What is Tarot? A Brief Introduction to Tarot Cards

Many people, myself included, grew up with an understanding of what tarot cards were from a fairly young age. Growing up on Vancouver Island, I was always surrounded by what many would consider "alternative spiritual beliefs." These would generally be spiritual or religious beliefs that were influenced by paganism, the occult or far Eastern religions, such as Buddhism or Hinduism.

However, many people have not had the same exposure to these types of beliefs as myself, or may have been misinformed about the intention of certain things, such as tarot cards. As someone who is studying the practice of tarot card reading myself, I thought it would be worthwhile to create this introduction.

Tarot cards are traditionally a deck of 78 cards, comprised of 22 Major Arcana cards and 56 Minor Arcana cards, which are divided in suits of cups, coins or pentacles, swords, and batons or wands. 

Each card has it's own set of meanings, and some believe that an upside down card can reverse or alter  the meaning of the card. For card reading purposes, many people use "decks" or card positioning to answer specific aspects of a large query.

While many believe tarot card reading to be an ancient practice with roots stemming from ancient civilizations such as Ancient Egypt, in reality they originate from Northern Italy in the 15th century.

Playing cards had made their way from China to Europe and were used for various games. While some believe that these games were sometimes used as a tool to educate upper class children, there is no evidence they were used for occult purposes until 1781, by Antoine Court de Gebelin. 

As the esoteric and occult continued to see a surge in popularity within Europe's upper classes, the practice of reading tarot cards continued to surge.

While many still view tarot cards as witchcraft of demonic, there are many who view them as a tool to communicate with their inner intuition and spirit guides. Still more view them as nothing more than a fun exercise, meant for entertainment.

Whatever the case may be, they have continued to grow in popularity.