View source for Tarot card reading

{{short description|Using tarot cards to perform divination}}
{{use dmy dates|cs1-dates=yy|date=March 2021}}<!--This is the first time I have specified "yy", but looks like the preferred format in cites.-->
{{Paranormal|main|image=Tarot cards - 3 card spread.jpg|caption=Tarot cards}}
'''Tarot card reading''' is a form of [[cartomancy]] whereby practitioners use [[tarot]] cards to purportedly gain insight into the past, present or future. The process typically begins with the formulation of a question, followed by drawing and interpreting cards to uncover meaning. A traditional tarot deck consists of 78 cards, which can be split into two groups, the [[Major Arcana]] and [[Minor Arcana]]. [[French-suited playing cards]] can also be used, as can any card system with suits assigned to identifiable elements (e.g., air, earth, fire, water).

==History==
{{See also|Tarot#History}}

The first written references to tarot packs occurred between 1440 and 1450 in northern Italy, for example in [[Milan]] and [[Ferrara]], when additional cards with allegorical [[illustration]]s were added to the common four-suit pack. These new packs were called {{lang|it|carte da trionfi}}, triumph packs, and the additional cards were simply known as [[trionfi (cards)|trionfi]], which became "trumps" in English.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Pratesi|first1=Franco|author-link=Franco Pratesi|title=In Search of Tarot Sources|journal=[[The Playing-Card]]|date=2012|volume=41|issue=2|page=100}}</ref><ref>[[Pratesi, Franco]]. [http://trionfi.com/giusto-giusti Studies on Giusto Giusti] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210224132027/http://trionfi.com/giusto-giusti |date=2021-02-24 }} at trionfi.com. Retrieved 4 February 2018.</ref>

One of the earliest references to [[tarot]] triumphs appears around c. 1450–1470 mentioned by a [[Dominican Order|Dominican]] [[preacher]] in a sermon condemning dice, playing cards and 'triumphs'.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Steele|first1=Robert|date=1900|title=A notice of the Ludus Triumphorum and Some Early Italian Card Games: With Some Remarks on the Origin of the Game of Cards |journal=Archaeologia|volume=LVII |pages=85–200|doi=10.1017/S0261340900027636 |url=https://zenodo.org/record/1573246}}</ref> References to the tarot as a social plague or as exempt from the bans that affected other games continued throughout the 16th and 17th centuries, but there are no indications that the cards were used solely for [[Card game|games]].{{sfn|Dummett|1980|p={{page needed|date=March 2021}}}} As philosopher and tarot historian [[Michael Dummett]] noted, "it was only in the 1780s, when the practice of fortune-telling with regular playing cards had been well established for at least two decades, that anyone began to use the tarot pack for cartomancy."{{sfn|Dummett|1980|p=96}}

Claims by the early French occultists that tarot cards had esoteric links to [[ancient Egypt]], the [[Kabbalah]], Indic [[Tantra]], or the [[I Ching]] have been frequently repeated by authors on card divination. However, scholarly research reveals that there is no evidence of any significant use of tarot cards for divination until the late 18th century, although it is believed to have been invented in Italy in the early 15th century.<ref name="DummettGame">{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qqm1AAAAIAAJ |title=The game of Tarot: From Ferrara to Salt Lake City |isbn=9780715610145 |last1=Dummett |first1=Michael A. E |last2=Mann |first2=Sylvia |year=1980|publisher=Duckworth }}</ref> In fact, historians have described western views of the Tarot pack as "the subject of the most successful propaganda campaign ever launched... An entire false history and false interpretation of the Tarot pack was concocted by the occultists; and it is all but universally believed".<ref name=DDD27>Decker, Depaulis & Dummett (1996), p. 27.</ref>

The belief in the [[Divination|divinatory meaning]] of the cards is closely associated with the notion of their [[occult]] properties, a view commonly held in [[early modern Europe]] propagated by prominent [[Protestantism|Protestant Christian]] [[Minister (Christianity)|clerics]] and [[Freemasonry|Freemasons]].{{sfn|Dummett|1980|p=96}}

From its uptake as an instrument of divination in [[Early modern France|18th-century France]], the tarot went on to be used in [[Hermeneutics|hermeneutic]], [[Magic (paranormal)|magical]], [[Mysticism|mystical]],<ref>{{cite book |last=Ouspensky|first=P. D.|title=The Symbolism of the Tarot: philosophy of occultism in pictures and numbers |publisher=Dover Publications|date=1976}}</ref> [[semiotic]],<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Semetsky |first1=Inna|s2cid=144743688|date=2011|title=Tarot images and spiritual education: the three I's model |journal=International Journal of Children's Spirituality|volume=16|number=3|pages=249–260 |doi=10.1080/1364436X.2011.613069}}</ref> and psychological practices. It was used by [[Romani people]] while telling fortunes,{{sfn|Lévi|2002|p={{page needed|date=March 2021}}}} as a [[Jungian psychology|Jungian]] psychological apparatus for tapping into "absolute knowledge in the unconscious",<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Beeb |first1=John|title=A Tarot Reading on the Possibility of Nuclear War|journal=Psychological Perspectives|year=1985|volume=16|number=1|page=97 |doi=10.1080/00322928508407948}}</ref> a tool for [[Jungian archetypes|archetypal]] [[Jungian analysis|analysis]],<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Nichols|first1=Sallie|date=1974|title=The Wisdom of the Fool |journal=Psychological Perspective|volume=5|number=2|pages=97–116 |doi=10.1080/00332927408409418}}</ref> and even for facilitating the Jungian process of [[individuation]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Nichols|first=Sallie|title=Jung and Tarot: An Archetypal Journey |location=San Francisco|publisher=Weiser Books}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last1=Semetsky|first1=Inna |s2cid=145713665|date=2010|title=When Cathy was a Little Girl: The Healing Praxis of Tarot Images |journal=International Journal of Children's Spirituality|volume=15|number=1|page=59 |doi=10.1080/13644360903565623}}</ref>

=== Court de Gébelin ===
[[File:AntoineCourtdeGebelin.jpg|upright|thumb|right|[[Antoine Court de Gebelin|Court de Gébelin]]]]

Many involved in occult and divinatory practices attempt to trace the tarot to [[Ancient Egypt in the Western imagination|ancient Egypt]], divine hermetic wisdom,{{sfn|Decker|Dummett|2002|p={{page needed|date=March 2021}}}} and the [[Mysteries of Isis#Influence in modern times|mysteries of Isis]].

