This multifaceted aspect makes the Tarot a wonderfully flexible tool.

First references

Early documented evidence of the existence of Tarot cards comes from the court ledger of King Charles VI of France where, in 1392, it is recorded that a painter called Gringonneur was paid for three packs of cards that were clearly not standard playing cards.

An even earlier reference comes from a monk, Brother Johannes of Bredfeld, Switzerland, who describes a game of cards based on the social structures in place at that time.

Unlike later monastic authors who condemned the game as a vice, Brother Johannes felt that it would have a value in teaching people to keep their place in society and be content with their lot.

He saw the suit of Wands as representing the peasants, Cups for the Church, Swords for the aristocracy and Coins for the merchant class. This provides a close parallel with the Hundu castes.

Ironically, Brother Johannes may well have unknowingly given his approval to a device for helping to maintain pagan or Gnostic Christian teachings in a way that did not attract the attention of the Church.

At the time, there was a lot of religious persecution across Europe. Many books and artworks were created as reference points for these banned beliefs but disguised as other things. A card game would have been a perfect ‘cover’ for such reference points.

The Church seemed unable to stamp it out but also aware of its likely use. Even today, some Christian priests regard Tarot as diabolical while others are quite comfortable with it.

The eighteenth century and the Occult Revival

The eighteenth century saw the power of the Church weakened, and a consequent increase in scientific discovery and in occultism, often both fuelled by the same people.

Sir Isaac Newton, for example, was an occultist of some standing, as were many of the Founding Fathers of America. Ironically, it was a French clergyman, Antoine Court de Gebelin, who brought Tarot into this intellectual revolution.

He believed that the Major Arcana were a pictorial representation of the lost wisdom of Egypt. Anything linked to Egypt was extremely fashionable at that time and this link, whether true or false, made sure that no educated occultist could afford to ignore the Tarot.

Eliphas Levi and the Golden Dawn

In the nineteenth century, another French clergyman, Alphonse Louis Constant, wrote under the name of Eliphas Levi.

He made a link between the Tarot and the Kabbalah, pointing out that the ten pip cards, four suits and twenty-two Major Arcana of the Tarot made a neat fit with the ten Sephiroth, four Worlds, and twenty-two Paths of Kabbalah.

This increased interest in both systems and many occultists today treat them as two representations of the same doctrine. Several later authors have ‘corrected’ Levi's system of attributions but the Tarot and Kabbalah were intertwined in occult thought from that day to this.

One of the major Rosicrucian groups of the nineteenth century, the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, took Levi's attributions and built a whole system of attainment around them.

The Golden Dawn teachings were attributed to a Fraulein Sprengel but this lady has proved impossible to trace. Many suspect that Samuel Liddell Macgregor Mathers, who headed the Order, was their true author.

The Order produced several famous authors on occult subjects, of whom the best known today are A. E. Waite and Aleister Crowley.

Crowley decided early on that he detested Waite and later fell out with Mathers. This was part of what broke up the original Order.

Fortunately, one of Crowley's students, Israel Regardie, later published the Order papers and today there are many groups and individuals working with Golden Dawn methods.

Aleister Crowley and the modern tradition

After departing from the Golden Dawn, Crowley became a Buddhist and travelled widely. Whilst on his honeymoon in Egypt, he received what we would now call a channelled book, The Book of the Law, purporting to be from an entity called Aiwass.

This set forth a philosophy, which Crowley called Thelema. It also included a reference to Tarot and Kabbalah. Crowley puzzled over this for some time but eventually concluded that the Emperor and the Star were attributed wrongly in the Levi/Golden Dawn system.

There was also a corresponding interchange between Strength and Justice. While this makes little difference in a Tarot reading, it has great significance if you are using the cards as a mystical tool.

Crowley later designed a Tarot deck with Lady Frieda Harris, which many consider the best available. He also wrote a fascinating book setting forth his own ideas on the Tarot.

Both deck and book are known as the Book of Thoth. These continue to inspire modern students of Tarot and the Western Mystery Tradition.

Today there are more Tarot decks and books available than ever before. Many people use Tarot as a part of their daily spiritual practice as well as its better known use in readings. Having nearly dropped out of sight several times, Tarot looks assured of a long future.