The History of Tarot

Many of those who practice Magic and Divination or are just curious about it, will have a deck of Tarot Cards. And yet, most of them have no idea as to how the Tarot cards became something that is to this day one of the most popular forms of divination. On this episode of WMiT? we will be diving into what I consider to be the most interesting aspect of Tarot, which is the history of the cards themselves. Along the way we will explore where they came from, some of the historic decks we still have, as well as a few myths that have accrued around Tarot itself!

Show Notes

• Mamluk Playing Cards
• Mamluk Cards – A somewhat recent reproduction of the Original Playing Cards. They look Amazing and are available for purchase
• Tarot Heritage – Lots of links to learn about the origins of the Tarot
• Tarot History Forum
• The Tarot: History, Symbolism, and Divination by Robert M. Place
• Mystical Origins of the Tarot: From Ancient Roots to Modern Usage by Paul Huson
• Trifoni.com – This website is the most infuriating website I’ve had the pleasure of visiting for any episode I’ve ever done. The amount of work that went into this site is staggering and there is UNREAL information here…. If you spend some time digging/clicking around
• Timeline Playing Card and Tarot History (1370 – 1800) – Great info!
• The Tarot’s Oldest Ancestor, The Marziano Tarot
• The Facsimile Italian Renaissance Woodcut Tarocchi
• The Charles VI Deck?
• Here are the Charles VI Deck cards
• History of Sola-Busca Tarot
• The Game of Saturn: Decoding the Sola-Busca Tarrochi by Peter Mark Adams – Amazing book
• Visconti-Sforza Deck
• Minchiate
• Il Meneghello Edizioni – Absolutely stunning decks here
• Italian Tarot in the 15th Century – Has a bit about the cards found in the well at Sforza Castle
• The Tarot of Marseille
• Tarot of Marseille Heritage
• The Tarot of Marseille and the French Tradition – Available at this website is the infamous Jean Noblet Tarot by Jean Claude Flornoy. Grab this Deck! It’s the one right after the order form. Pretty much my favourite deck, hands down
• Vintage Tarot Texts – If you are looking for the essays on Tarot by Antoine Court de Gébelin as well as Comte de Mellet, both are available in one book from Tarot History. Translator David Vine offers new definitive English translations of the 1781 essays. Meticulously researched and lavishly annotated, these translated texts are supported by biographical and historical analyses
• The Mysteries of the Tarot de Marseille – A French Documentary that posits that many of the Trump images were adopted from Ficino and his influences. I remain unconvinced
• Joseph H. Peterson also has a Noblet Tarot de Marseille that is available
• Out of Africa: Tarot’s Fascination With Egypt
• Eteilla
• Bembine Tablet
• The Myth of Pamela Colman Smith’s Blackness: Ethnic Impersonation in the Modern Esoteric Milieu
• Waite-Smith.org
• Sola-Busca and Waite-Smith Tarot
• J. A. Valliant – From this fella we get the Romanie-Tarot myth, which leads to-
• Tarot of the Bohemians by Papus
• A Wicked Pack of Cards: The Origins of the Occult Tarot
• Untold Tarot: The Lost Art of Reading Ancient Tarot by Caitlín Matthews
• Robert M. Place – Robert has some wonderful Decks and books about Tarot available
• Mary K. Greers Tarot Blog – Great source of info
• I have done episodes about Cartomancy and talked Tarot with Camelia Elias. Well worth listening to after this episode
• My Appearance on Seeking Tarot Podcast! Lots of fun!