Where Did The Tarot Come From?
Tarot Origin, History And Information

The actual origin of the word tarot is unknown. There have been many theories as to its origin.

In history it is widely thought that the card games of 'Trionfi' (plural of 'Trionfo', Italian for triumphal procession) and later 'Tarrochi' (Italian) were the earliest card games from which the Tarot evolved, because the word 'Trionfi' related the 'trumps' or 'triumphal procession' to the Major Arcana.

Trionfi was then possibly re-named as Tarrochi to distinguish it as a new game, leading to the name 'Tarot' to be derived from the name of 'Tarrochi'. However no one knows the true etymology of the word Tarrochi. Some believe this name came from the Taro River in Italy where the cards may have been first used.

Some believe the word Tarot comes from the Arabic word 'turuq', which supposedly means "four pathways". Alternatively, it may be from the Arabic 'tarach' "reject". Perhaps to reflect the objective of the games, Trionfi and Tarrochi, which may have been to discard excess cards.

An Egyptian orientated theory first put forward by Antoine Court de Geblein was that the word tarot was derived from the Egyptian 'tar' (path) 'ro' (royal) translating as the Royal Path, the Egyptian name, he believed, for the book of Thoth, the God of magick, writing, and medicine.

Another theory was that the word Tarot was derived from the name Torah, meaning 'the law' in Hebrew, that 'Tarot' spelt backwards was 'Tora(h). Or that the word 'taro(t)' re-arranged became 'rota' meaning 'wheel'. 'Tarot is the wheel of the Torah'. Rider-Waite incorporates this on his 'Wheel of Fortune Card', which pictures a spoked wheel with Hebrew letters and the letters T A R O upon it.

The Tarot's Major Arcana was probably derived from the 'Trump' cards of some very old (15th century) Italian card games called Tarrochi and Trionfi, whilst the Tarot's Minor Arcana was developed from the standard playing card deck. The amalgamation and development of these game decks over a long period of time made the Tarot into what it is today. However, the archetypes seen in the Tarrochi, and later, The Visconti, Marseilles and today's Rider-Waite cards were probably born from man's 'Collective Unconscious' from the very beginning.

The Marseilles Tarot Deck was one of the standard patterns for the design of Tarot cards and was the pattern from which many subsequent Tarot decks derived. It launched the widespread use of Tarot cards for divination and other esoteric purposes and became the standard Tarot for many years.

Also, it was this deck that led Antoine Court de Gebelin to theorize that the Marseilles tarot had an Egyptian connection with the Book of Thoth: The Egyptian Book of Magick.

The Mysterious Cary Sheet

The Cary Sheet is a mysterious predecessor to the Marseilles Tarot with many similarities .



You can find out more about the Cary Sheet here.

The Rider-Waite deck (know as this because Arthur Waite's deck was originally published through the Rider publishing company) implies both an Egyptian and a Greek connection because Egyptian mythology and Greek mythology are so closely related. And the reason they imply both an Egyptian and Greek connection is because of Eliphas Levi, a man who was convinced that the Tarot was connected with the Egyptian Book of Hermes, or, the Hermes Trismegistus.

The Hermes Trismegistus (Greek: "thrice-great Hermes) is the representation of the combination of the Greek God Hermes and the Egyptian God Thoth. In Hellenistic times, the Greeks recognised the similarity of their God Hermes with the Egyptian God Thoth. Subsequently the two gods were worshipped as one.

Both Thoth and Hermes were gods of writing and of magic in their respective cultures. Thus, the Greek God of interpretive communication was combined with the Egyptian God of wisdom as a patron of astrology and alchemy.

Hermetics or Hermeticism is the name given to Hellenistic Egyptian philosophy and religious beliefs and the writings attributed to Hermes Trismegistus. Arthur Waite was a member of the Hermetic Order of The Golden Dawn.

Antoine Court de Gebelin was the first to theorize that the Marseilles tarot (left) had an Egyptian connection with the Book of Thoth: The Egyptian Book of Magick.

Etteilla (Jean-Baptiste Alliette) continued with some of this theme in his work and produced a playing card deck that was used specifically for divination (right).

Eliphas Levi (Alphonse-Louis Constant 1810) not only furthered the link of the Tarot to the Hermes Trismegistus but also connected the Tarot to the 22 paths of the Kabbalistic Tree of Life. Levi's 'Dogme et Ritual' (Dogma and Ritual of High Magic) impacted Tarot designers or more famously, Arthur Waite, to change Ettiella's divination deck into the tarot deck we see today. For example, Levi wrote that:

1. A lemniscate (a figure similar to a horizontal 8) appeared over the Juggler's (later the Magician) head;
2. The Papess (later called the High Priestess) wore the horns of the Moon and Isis;
3. The Empress was a type of Venus;
4. The Moon appeared beneath the Empress' feet;
5. Hermanubis ascends the Wheel of Fortune on the right, while Typhon descends on the left and a sphinx in equilibrium above, holding a sword between his lion's claws -an admirable symbol, disfigured by Etteilla, who replaced Typhon by a wolf, Hermanubis by a mouse, and the sphinx by an ape, an allegory characteristic of Etteilla's Kabala. In classical mythology, Hermanubis was a god who combined Hermes (Greek) mythology with Anubis (Egyptian mythology). Typhon (ancient Greek) is the final son of Gaia, fathered by Tartarus, and is the most deadly monster of Greek mythology.
6. Another lemniscate appeared over Strength's head; and
7. 'Temperance' wore a square and triangle over her breast.
8. 'The Chariot' included two Egyptian-style sphinxes (one light and one dark) in lieu of the traditional horses.

Waite's involvement with the Hermetic Order of The Golden Dawn led him incorporate Levi's ideas into his rectified deck and the Rider-Waite deck became a popular and traditional deck and many have maintained Levi's and Rider-Waite's symbolism in their deck design today.

Levi or Waite has also:

• Incorporated a Lemniscate to The 'World Card'
• Added an ankh symbol to 'The Emperor' card (at the top of his staff) and;
• Featured the Caduceus in the '2 of Cups'.
• Incorporated a lemniscate to The 2 of Pentacle's (which was the name of The Magician before it was renamed)

A rectified deck is one that has been re-sequenced to reflect changes made by the originator. The standard or traditional deck being the Rider-Waite deck developed by the Arthur Edward Waite, a member of the Golden Dawn.

Golden Dawn expanded on Alphonse Louis Constant's (Eliphas Levi) link of the Tarot to the Cabbalistic Tree of Life by assigning astrological interpretations to each Major Arcana card changing the sequence of the Major Arcana cards as a result. Arthur Rider-Waite, a member of the Golden Dawn, incorporated this in the design of his rectified deck. For example Strength (11) was assigned Leo and Justice (8) was assigned Libra. However, since Leo comes before Libra in the Zodiac, Rider-Waite switched the cards so that Strength became (8) and Justice (11). Any deck that maintains or changes this sequence is called a rectified deck.

The word 'Arcana' comes from the Latin 'arca', meaning small chest, jewel container, secret.

Online Definition found at: http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/arcana

Main Entry
arcanum
Etymology
Latin, from neuter of arcanus secret, from arca chest more at ark
Date
15th century
1mysterious or specialized knowledge, language, or information accessible or possessed only by the initiateusually used in plural 2 elixir 1