The Wooden Tarot Was Released When?

The Wooden Tarot by A. L. Swartz is a unique and beautiful divination deck created by artist AL Swartz of Skullgarden on Etsy. The deck features paintings on wood and was likely first discovered in France during the French domination by the duchy of Milan in the early fifteenth century. The first Marseille Tarot decks were engraved wooden boards. The Wooden Tarot Deck* is an independently published divination deck, completed in 2014 after designing the Major Arcana in 2013.

The earliest known tarot cards date back to the 15th century in Italy, specifically in Milan. These early decks were called “tarocchi” and were used for fortune-telling. In the 1430s, Italian decks were invented by adding a fifth suit of 21 specially illustrated cards called trionfi to the existing four-suited pack.

The Wooden Tarot Deck* is an independently published divination deck, with the full deck completed in 2014 after initially designing the Major Arcana in 2013. The deck’s main attraction is its incredible art, which is based loosely on Rider-Wait standard interpretations but with evocative nature images. The deck is beautiful, detailed, and strange, drawing realistic animals, bones, and plants.

As part of an ongoing series exploring the Wooden Tarot, the four ace cards of the minor arcana will be added to every deck. This card display stand can be gifted to family or friends who enjoy divination on birthdays and anniversaries, making them happy throughout the day.

Is tarot becoming popular?

The mainstream popularity of tarot cards is unprecedented, with the timing of this resurgence attributed to the internalisation of meaning and truth in contemporary society. Tarot has over 8 billion views on TikTok, where digital readings have become enormously popular. Luxury brands have also leaned into tarot, with decks created by Armani Casa in 2023 and Dior’s 2021 haute couture collection and short film inspired by it during the pandemic.

The embrace of tarot cards by both luxury and mass market brands reflects their unique position as objects that are vaguely understood by most people while retaining a sense of mystery unless one is “in the know”.

While some brands may seem to have a passing interest in tarot, the rise of tarot should not be dismissed as a product of opportunism. For a growing portion of society, tarot is a foundational part of their identity and a rich source of inspiration for many creatives.

Is tarot ok for Christians?

The notion that tarot cards can exert control over one’s life is a pervasive one, yet there is a paucity of empirical evidence to substantiate this claim.

What culture invented tarot?

Tarot cards originated in Europe during the mid-15th century, with the earliest known decks being created in Italy for a game called tarocchi. These decks, like the Visconti-Sforza deck, were hand-painted and commissioned by wealthy families as symbols of their status. The Major Arcana, consisting of 22 cards, represents life lessons, spiritual themes, and archetypal energies, with each card having its own unique symbolism.

The Minor Arcana, consisting of four suits (Wands, Cups, Swords, and Pentacles) corresponds to the elements of fire, water, air, and earth, focusing on everyday matters, personal experiences, and challenges and opportunities encountered in life.

What is the difference between tarot and French Tarot?

French Tarot, also known as jeu de Tarot in France, is a card game that originated in Europe around the end of the 14th century and may have been introduced first through Italy or Catalonia. Tarot cards were first mentioned in Italy in the mid-15th century, initially called trionfi, meaning “triumph”, and later called tarocchi as the idea of trumps spread to other card games. The game was introduced into France in the early 16th century as a result of the First and Second Italian Wars (1494–1522) and is widely recorded in French literature of that century. By 1622, it had become more popular in France than chess, with the earliest account appearing around 1637 in Nevers.

The game is a three-player, 78-card game played with an Italian-suited pack, with the Fool acting as an Excuse and the suits ranking in their original order. This ranking is retained in all Tarot games today except in France and Sicily. In France, Tarot remained in vogue until 1650, but its popularity steadily waned, with it being barely played outside the Provence region in the 18th century.

What is the most popular tarot?

The Rider Waite Smith Tarot is a popular deck for tarot card reading, first published by the Rider Company in 1909. It was based on the instructions of academic and mystic A. E. Waite and illustrated by Pamela Colman Smith, both members of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. The deck has been published in numerous editions and inspired a wide array of variants and imitations. Over 100 million copies circulate across 20 countries.

The images in the deck are simple but feature abundant symbolism. Some imagery remains similar to earlier decks, but overall, the Waite-Smith card designs are substantially different from their predecessors. Christian imagery was removed from some cards and added to others, such as the “Papess” becoming the “High Priestess” and the “Lovers” card resembling naked Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. The Minor Arcana is illustrated with allegorical scenes by Smith, unlike earlier decks.

Symbols and imagery in the deck were influenced by 19th-century magician and occultist Eliphas Levi and the teachings of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. To accommodate astrological correspondences taught by the Golden Dawn, Waite introduced several innovations to the deck, such as changing the order of the Strength and Justice cards to correspond with Leo and Libra, and based the Lovers card on Italian tarot decks.

When did tarot cards come out?

