TAROT

A BRIEF HISTORY OF TAROT CARDS
While we know that these cards were a popular card game in 15th century Italy, the exact origins of tarot cards is still unknown. Wealthy Italian families used to order custom-made ornate tarot card sets, some of which have survived even today. Infact, as a tarot card reader in Mumbai, I believe that the Visconti-Sfroza set traces its origin to the year 1450AD and is regarded as the most complete and earliest of all tarot cards available today.

While the popularity of these cards as the game increased, their real power was discovered by the occult scholars of the 18th and 19th century. These men soon realised that the images on the cards stand for something more powerful than a mere board game. They soon discovered (or created) a connection of these cards with mysteries of Egypt, Hermetic Philosophy, the Kabbalah, science of Alchemy and other mystical systems of that age. These philosophies have been followed and practised even in the early part of the 20th century and became a part of the several secret societies including the Order of the Golden Dawn.