The first was [[Antoine Court de Gébelin]], a French clergyman, who wrote that after seeing a group of women playing cards, he had the idea that tarot was not merely a game of cards but was in fact of ancient Egyptian origin, of mystical [[Hermetic Qabalah|Qabalistic]] import, and of deep divine significance. Court de Gébelin published a dissertation on the origins of the symbolism in the tarot in volume VIII of work {{lang|fr|Le Monde primitif}} in 1781.<ref>{{cite book | last=Gébelin | first=Antoine Court de | title=Monde primitif, analysé et comparé avec le monde moderne | volume=8|publisher=Nyon | date=1781 | chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=m_bKIMCn-gUC&pg=PA365| language=fr | access-date=2025-05-10|pages=365–|chapter=Du Jeu des Tarots}}</ref> He believed that the tarot represented [[ancient Egyptian Religion|ancient Egyptian Theology]], including Isis, Osiris, and Typhon. For example, he thought the card he knew as the Papesse and known in occult circles today as the [[High Priestess]] represented [[Isis]].{{sfn|Court de Gébelin|1781|p=370}} He also related four tarot cards to the four Christian [[Cardinal virtues]]: [[Temperance (Tarot card)|Temperance]], [[Justice (Tarot card)|Justice]], [[Strength (Tarot card)|Strength]] and [[The Hanged Man (Tarot card)|Prudence]].{{sfn|Court de Gébelin|1781|p=371}} He related [[The Tower (tarot card)|The Tower]] to a Greek fable about [[Greed|avarice]].{{sfn|Court de Gébelin|1781|p=376}}

Although the ancient [[Egyptian language]] had not yet been deciphered, Court de Gébelin asserted the name "Tarot" came from the Egyptian words ''Tar'', {{gloss|path}} or {{gloss|road}}, and the word ''Ro'', ''Ros,'' or ''Rog'', meaning {{gloss|king}} or {{gloss|royal}}, and that the word literally translated to {{gloss|the Royal Road of Life}}.{{sfn|Court de Gébelin|1781|p=380}} Subsequent research by [[Egyptology|Egyptologists]] found nothing in the Egyptian language to support Court de Gébelin's [[etymology|etymologies]].{{sfn|Decker|Depaulis|Dummett|1996|p=60}} Despite this lack of any evidence, the belief that the tarot cards are linked to the Egyptian [[Book of Thoth]] continues to the present day.{{efn|See, for example, Alexander and Shannon (2019),<ref name="Alexander & Shannon 2019, p. 12">Alexander & Shannon (2019), p. 12.</ref> who describe as "compelling" theories linking tarot cards to ancient Egypt and the Book of Thoth.}}

The actual source of the occult tarot can be traced to two articles in volume eight, one written by Court de Gébelin and one written by M. le C. de M.***,{{efn|The asterisks and the abbreviations are the actual way Court de Gébelin refers to the second essay.}} who has been identified as Major General Louis-Raphaël-Lucrèce de Fayolle, Comte de Mellet.{{sfn|Decker|Depaulis|Dummett|1996|p=66}} This second essay is "considerably more impressive" than de Gébelin's, albeit "as full of assertions with no basis in truth",{{sfn|Decker|Depaulis|Dummett|1996|p=66}} and has been even more influential than Court de Gébelin's.{{sfn|Decker|Depaulis|Dummett|1996|p=66}} The author makes no acknowledgement of de Gébelin and, although he agrees with all his main conclusions, he also contradicts de Gébelin over such details as the meaning of the word "Tarot" and in how the cards spread across Europe.{{sfn|Decker|Depaulis|Dummett|1996|p=66}} Moreover, he takes de Gébelin's speculations even further, agreeing with him about the mystical origins of the tarot in ancient Egypt, but making several additional, and influential, statements that continue to influence mass understanding of the occult tarot even to this day.{{sfn|Decker|Depaulis|Dummett|1996|pp=68–73}} He made the first statements proposing that the tarot was "The [[Book of Thoth]]" and made the first association of tarot with cartomancy. Meanwhile Court de Gébelin was the first to imply the existence of a connection between the Tarot and [[Romani people]],{{efn|Miscalled by him "Bohemians". At that time, Romani people were thought to have come from Egypt, until later research established their origin in India.}} although this connection did not become well established in the public consciousness until other French authors such as Boiteau d'Ambly and Jean-Alexandre Vaillant began in the 1850s to promote the theory that tarot cards had been brought to Europe by the Romani.{{sfn|Place|2005|p=34}}{{sfn|Decker|Depaulis|Dummett|1996|pp=214–215}} In fact, there is virtually no evidence that Romani people used any form of playing cards for telling fortunes until the 20th century.{{sfn|Decker|Depaulis|Dummett|1996|p=228}}{{efn|Despite this, Alexander and Shannon (2019),<ref name="Alexander & Shannon 2019, p. 12">Alexander & Shannon (2019), p. 12.</ref> still claim that "Romani people may have carried the cards to Europe."}}

===Etteilla===
The first to assign divinatory meanings to the tarot cards was cartomancer [[Jean-Baptiste Alliette]] (also known as [[Etteilla]]) in 1783.{{sfn|Decker|Depaulis|Dummett|1996|p=99}}{{sfn|Place|2005|p=53}}

According to Dummett, Etteilla:{{sfn|Dummett|1980|p={{page needed|date=March 2021}}}}

