ORIGINS OF TAROT CARDS

According to Eliphas Lévi, the famous occultist who lived in the XIX century, Tarots originated from the cards which reproduced the theraphim, which were the ideographical or hieroglyphical symbols with the help of which the great priests of Jerusalem consulted the oracles. This thesis is supported by the fact that the Major Arcana are 22, like the letters of the Jewish alphabet, while the hypothesis made by Court de Gébelin in the XVIII century, that is that Tarots dated back to ancient Egypt, was in no way documented. According to the great esotericist and Tarots scholar Oswald Wirth, it is probable that there was a Jewish influence on the Tarot cards, but anyway Tarots are an original creation possibly born from the combination between the Naibi and the numerical cards.

The Naibi, which were known in Italy in the XIV century, are 50 pictures, organized in 5 series of 10 cards. The series correspond to the conditions of Life, to the Muses, to Sciences, to Virtues and finally to the Planets. The conditions of life range from the most humble to the most supreme temporal and spiritual power : the beggar, the servant, the craftsman, the merchant, the gentleman, the knight, the scholar, the king, and finally the Emperor and the Pope. The numerical cards range from 1 to 10, and include 4 series which can be found in Spanish cards : the hearts, the diamonds, the clubs and the spades. The suits of the numerical cards are compared to the 4 elements : the spades to the air (as the sword is held in the air), the clubs to the fire (as they are made of wood, which is inflamable), the hearts to the water (as the cups contain liquids), and the diamonds to the earth (as they are made of the metals the earth hides).

The Major Arcana of the Tarots, which come from the Naibi, contain different elements : images of biblical origin (the Angel of judgement, the Tower, the Devil), the virtues recommended by the Church (Justice, Strength, Temperance), some stars accompanied by the signs of the zodiac (the Moon with Cancer, the Sun with Gemini), the two great powers of the age, the Pope and the Emperor, each one matched with his female companion, for fantasy, irreverence or symmetry. The Hanged Man and the Wheel of Fortune can often be found in medieval iconography. The first card, the Magician, that reminds one of the famous picture of J. Bosch, the "Prestidigitator", equally belongs to the allegories of that time.

Before stabilizing at the number of 78 (22 Major Arcana and 56 Minor Arcana), there were decks with a variable number of cards. But whatever their number was, the series of symbols were made up of well-known images. The symbols could indifferently have a secular, ecclesiastic, pagan, Christian, cultivated or popular origin. It seems that the most important thing was to obtain a 'totality' that encompassed the Universe. For this reason Tarot cards are a representation of the most important archetypes of humanity, and for this reason they have something to say to us.