When Did People Start Using Tarot Cards For Divination?

Tarot cards, initially used for playing games and status symbols, began to associate with occult and divination practices in the late 18th century. In 1791, French occultist Jean-Baptiste Alliette released the first Tarot deck designed specifically for divinatory purposes, rather than as a parlor game or entertainment. The adaptation of tarots to occult and fortune-telling purposes first occurred in France around 1780. Each tarot card is ascribed a meaning, and the major arcana cards refer to spiritual matters and future trends.

The first documented tarot decks were recorded between 1440 and 1450 in Italy. The first signs of tarot divination can be traced back to around or just before 1750. Cartomancy, the use of playing cards for divination, has references dating back possibly as far as the 1400s. In the late 1700s, French pastor Jean-Baptiste Alliette (also known as Etteilla) became the first documented professional tarot reader using tarot for divination.

The first tarot card decks were created in Italy in the 1430s, and regular playing cards had become popular in Europe in the preceding half-century. The adaptation of tarots to occult and fortune-telling purposes first occurred in France about 1780. For fortune-telling, each tarot card is ascribed a meaning. It wasn’t until the 1700s that tarots were used for divination, as it is commonly used today.

When did tarot become used for divination?

Early French occultists claimed that tarot cards had esoteric links to ancient Egypt, the Kabbalah, Indic Tantra, or the I Ching. However, scholarly research reveals that tarot cards were invented in Italy in the early 15th century for playing games, and there is no evidence of significant use of them for divination until the late 18th century. The belief in the divinatory meaning of the cards is closely associated with a belief in their occult properties, which was propagated by prominent Protestant Christian clerics and Freemasons.

From its uptake as an instrument of divination in 18th-century France, the tarot went on to be used in hermeneutic, magical, mystical, semiotic, and psychological practices. It was used by Romani people when telling fortunes and as a Jungian psychological apparatus for tapping into “absolute knowledge in the unconscious”, a tool for archetypal analysis, and even a tool for facilitating the Jungian process of individuation.

What are the oldest divination cards?

The Visconti-Sforza Tarot, painted in the mid-15th century for the rulers of the Duchy of Milan, is the oldest surviving tarot cards. In 15th century Italy, the set of cards included in tarot packs, including trumps, was consistent, with two main exceptions. Some late 15th century decks, like the Sola Busca tarot and the Boiardo deck, had four suits, a fool, and 21 trumps, but none of the trumps match tarot ones. The Visconti di Mondrone pack, one of the Visconti-Sforza decks, originally had a Dame and a Maid in each suit, along with the standard King, Queen, Knight, and Jack.

The pack also included three trump cards representing the theological virtues of Faith, Hope, and Charity. Despite a Dominican preacher’s criticism of the evil inherent in playing cards, no routine condemnations of tarot were found during its early history.

Is tarot cards divination?

Since ancient times, people have used magical or mystical rituals to predict the future. Tarot card decks, originally used for playing cards, became used for fortune telling in the mid-18th century. Dreams have also been used for divination, with early Egyptians believing they contained god-sent messages. In the 18th and 19th centuries, publishers issued books and pamphlets to help readers assess their dreams.

Are tarot cards mysticism?

Tarot cards, originally used by Italian nobles and aristocrats as playing cards, evolved into a cornerstone of mysticism and spiritual exploration. They were initially used for skill, strategy, and luck in a game called “tarocchi”. However, they also had hidden potential for unraveling life’s mysteries, divining the future, and exploring the human psyche. Italy played a significant role in this transformation, with the Visconti-Sforza deck, created in the mid-15th century for the Duke of Milan, being one of the earliest surviving tarot decks. The deck’s intricate imagery and symbolism hint at a deeper, more mystical purpose, yet to be fully revealed.

When did divination start?

