Home | Arts | Humanities
Tarot decks were first referred to in the early 15th century in relation to Martiano da Tortona who mentioned tarot-like games. 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, but they surely enjoyed great popularity. Later, during the same century other mentions of tarot decks are found in Italian documents. The ideology and the symbolism of the cards were very impressive even then with social, heraldic, poetical and philosophical implications. As for the oldest tarot decks ever preserved, they date from the mid 15th century and they were made on the special order 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, they are preserved with the exception of two who were either lost or never existed. These latter tarot decks are known as Visconti-Sforza and their design is very popular nowadays too. Lots of modern imitations combine batons, swords, coins and cups with trump cards as the clear image of the classic iconography of the old times. An analysis of the first-made tarot decks indicates a reduced number given the painstaking effort required for their design. Tarot decks have survived from Marseilles, Egypt or Switzerland and in time they came to be associated with magic and mysticism. People with occult occupations were the ones to start reading the cards for all sorts of symbolic interpretations that have survived to our modern world too. Some analysts discovered all sorts of origins for the tarot decks with etymologists identifying the Egyptian meaning of the very word tarot: tar stands for royal while ro means road, tarot would thus mean the royal road. According to 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.
Article Source: http://www.gambling-articles.org
For more about tarot readings and tarot decks, check out our website at www.psychics4you.co.uk
Please Rate this Article
5 out of 54 out of 53 out of 52 out of 51 out of 5
Not yet Rated