* devised a method of tarot divination in 1783, 
* wrote a carto mantic treatise of tarot as the Book of Thoth,
* created the first society for tarot cartomancy, the Société littéraire des associés libres des interprètes du livre de Thot.
* created the first corrected tarot (supposedly fixing errors that resulted from misinterpretation and corruption through the mists of antiquity), The Grand Etteilla deck
* created the first Egyptian tarot to be used exclusively for tarot cartomancy, and
* published, under the imprint of his society, the {{lang|fr|Dictionnaire synonimique du Livre de Thot}}, a book that "systematically tabulated all the possible meanings which each card could bear, when upright and reversed."{{sfn|Dummett|1980|pp=110}}

Etteilla also suggested that tarot was:{{sfn|Decker|Depaulis|Dummett|1996|pp=84–85}}

* a repository of the wisdom of [[Hermes Trismegistus]]
* a book of eternal medicine
* an account of the creation of the world, and
* argued that the first copy of the tarot was imprinted on leaves of gold.

In his 1980 book, ''The Game of Tarot'', Michael Dummett suggested that Etteilla was attempting to supplant Court de Gébelin as the author of the occult tarot.{{efn|Etteilla's "eagerness to establish his claim to priority over de Gébelin..."{{sfn|Dummett|1980|p=107}} }} Etteilla in fact claimed to have been involved with tarot longer than Court de Gébelin.{{efn|Etteilla repeatedly claimed that he had studied the Tarot pack "from 1757 to 1765..."{{sfn|Dummett|1980|p=107}}}}

===Marie Anne Lenormand===
[[Marie Anne Lenormand|Mlle Marie-Anne Adelaide Lenormand]] outshone even Etteilla and was the first cartomancer to people in high places, through her claims to be the personal confidant of [[Empress Josephine]], [[Napoleon]] and other notables.{{sfn|Dummett|1980|p={{page needed|date=March 2021}}}} Lenormand used both regular playing cards, in particular the [[Piquet pack]], as well as tarot cards likely derived from the [[Tarot de Marseille]].{{sfn|Decker|Depaulis|Dummett|1996|pp=137–139}} Following her death in 1843, several different cartomantic decks were published in her name, including the {{lang|fr|Grand Jeu de Mlle Lenormand}}, based on the standard 52-card deck, first published in 1845, and the {{lang|fr|Petit Lenormand}}, a 36-card deck derived from the German game {{lang|de|Das Spiel der Hoffnung}}, first published around 1850.{{sfn|Decker|Depaulis|Dummett|1996|pp=139–141}}

===Éliphas Lévi===
The concept of the cards as a mystical key was extended by [[Éliphas Lévi]]. Lévi (whose actual name was Alphonse-Louis Constant) was educated in the seminary of Saint-Sulpice, and was ordained as a deacon, but never became a priest. Michael Dummett noted that it is from Lévi's book [[Dogme et Rituel de la Haute Magie|''Dogme et rituel'']] that the "whole of the modern occultist movement stems."{{sfn|Dummett|1980|p=114}} Lévi's magical theory was based on a concept he called the Astral Light{{sfn|Decker|Depaulis|Dummett|1996|p=184}} and according to Dummett, he claimed to be the first to:{{sfn|Dummett|1980|p=118}}

:"have discovered intact and still unknown this key of all doctrines and all philosophies of the old world... without the tarot", he tells us, "the Magic of the ancients is a closed book...."

Lévi accepted Court de Gébelin's claims that the deck had an Egyptian origin, but rejected Etteilla's interpretation and rectification of the cards in favor of a reinterpretation of the [[Tarot de Marseille]].{{sfn|Decker|Depaulis|Dummett|1996|pp=170–172, 185}} He called it ''The Book of Hermes'' and claimed that the tarot was antique, existed before Moses, and was in fact a universal key of erudition, philosophy, and magic that could unlock [[Hermeticism|Hermetic]] and Qabalistic concepts.{{sfn|Dummett|1980|p=117}} According to Lévi, "An imprisoned person with no other book than the Tarot, if he knew how to use it, could in a few years acquire universal knowledge, and would be able to speak on all subjects with unequaled learning and inexhaustible eloquence."{{sfn|Lévi|1896|p=103}}

According to Dummett, Lévi's notable contributions included the following:{{sfn|Decker|Depaulis|Dummett|1996|pp=185–191}}

* Lévi was the first to suggest that the Magus (Bagatto) was to be depicted in conjunction with the symbols of the four suits.
* Inspired by de Gébelin, Lévi associated the Hebrew alphabet with the [[Major Arcana]] (tarot trumps) and attributed an "onomantic astrology" system to the "ancient Hebrew Qabalists."{{sfn|Lévi|1886|p=240}}
* Lévi linked the ten numbered cards in each suit to the ten [[sefiroth]].
* He claimed the court cards represented stages of human life.
* He also claimed the four suits represented the [[Tetragrammaton]].

===French Tarot divination after Lévi===
Occultists, magicians, and magi all the way down to the 21st century have cited Lévi as a defining influence.{{sfn|Waite|2005|p=27}}{{efn|{{harvp|Waite|2005}} made 34 references to Lévi in all, including references to five of Lévi's books in the bibliography.}} Among the first to seemingly adopt Lévi's ideas was [[Jean-Baptiste Pitois]]. Pitois wrote two books under the name Paul Christian that referenced the tarot, {{Lang|fr|L'Homme rouge des Tuileries}} (1863), and later {{Lang|fr|Histoire de la magie, du monde surnaturel et de la fatalité à travers les temps et les peuples}} (1870). In them, Pitois repeated and extended the mythology of the tarot and changed the names for the trumps and the suits (see table below for a list of Pitois's modifications to the trumps).{{sfn|Decker|Depaulis|Dummett|1996|pp=199–200}} Batons (wands) become Scepters, Swords become Blades, and Coins become Shekels.{{efn|Dummett (1980) singles out Pitois's writing as one of the worst examples of what he calls false ascription to be found in the occult literature.}}

