No-one knows with certainty where Tarot cards had their beginnings. Some sources say that they originated in Egypt, others attribute them to the Ancient Priesthood of Morocco. There is no historical evidence to it, but it is believed that Tarot cards were widely used and distributed in the fifteenth-century by the Gypsies in Europe.

Popularised under the name of Taroccho in Italy in the middle ages, the cards crossed borders and became known in France as Tarot - which can be translated into Triumph or “Laws of Universal Life”.

The Tarot with it’s 78 traditional images has also been known as the “The Royal Road”,  “The Journey of the Fool” or "Life's Picture Book".

The first documented set of Tarot cards is dated back to the mid-fifteenth century in Italy of which only a few cards survived from a hand painted set. They are believed to have been a wedding present to be used for private meditation by the noble families Visconti and Sforza.

Although the printing press was invented by Johannes Gutenberg in Germany in the 1440's, it was carved woodblock paintings that were used to eventually make more decks available and Tarot officially evolved into a popular parlour game. The first edition of the Tarot de Marseilles is dated to have been printed in the mid-18th century.

In the early Tarot the four suits were thought to represent the divisions of the population in medieval times in Europe.

Wands: peasants and commoners, farmers and labourers on the land, the lower classes
Cups: priesthood and clergy, people of the church, monastery and religious orders
Swords: feudal aristocracy, elite or privileged upper class and nobility
Pentacles: people of commerce, tradesman and merchants

In 1888 the Cabalistic Order of the Rosy Cross in France, and in England the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn were founded. Their students used Tarot as a path of initiation into the esoteric teachings. Cabalistic attributions, Hebrew letters and a path on the Tree of Life as well as correspondences to astrological signs, elements and planets were assigned to the Tarot cards.

Out of the Golden Dawn rose the two most influential individuals who shaped the appearance and use of Tarot Cards to this day, Arthur Edward Waite and Aleister Crowley. Waite commissioned the artist Pamela Coleman Smith to paint the first pictorial (meaning a complete picture on each card) set of 78 Tarot cards in 1910. Printed by a company named Rider, the Rider Waite Tarot Cards are still the most popular set of cards to this day.

A five year corroboration between Aleister Crowley and the Artist Lady Frieda Harris between 1938 and 1943 produced the Thoth Deck. Originally intended as correction and update of Tarot's classical medieval meanings by including esoteric aspects of the Western mystery tradition, it became a major work of restructuring the Tarot's pictorial symbolism. The finished Aleister Crowley Deck remained unpublished until 1969, after the death of both Crowley and Harris.

Since then, Tarot Cards have widely grown in popularity and not just by members of esoteric orders or students of the occult - but as people change and grow through life’s ups and downs, the images in the Tarot resonate now more than ever with our wish to find meaning in everyday existence. Tarot can act as a spiritual guidance system, an initiation into the deeper meaning of life’s experiences. Today, the rich and stirring symbols in a Tarot Deck accompany many of us on our path of personal growth, discovery and awakening of the inner self on our very own personal 'Royal Road' or 'Fool’s Journey'.