Divination is a universal phenomenon found in almost all cultures, and it was prevalent in the ancient world. Written evidence for divination dates back to the early 2nd millennium in Mesopotamia and is attested to various parts of the ancient world, including the Near East, Egypt, the Levant, Greece, Italy, and China. Despite being forbidden for religious or political reasons in some ancient societies, divination remained pervasive in the Roman Empire and continued after the advance of Christianity.

Research into divination began in the late 19th century and the first decades of the 20th century, with many primary sources from Mesopotamia, Greece, and China published for the first time. However, interest in divination grew again from the late 1980s onward, with an abundance of research and the publication of new primary sources.

Divination is a means of gaining knowledge that is not obtainable by normal modes of investigation, serving to handle uncertainty, warn or reassure a person or a whole people about what the future will bring, and illuminate past events. It can be divided into “artificial” and “natural” divination, with natural divination referring to prophecy and other kinds of theophany revealed in plain language or comprehensible visions. Artificial divination relies on a hermeneutic apparatus, which can be complex or simple code, sometimes combined with the diviner’s intuition.

In the early 21st century, there has been a movement toward considering divination and prophesy as two sides of the same coin, in line with Plato and Cicero. Prophecy is left out of consideration in this context.

Divination is a cultural activity that serves multiple purposes and is attested to in a myriad of variations. The history of their manifestations, development, and cross-fertilization in the ancient world is still a work in progress.

What does the Bible say about divination?

Exodus 22:18, Leviticus 19:26, Leviticus 20:27, and Deuteronomy 18:10-11 all prohibit the practice of necromancy, divination, and soothsaying. These laws are portrayed as foreign and are the only part of the Hebrew Bible to mention such practices. The presence of laws forbidding necromancy proves that it was practiced throughout Israel’s history.

The exact difference between the three forbidden forms of necromancy mentioned in Deuteronomy 18:11 is uncertain, as yidde’oni (“wizard”) is always used together with ob (“consulter with familiar spirits”) and its semantic similarity to doresh el ha-metim (“necromancer” or “one who directs inquiries to the dead”) raises the question of why all three are mentioned in the same verse. The Jewish tractate Sanhedrin distinguishes between a doresh el ha-metim, a person who would sleep in a cemetery after starving himself, to become possessed, and a yidde’oni, a wizard.

In summary, the prohibition of necromancy in the Hebrew Bible is a significant aspect of Jewish history.

What is the origin of divination cards?

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”.

What is the earliest form of divination?

Deuteronomy 18:10-12 and Leviticus 19:26 may be interpreted as forbidding divination, but some biblical practices, such as Urim and Thummim, casting lots, and prayer, are considered divination. Trevan G. Hatch disputes these comparisons, arguing that divination did not consult the “one true God” and manipulated the divine for the diviner’s self-interest. One of the earliest known divination artifacts, the Sortes Sanctorum, is believed to be Christian-rooted and uses dice to provide future insight.

Divorce was associated with sacrificial rituals in the ancient Near East, including Mesopotamia and Israel. Extispicy was a common example, where diviners would pray to their god(s) before vivisecting a sacrificial animal. Both oracles and seers in ancient Greece practiced divination, with oracles being the conduits for the gods on earth and their prophecies being understood as the will of the gods verbatim. Seers, who were more numerous than oracles and did not keep a limited schedule, were highly valued by all Greeks, not just those with the capacity to travel to distant sites like Delphi.

What religion is tarot linked to?

This literature review examines the concept of New Age religion, with a particular focus on the use of Tarot cards as a tool for studying the movement in the twenty-first century and the religious aspects of their use and interpretation by practitioners.

What religion do tarot cards come from?

This literature review examines the relationship between Tarot cards and New Age religion, emphasizing their function in the contemporary study of the New Age movement.

How did tarot become spiritual?

This study examines the religious dimensions of Tarot, a mystical tool for divination, enlightenment, and spiritual self-help, which has been significantly influenced by occult and alchemical thinkers from the 18th and 19th centuries.