However, it was not until the late 1880s that Lévi's vision of the occult tarot truly began to bear fruit, as his ideas on the occult began to be propounded by various French and English occultists. In France, secret societies such as the French [[Theosophy (Blavatskian)|Theosophical Society]] (1884) and the [[Kabbalistic Order of the Rose-Cross]] (1888) served as the seeds for further developments in the occult tarot in France.{{sfn|Decker|Depaulis|Dummett|1996|pp=234–237}}

The French occultist [[Gérard Encausse|Papus]] was one of the most prominent members of these societies, joining the Isis lodge of the French Theosophical Society in 1887 and becoming a founding member of the Kabbalistic Order of the Rose-Cross the next year.{{sfn|Decker|Depaulis|Dummett|1996|pp=234–237}} Among his 260 publications are two treatises on the use of tarot cards, {{lang|fr|Le Tarot des Bohémiens}} (1889), which attempted to formalize the method of using tarot cards in ceremonial magic first proposed by Lévi in his {{lang|fr|Clef des grands mysteries}} (1861),{{sfn|Decker|Depaulis|Dummett|1996|pp=243–252}} and {{lang|fr|Le Tarot divinatoire}} (1909), which focused on simpler divinatory uses of the cards.{{sfn|Decker|Depaulis|Dummett|1996|pp=256–260}}

Another founding member of the Kabbalistic Order of the Rose-Cross, the [[Marquis Stanislas de Guaita]], met the amateur artist [[Oswald Wirth]] in 1887 and subsequently sponsored a production of Lévi's intended deck. Guided entirely by de Guaita, Wirth designed the first neo-occultist cartomantic deck (and first cartomantic deck not derived from Etteilla's Egyptian deck).{{sfn|Decker|Depaulis|Dummett|1996|pp=238–239}} Released in 1889 as {{lang|fr|Les 22 Arcanes du Tarot kabbalistique}}, it consisted of only the twenty-two major arcana and was revised under the title of {{lang|fr|Le Tarot des imagers du moyen âge}} in 1926.{{Sfn|Decker|Depaulis|Dummett|1996|pp=241–242}} Wirth also released a book about his revised cards which contained his own theories of the occult tarot under the same title the year following.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://eno-tarot.blogspot.com/2012/02/le-tarot-des-imagiers-du-moyen-age.html|title=Le Tarot des Imagiers du Moyen Age - Tchou edition|date=2012-02-26|website=Eno's Tarots|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190302230445/https://eno-tarot.blogspot.com/2012/02/le-tarot-des-imagiers-du-moyen-age.html|archive-date=2019-03-02|access-date=2019-10-10}}</ref>

Outside of the Kabbalistic Order, in 1888, French magus [[Ély Star]] published {{lang|fr|Les mystères de l'horoscope}} which mostly repeats Christian's modifications.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://marykgreer.com/2008/05/18/arcana-in-the-adytum/|title=Arcana in the Adytum|last=Greer|first=Mary K.|date=2008-05-08|website=Mary K. Greer's Tarot Blog|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190808212513/https://marykgreer.com/2008/05/18/arcana-in-the-adytum/|archive-date=2019-08-08|access-date=2019-10-09}}</ref> Its primary contribution was the introduction of the terms '[[Major Arcana]]' and '[[Minor Arcana]]', and the numbering of the Crocodile (the Fool) XXII instead of 0.{{sfn|Decker|Depaulis|Dummett|1996|pp=242–243}}

===The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn and its heirs===
The late 1880s not only saw the spread of the occult tarot in France, but also its initial adoption in the English-speaking world. In 1886, [[Arthur Edward Waite]] published ''The Mysteries of Magic'', a selection of Lévi's writings translated by Waite and the first significant treatment of the occult tarot to be published in England.{{sfn|Decker|Dummett|2002|p=48}} However, it was only through the establishment of the [[Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn]] in 1888 that the occult tarot was to become established as a tool in the English-speaking world.

Of the three founding members of the Golden Dawn, two, [[Samuel Liddell Mathers]] and [[William Wynn Westcott]], published texts relating to the occult tarot prior to the founding of the order. Westcott is known to have made ink sketches of tarot trumps in or around 1886{{sfn|Decker|Dummett|2002|p=53}} and discussed the tarot in his treatise ''Tabula Bembina, sive Mensa Isiaca'', published in 1887,{{sfn|Decker|Dummett|2002|p=55}} while Mathers had published the first British work primarily focused on the tarot in his 1888 booklet entitled ''The Tarot: Its Occult Signification, Use in Fortune-Telling and Method of Play''.{{sfn|Decker|Dummett|2002|p=57}}

[[File:Cipher Manuscripts Folio 32.gif|thumb|right|Folio 32 of the [[Cipher Manuscripts]], which gives the correspondences for the Major Arcana]]
The tarot was also mentioned explicitly in the [[Cipher Manuscripts]] that served as the founding document of the Hermetic Order, both implicitly and in the form of a separate essay accompanying the manuscript.{{sfn|Decker|Dummett|2002|p=77}} This essay was to serve as the basis for most of tarot interpretations by the Golden Dawn and its immediate successors, including such features as:{{sfn|Decker|Dummett|2002|pp=82–83}}

* placing The Fool before the other 21 trumps when determining the Qabalistic correspondence of the Major Arcana to the Hebrew alphabet
* attributing the Hebrew alphabet correspondences to pathways in the [[Tree of Life (Kabbalah)|Tree of Life]]
* swapping the positions of the eighth and eleventh arcana (Justice and Strength), and
* reassigning Qabalistic planetary associations to accord with the re-ordered trumps.

