While tarot is old (dates back to the 14th century) it isn’t nearly as old as I thought it was. Tarot didn’t begin in some Egyptian Mystery School tucked away in the armpit of time as certain turn of the century spiritualists claimed. That old story was invented simply to add a bit of glamor to an ages old sales pitch.

Tarot began as best as any one can tell in Italy and France, as an amusement. A game actually, one a lot like bridge called Tarocchi.

Here are Tarocchi Rules for Play.

The modern tarot are comprised (typically) of 78 cards. These are divided into two main types: 22 trump cards known as the Major Arcana and 56 suit cards; the Minor Arcana.

The word Arcana comes from Arcane meaning mysterious or secret knowledge known to few. Arcana itself means “specialized knowledge of something generally considered a mystery or a secret.” The Arcana each represent various universal force’s, archetypes and deities active within the human world and psyche. In other words, the forces of fate.

The tarot was refined in France and carried all over the world. Western traditions have focused on the divination aspect of the cards, rather than the game playing. More recently, Tarot has been used as a symbol system for self reflection, magic, and even therapy.

Over the past 500 years, artists, mystics, heretics, healers and fortune tellers have added, (or possibly uncovered) layers of symbolism and meanings to these cards. Some of these additions (or discoveries) have identified each of the Major Arcana with a letter of the Hebrew Aleph-bet, an astrological aspect, an alchemical element, a numerical assignment and a placement on the (cabala) tree of life.

see Google book results Jung and Tarot: An Archetypal Journey, by Sallie Nichols.

Tarot focuses on the archetypal themes recognized in both the Hero’s Quest (such as Hercules, or the search for the Holy grail) and the Fools Journey. (Ivan the Fool for example) In Jungian terms, the Major Arcana of the Tarot are guide posts on the journey towards “individuation” – the process of bringing the unconscious selves (The Fool) into harmony with the conscious self.

Today there are countless ways to interact with Tarot. To read Tarot for divination purposes, a practitioner uses spreads. Spreads can be simple, or extremely complex. They can be traditional or made up on the fly. to get started try some of these spreads as featured at Aeclectic tarot

Magician = Manifestation.

The tarot of the New Vision (2003), illustrated by twin brothers Raul and Gianluca Cestaro. Based on the immensely familiar Waite-Smith Tarot deck ( aka Rider-Waite deck) first published in 1909, It takes the imagery and almost childlike symbolism of the artist Pamela Smith and turns them completely around so we can see the machinations behind the scenes such as this here monkey in The Magician card.

Multiple Perspectives: Deck Review’s at Aeclectic Tarot