Tarot decks were invented in Italy in the 1430s, adding a fifth suit of 21 specially illustrated cards called trionfi (“triumphs”) and an odd card called il matto (“the fool”). These cards bore Italian suitmarks and belonged to an experimental period of card design when queens were often added to the series of court cards previously consisting of only a king and two male figures. In standard cards, the four figures were subsequently reduced to three again by suppressing the queen, except in French cards, which suppressed the cavalier (knight).

The trionfi each bore a different allegorical illustration instead of a common suitmark, possibly representing characters in medieval reenactments of Roman triumphal processions. They were originally unnumbered, so it was necessary to remember their order. When added to the pack, trionfi functioned as a suit superior in power to the other four, acting as a suit of triumphs or “trumps”.

Did tarot originate in Egypt?

The popular belief that tarot originated in ancient Egypt is, in fact, a myth. Tarot decks were utilized for card games for centuries prior to the late 1700s, when French pastor Antoine Court de Gebelin became the first documented professional tarot reader. He employed the cards for divination purposes.

What is the oldest known tarot spread?

Tarot card reading is a form of cartomancy where practitioners use tarot cards to gain insight into the past, present, or future. The first to assign divinatory meanings to tarot cards was cartomancer Jean-Baptiste Alliette (also known as Etteilla) in 1783. A traditional tarot deck consists of 78 cards, divided into the Major Arcana and Minor Arcana. French-suited playing cards can also be used. The first written references to tarot packs occurred between 1440 and 1450 in northern Italy, where additional cards with allegorical illustrations were added to the common four-suit pack.

These new packs were called carte da trionfi, triumph packs, and the additional cards known simply as trionfi, which became “trumps” in English. One of the earliest references to tarot triumphs is given c. 1450–1470 by a Dominican preacher in a sermon against dice, playing cards, and ‘triumphs’. References to the tarot as a social plague or exempt from bans that affected other games continue throughout the 16th and 17th centuries, but there are no indications that the cards were used for anything but games.

What is the oldest form of tarot?

French-suited tarot decks are the oldest decks used for the Tarot, which originated in Europe around the mid-15th century. These cards were used for card games such as Tarocchini and later evolved into a family of games including German Grosstarok and modern games like French Tarot and Austrian Königrufen. In the late 18th century, French occultists made claims about their history and meaning, leading to the emergence of custom decks for divination via tarot card reading and cartomancy.

Tarot has four suits that vary by region: French suits are used in western, central, and eastern Europe, and Latin suits in southern Europe. Each suit has 14 cards, including ten pip cards and four face cards. The tarot also has a separate 21-card trump suit and a single card known as the Fool. The Fool may act as the top trump or be played to avoid following suit.

The use of tarot playing cards was once widespread across Europe except the British Isles and the Iberian Peninsula. However, they experienced a renaissance in some countries and regions, such as France, where French Tarot became the second most popular card game in France in 1973. Tarock games like Königrufen have experienced significant growth in Austria, with international tournaments held with other nations, especially those from eastern Europe.

Denmark is the only Scandinavian country that still plays tarot games, with Danish Tarok being a derivative of historical German Grosstarock. Italy continues to play regionally popular games with distinctive Tarot packs, such as Ottocento in Bologna and Sicilian Tarocchi in parts of Sicily. Troccas and Troggu are still played locally in parts of Switzerland.

What country did tarot come from?

The tarot cards, originating from ancient Egypt, China, and France, have gained resurgence in recent years. The oldest known deck was made in northern Italy in the 15th century, not for fortune-telling but as a card game. However, the allegorical structure and universal symbolism of the tarot have great potential, and it has become a versatile tool for self-empowerment, psychological therapy, and divination.

The exact etymology of the term “tarot” is unknown, but it is a French word that identifies the 78-card deck from Italy, where it was called Tarocco. The word Tarocco was only used a century after the first decks appeared, and they were originally labeled “cartes da trionfi”.

Various theories have been established, including the Taro River in northern Italy, which could have powered early paper mills for cardmaking, and the name “Tara”, a goddess in Hinduism and Tibetan Tantrism. The Hill of Tara, the seat of ancient kings of Ireland, shares a pronunciation with the Roman word for earth, “terra”.

What are the original tarot cards called?

Trionfi Tarot, also known as “triumph”, “tarocchi”, or “tarrock”, was an allegorical card game developed in Northern Italy during the 15th century for entertainment or artistic expression. It was commissioned from local artists by wealthy patrons. During the 18th and 19th centuries, the cards became a popular method of divination among various occultists, spiritualists, astrologers, and magical practitioners.

They were often associated with esoteric societies like the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn or practitioners of mystical systems like Kabbalah or numerology. Oracle decks, designed for divination and fortune-telling, often diverge from traditional tarot but are used for similar purposes.