The Golden Dawn also:{{sfn|Decker|Dummett|2002|p=98}}

* renamed the suits of Batons and Coins to Wands and Pentacles
* swapped the order of the King and the Knight among the court cards, renaming them the Prince and the King, respectively
* changed the Page to become the Princess
* assigned each of the court cards to the letters of the [[Tetragrammaton]], thus associating both the court cards and suits to the four [[classical element]]s,{{sfn|Decker|Dummett|2002|p=98}} and
* associated each of the 36 cards ranked from 2 to 10, inclusive, with one of the 36 [[Decan (astrology)|astrological decans]].

The Hermetic Order never released its own tarot deck for public use, preferring instead for members to create their own copies of a deck designed by Mathers with art by his wife, [[Moina Mathers]].{{sfn|Decker|Dummett|2002|p=97}}{{efn|No complete copies of this deck are known to exist, but copies of three trumps, one court card, and the entire set of minor arcana painted by [[Moina Mathers]] were preserved by the [[Whare Ra]] Temple of New Zealand, and a set of court cards believed to be those of [[William Wynn Westcott|W. W. Westcott]] were also preserved. [[Israel Regardie]]'s later recreations of the deck were based on color photocopies of his personal deck for which the originals had been stolen.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Zalewski|first1=Pat|last2=Zalewski|first2=Chris|title=The Magical Tarot of the Golden Dawn: Divination, Meditation and High Magical Teachings|edition=revised|date=2019 |publisher=Aeon|location=London|isbn=978-1-911597-29-2|page=7}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Westcott|first1=William Wynn|last2=Mathers|first2=Moina |editor-last=Küntz|editor-first=Darcy|title=The Golden Dawn Court Cards as Drawn by William Wynn Westcott & Moina Mathers|edition=2nd|publisher=Holmes Publishing Group|location=Sequim, WA|series=Golden Dawn Studies Series|date=December 1998|volume=5|isbn=1-55818-336-1}}</ref>}} However, many of these innovations would make their first public appearance in two influential tarot decks designed by members of the order: the [[Rider–Waite–Smith deck]] and the [[Thoth tarot deck|Thoth deck]]. In addition, occultist [[Israel Regardie]] involved himself in two separate recreations of the original Golden Dawn deck, the ''Golden Dawn Tarot'' of 1978 with art by Robert Wang, and the ''New Golden Dawn Ritual Tarot''{{efn|Rereleased as the ''Golden Dawn Magical Tarot'' in 2000 and 2010.<ref>{{cite web|title=New Golden Dawn Ritual Tarot |url=https://eno-tarot.blogspot.com/2013/05/new-golden-dawn-ritual-tarot-golden.html|date=2013-05-03 |website=Eno's Tarots|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191009171016/https://eno-tarot.blogspot.com/2013/05/new-golden-dawn-ritual-tarot-golden.html|archive-date=2019-10-09|access-date=2019-10-09}}</ref>}} by [[Chic Cicero|Chic]] and [[Sandra Tabatha Cicero|Sandra Cicero]], released, after Regardie's death, in 1991.{{sfn|Decker|Dummett|2002|p=169}} The central document containing the Golden Dawn's Tarot interpretations, "Book T", was first published openly, if not under that title, by [[Aleister Crowley]] in his occult periodical ''[[The Equinox]]'' in 1912.{{sfn|Decker|Dummett|2002|p=139}}<ref>{{cite magazine|last=Anonymous|date=September 1912|title=A Description of the Cards of the Tarot |magazine= The Equinox|volume=I|number=8|pages=143–210|hdl=2027/mdp.39015088371532?urlappend=%3Bseq=189}}</ref> The volume was later republished independently in 1967.<ref name="Greer2008">{{cite web|last=Greer |first=Mary K. |url=https://marykgreer.com/2008/05/20/1969-the-tarot-renaissance/|access-date=2020-08-01 |title=1969 – The Tarot Renaissance|date=2008-05-20|website=Mary K. Greer's Tarot Blog|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190917134707/https://marykgreer.com/2008/03/27/eden-grays-fools-journey/ |archive-date=2019-09-17}}</ref>
{| class="wikitable"
|+ Golden Dawn correspondences of the Major Arcana<ref>{{cite book |last1=Decker |first1=Ronald |last2=Dummett |first2=Michael |title=A History of the Occult Tarot |date=2019 |publisher=Duckworth |location=London |isbn=9780715645727 |pages=81–84}}</ref>
|-
! Tarot card !! Hebrew letter !! Element/planet/sign
|-
|0 [[The Fool (Tarot card)|The Fool]] || א [[Aleph]] || 🜁 [[Air (classical element)|Air]]
|-
|I [[The Magician (Tarot card)|The Magician]] || ב [[Bet (letter)|Bet]] || ☿ [[Mercury (planet)|Mercury]]
|-
|II [[The High Priestess (Tarot card)|The High Priestess]] || ג [[Gimel]] || ☾ [[Moon]]
|-
|III [[The Empress (Tarot card)|The Empress]] || ד [[Dalet]] || ♀ [[Venus]]
|-
|IV [[The Emperor (Tarot card)|The Emperor]] || ה [[He (letter)|He]] || ♈︎ [[Aries (astrology)|Aries]]
|-
|V [[The Hierophant (Tarot card)|The Hierophant]] || ו [[Waw (letter)|Vau]] || ♉︎ [[Taurus (astrology)|Taurus]]
|-
|VI [[The Lovers (Tarot card)|The Lovers]] || ז [[Zayin]] || ♊︎ [[Gemini (astrology)|Gemini]]
|-
|VII [[The Chariot (Tarot card)|The Chariot]] || ח [[Heth]] || ♋︎ [[Cancer (astrology)|Cancer]]
|-
|VIII [[Strength (Tarot card)|Strength]] || ט [[Teth]] || ♌︎ [[Leo (astrology)|Leo]]
|-
|IX [[The Hermit (Tarot card)|The Hermit]] || י [[Yodh|Yod]] || ♍︎ [[Virgo (astrology)|Virgo]]
|-
|X [[Wheel of Fortune (Tarot card)|Wheel of Fortune]] || כ [[Kaph]] || ♃ [[Jupiter]]
|-
|XI [[Justice (Tarot card)|Justice]] || ל [[Lamedh|Lamed]] || ♎︎ [[Libra (astrology)|Libra]]
|-
|XII [[The Hanged Man (tarot card)|The Hanged Man]] || מ [[Mem]] || 🜄 [[Water (classical element)|Water]]
|-
|XIII [[Death (Tarot card)|Death]] || נ [[Nun (letter)|Nun]] || ♏︎ [[Scorpio (astrology)|Scorpio]]
|-
|XIV [[Temperance (Tarot card)|Temperance]] || ס [[Samekh]] || ♐︎ [[Sagittarius (astrology)|Sagittarius]]
|-
|XV [[The Devil (Tarot card)|The Devil]] || ע [[Ayin]] || ♑︎ [[Capricorn (astrology)|Capricorn]]
|-
|XVI [[The Tower (Tarot card)|The Tower]] || פ [[Pe (Semitic letter)|Pe]] || ♂ [[Mars]]
|-
|XVII [[The Star (Tarot card)|The Star]] || צ [[Tsade]] || ♒︎ [[Aquarius (astrology)|Aquarius]]
|-
|XVIII [[The Moon (Tarot card)|The Moon]] || ק [[Qoph]] || ♓︎ [[Pisces (astrology)|Pisces]]
|-
|XIX [[The Sun (Tarot card)|The Sun]] || ר [[Resh]] || ☉ [[Sun]]
|-
|XX [[Judgement (Tarot card)|Judgement]] || ש [[Shin (letter)|Shin]] || 🜂 [[Fire (classical element)|Fire]]
|-
|XXI [[The World (Tarot card)|The World]] || ת [[Taw]] || ♄ [[Saturn]]
|}

