Egyptian origin which contained knowledge of a mystical nature. De Gabelin also believed the symbols were purposefully included in the Major Arcana, also known as the Trumps. Unlike the Friar, Antoine saw no association between the Devil and the art of tarot.

Antoine held a strong belief that tarot cards were keys to the lost mystical wisdom of the ages, originally produced and written by the Egyptian God of writing, Thoth. It was from this point that the Major Arcana started to evolve into cards which would later be produced and distributed by secret societies. Since that time, a number of psychics, mediums, mystics, and spiritualists have created decks on a number of topics.

In the beginning of tarot, regular playing cards were often used as a means of separating the suits. Whereas, later there were several decks which only used the Trumps or Major Arcana. Whereas, there are so many different creators and decks available now that it can often be difficult for readers to know which one to choose. While this is the case, as most readers believe cards should be a gift rather than purchased, the decision is often made by someone other than the reader.




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