===Waite and Crowley===
[[File:Celtic Cross Tarot Spread.jpg|thumb|The Celtic Cross spread using the Universal Waite deck, a recolored variation of the original Rider–Waite deck]]
The [[Rider–Waite–Smith deck]],{{efn|Alternately named the ''Rider–Waite Tarot'' or ''Waite–Smith Tarot''}} released in 1909, was the first complete cartomantic tarot deck other than those derived from Etteilla's Egyptian tarot.{{sfn|Decker|Dummett|2002|p=129}} ([[Oswald Wirth]]'s 1889 deck had only depicted the major arcana.{{sfn|Decker|Depaulis|Dummett|1996|pp=238–239}}) The deck, designed by [[Arthur Edward Waite]], was executed by [[Pamela Colman Smith]], a fellow Golden Dawn member, and was the first tarot deck to feature complete scenes for each of the 36 suit cards between 2 and 10 since the [[Sola Busca tarot]] of the 15th century, with certain designs likely based in part on a number of photographs of them held by the British Museum.{{sfn|Decker|Dummett|2002|p=132}} The deck followed the Golden Dawn in its choice of suit names and in swapping the order of the trumps of Justice and Strength, but essentially preserved the traditional designations of the court cards. The deck was followed by the release of ''The Key to the Tarot'', also by Waite, in 1910.{{efn|Re-released with black-and-white versions of Smith's artwork as ''[[The Pictorial Key to the Tarot]]'', in 1911.}}

The [[Thoth tarot deck|Thoth deck]], first released as part of Aleister Crowley's ''[[The Book of Thoth (Crowley)|The Book of Thoth]]'' in 1944,<ref name="Gillis2009">{{cite magazine|last=Gillis|first=R. Leo|editor-last=Katz|editor-first=Marcus|date=Autumn 2009|title=The (Printer's) Devil Is in the Details|magazine=Tarosophist International|volume=1 |issue=4|issn=2040-4328|pages=39–62}}</ref> represent a somewhat different evolution of the original Golden Dawn designs. The deck, executed by [[Lady Frieda Harris]] as a series of paintings between 1938 and 1942,{{sfn|Decker|Dummett|2002|p=153}} owes much to Crowley's development of [[Thelema]] in the years following the dissolution of the Hermetic Order. While the deck follows Golden Dawn teachings with respect to the zodiacal associations of the major arcana and the associations of the minor arcana with the various astrological decans, it also:{{sfn|Decker|Dummett|2002|pp=153–154}}

* reverted to the traditional Marseille numbering of Justice and Strength as arcana 8 and 11, respectively (though it retained the swapped associations with respect to the Hebrew alphabet)
* swapped the Hebrew alphabet associations of the fourth and seventeenth arcana (The Emperor and The Star, respectively), in accordance with Crowley's ''[[Liber Legis]]'' of 1913
* renamed several of the major arcana
* renamed the suits of Batons and Coins to Wands and Disks (the latter instead of the Golden Dawn's "Pentacles"), and
* adopted the Golden Dawn's court cards, except that the Knight was not renamed.

While Crowley managed to print a partial test run of the standalone deck using seven color plates included in ''The Book of Thoth'', it was not until the 1960s, after Crowley and Harris's deaths, that the deck was first printed in its entirety.<ref name="Gillis2009" />

===Tarot divination in the United States===
Two of the earliest publications on tarot in the English language were published in the United States, including a book by Madame Camille Le Normand entitled ''Fortune-Telling by Cards; or, Cartomancy Made Easy'', published in 1872,{{sfn|Decker|Dummett|2002|p=326, chapter 3, note 1}} and an anonymous American essay on the tarot published in ''The Platonist'' in 1885 entitled "The Taro".<ref>{{cite magazine |last=Anonymous|date=August 1885|title=The Taro |magazine=The Platonist|volume=II|number=8|pages=126–128 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ORXfQfIARR0C&pg=RA1-PA126|access-date=2019-10-09}}</ref> The latter essay is implied by Decker and Dummett to have been written by an individual with a connection to the occult order known as the [[Hermetic Brotherhood of Luxor]].{{sfn|Decker|Dummett|2002|pp=61–62}} While it is not clear to what extent the Hermetic Brotherhood used tarot cards in its practices,{{sfn|Decker|Dummett|2002|p=71}} it influenced later occult societies such as Elbert Benjamine's [[Church of Light]], which had tarot practices (and an accompanying deck) of its own.{{sfn|Decker|Dummett|2002|pp=219–220}}

Adoption of the esoteric tarot practices of the Golden Dawn in the United States was driven in part by the American occultist [[Paul Foster Case]], whose 1920 book ''An Introduction to the Study of the Tarot'' made use of the Rider–Waite–Smith deck and assorted esoteric associations first adopted by the Golden Dawn.{{sfn|Decker|Dummett|2002|pp=250–251}} By the 1930s, however, Case had formed his own occult order, the [[Builders of the Adytum]], and began to promote the Revised New Art Tarot,{{efn|Also known as the ''Knapp Tarot'' or ''Knapp-Hall Tarot''}} by [[Manly P. Hall]] with art by [[John Augustus Knapp|J. Augustus Knapp]],{{sfn|Decker|Dummett|2002|pp=254–255}} as well as Case's own deck. Executed by [[Jessie Burns Parke]], the artwork of Case's deck, the [[B.O.T.A. tarot deck|B.O.T.A. Tarot]], generally resembles that of the Rider–Waite–Smith deck, but the deck also shows influences from [[Oswald Wirth]] and the original design of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn tarot.{{sfn|Decker|Dummett|2002|p=256}} Case promoted the deck in his 1947 book ''The Tarot: A Key to the Wisdom of the Ages'', which also marked one of the first references to the work of [[Carl Jung]] by a tarotist.{{sfn|Decker|Dummett|2002|p=255}}

Esoteric use of the Rider–Waite–Smith Tarot was also promoted in the works of [[Eden Gray]], whose three books on the tarot made extensive use of the deck. Gray's books were adopted by members of the 1960s counter-culture as standard reference works on divinatory use of tarot cards,{{sfn|Decker|Dummett|2002|p=300}} and her 1970 book ''A Complete Guide to the Tarot'' was the first work to use the metaphor of the "Fool's Journey" to explain the meanings of the major arcana.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://marykgreer.com/2008/03/27/eden-grays-fools-journey/|last=Greer|first=Mary K.|title=Eden Gray's Fool's Journey|date=2008-03-27|website=Mary K. Greer's Tarot Blog|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190917134707/https://marykgreer.com/2008/03/27/eden-grays-fools-journey/|archive-date=2019-09-17|access-date=2019-10-09}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Gray|first1=Eden|title=A Complete Guide to the Tarot|date=1970|publisher=Crown Publishers, Inc.|location=New York|pages=149–150}}</ref>

===Tarot divination since 1970===

The work of Eden Gray and others in the 1960s led to an explosion of popularity in tarot card reading beginning in 1969.<ref name="Greer2008"/> [[Stuart R. Kaplan|Stuart R. Kaplan's]] [[U.S. Games Systems]], which had been founded in 1968 to import copies of the [[Swiss 1JJ Tarot]], was well positioned to take advantage of this explosion and reissued the then out-of-print Rider–Waite–Smith Tarot in 1970, which has not gone out of print since.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/the-deck-of-cards-that-made-tarot-a-global-phenomenon|last=Topolsky|first=Laura June|title=The Deck of Cards That Made Tarot A Global Phenomenon|date=2015-07-10|website=Atlas Obscura |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180105120829/https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/the-deck-of-cards-that-made-tarot-a-global-phenomenon|archive-date=2018-01-05|access-date=2019-10-09}}</ref> Tarot card reading quickly became associated with New Age thought, signaled in part by the popularity of [[David Palladini|David Palladini's]] Rider–Waite–Smith-inspired Aquarian Tarot, first issued in 1968.<ref>{{cite magazine |last=Yaccarino|first=Michael Orlando|editor-last=Katz|editor-first=Marcus|date=Winter 2009|title=Sage of Aquarius: David Palladini & The Art of Being |magazine=Tarosophist International|volume=1|issue=5|issn=2040-4328|pages=5–32}}</ref> Artists soon began to create their own interpretations of the tarot for artistic purposes rather than purely esoteric ones, such as the Mountain Dream Tarot of [[Bea Nettles]], the first photographic tarot deck, released in 1975.<ref>{{cite web|title=The Haunting Photographic Tarot Deck, with an Unexpected Nod from Bruce Springsteen |url=https://dangerousminds.net/comments/the_haunting_photographic_tarot_deck_with_an_unexpected_nod_from_bruce_spri|access-date=2019-10-09|last=Schneider|first=Martin|date=2017-11-29|website=Dangerous Minds|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190714141859/https://dangerousminds.net/comments/the_haunting_photographic_tarot_deck_with_an_unexpected_nod_from_bruce_spri|archive-date=2019-07-14}}</ref>

The 1980s and 1990s saw the rise of a new generation of tarotists, influenced by the writings of Eden Gray and the work of Carl Jung and [[Joseph Campbell]] on psychological archetypes. These tarotists sought to apply tarot card reading to personal introspection and growth, and included [[Mary K. Greer]], the author of ''Tarot for Your Self: A Wookbook for the Inward Journey'' (1984), and [[Rachel Pollack]], the author of ''Seventy-Eight Degrees of Wisdom'' (1980/1983).<ref>{{cite web|last=Winick|first=Steve|title=Breaking Every Rule: Mary K. Greer|website=Stephen D. Winick|url=https://www.stevewinick.com/greer|access-date=2019-10-09|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160307215742/https://www.stevewinick.com/greer|archive-date=2016-03-07}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.stevewinick.com/pollack|last=Winick|first=Stephen D.|title=Tarot's Master Storyteller: Rachel Pollack|website=Stephen D. Winick|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160829181534/http://www.stevewinick.com/pollack|archive-date=2016-08-29|access-date=2019-10-09}}</ref> Tarot cards also began to gain popularity as a divinatory tool in countries like Japan, where hundreds of new decks have been designed in recent years.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Miller |first1=Laura |s2cid=144749662 |year=2011 |title=Tantalizing tarot and cute cartomancy in Japan |journal=Japanese Studies |volume=31 |issue=1| pages=73–91 |doi=10.1080/10371397.2011.560659}}</ref> The democratization of digital publishing in the 2000s and 2010s led to a new explosion of tarot decks as artists became increasingly able to self-publish their own, with the contemporaneous empowerment of feminist, LGBTQ+ and other marginalized communities providing a ready market for such work.<ref>{{cite web |last=Ando|first=Arnell|title=How to Publish Your Own Deck |date=2018-06-09|website=Arnell's Art |url=https://arnellart.com/makenpub.htm|access-date=2019-10-09|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190319091306/http://www.arnellart.com/makenpub.htm|archive-date=2019-03-19}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://blog.littleredtarot.com/tarotsowhite-conversation-diversity-cards/ |last=Maiden|first=Beth|title=#TarotsoWhite: A conversation about diversity in our cards|date=2016-05-01 |website=The Little Red Tarot Blog|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181119054958/http://blog.littleredtarot.com:80/tarotsowhite-conversation-diversity-cards/|archive-date=2018-11-19|access-date=2019-10-09}}</ref>

==Use==
Tarot is often used in conjunction with the study of the [[Hermetic Qabalah]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Regardie|first=Isabel|author-link=Israel Regardie|title=The Tree of Life|location=London|publisher=Rider|date=1932}}</ref> In these decks all the cards are illustrated in accordance with Qabalistic principles, most being influenced by the ''[[Rider–Waite]]'' deck. Its images were drawn by artist [[Pamela Colman Smith]], to the instructions of Christian mystic and occultist [[Arthur Edward Waite]], and published in 1911.{{sfn|Waite|2005|p=33}}

A difference from [[Tarot of Marseille|Marseilles]]-style decks is that Waite and Smith use scenes with [[esoteric]] meanings on the suit cards. These esoteric, or divinatory meanings were derived in great part from the writings of the [[Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn]] group, of which Waite had been a member. The meanings<ref>{{cite web|url=https://marykgreer.com/2008/02/01/21/|last=Greer|first=Mary K.|title=Golden Dawn Correspondences for Astrology and Tarot|date=2008-02-01|website=Mary K. Greer's Tarot Blog|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190823053631/https://marykgreer.com/2008/02/01/21/|archive-date=2019-08-23|access-date=2019-10-09}}</ref> and many of the illustrations<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.billheidrick.com/works/tarottbl.htm|last=Heidrick|first=Bill|title=Tarot Correspondence Tables|date=1976|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190728004648/http://www.billheidrick.com/works/tarottbl.htm|archive-date=2019-07-28|access-date=2019-10-09}}</ref> showed the influence of [[astrology]] as well as Qabalistic principles.

===Trumps===

The following is a comparison of the order and names of the [[Major Trumps]] up to and including the Rider–Waite–Smith and Crowley (Thoth) decks:

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! [[Tarot de Marseille]]<ref>{{cite web|url=https://i-p-c-s.org/pattern/PS001.pdf|title=Pattern Sheet IT-001: Tarot de Marseille, Type I|website=The International Card Playing Society|page=1|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191009172036/https://i-p-c-s.org/pattern/PS001.pdf|archive-date=2019-10-09|access-date=2019-10-09}}</ref>
! Court de Gébelin<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.sablefeatherpress.com/Antoine_Court_de_Gebelin/|title=Antoine Court de Gébelin {{pipe}} Tarot {{pipe}} Monde primitif|website=Sable Feather Press|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190609224016/http://sablefeatherpress.com/Antoine_Court_de_Gebelin/|archive-date=2019-06-09|access-date=2019-10-09}}</ref>
! Etteilla<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.villarevak.org/emw/emw_b.htm|title=The Influence of Etteilla & His School on Mathers & Waite, Appendix B: Comparing the Trumps of Etteilla's Tarot with Those of the Tarot de Marseille|last=Revak|first=James W.|website=Vila Revak|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140324191359/http://www.villarevak.org/emw/emw_b.htm|archive-date=2014-03-24|access-date=2019-10-09}}</ref>
! Paul Christian{{sfn|Decker|Depaulis|Dummett|1996|p=200}}
! Oswald Wirth<ref>{{cite book|last=Wirth|first=Oswald|title=The Tarot of the Magicians|location=York Beach, ME|publisher=Samuel Weiser, Inc.|date=1990|isbn=0877286566|url=https://archive.org/details/TarotOfTheMagiciansByOswaldWirth/|page=155}}</ref>
! Golden Dawn{{sfn|Decker|Dummett|2002|pp=97–98}}
! Rider–Waite–Smith{{sfn|Waite|2005|pp=36–79}}
! Book of Thoth<br/>(Crowley)<ref>{{cite book|last=Ziegler|first=Gert|title=Tarot: Mirror of the Soul|location=York Beach, ME|publisher=Samuel Weiser, Inc.|date=1988|isbn=0877286833|pages=13–59}}</ref>
|-
| I. The Juggler
|| I. The Thimblerig, or ''Bateleur''
|| 15. Illness
|| I. The Magus
|| 1. The Magician
|| I. The Magician
|| I. The Magician
|| I. The Magus{{efn|Some versions of Crowley's tarot include two additional variants of this arcanum with different artwork.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Akron|last2=Banzhaf|first2=Hajo|title=The Crowley Tarot: The Handbook to the Cards|location=Stamford, CT|publisher=U.S. Games Systems, Inc.|date=1995|isbn=0880797150|page=11}}</ref><ref name="Gillis2009"/>}}
|-
| II. The Popess
|| II. The High Priestess
|| 8. Etteilla /Female questioner
|| II. The Gate of the Sanctuary (of the occult Sanctuary)
|| 2. The Priestess
|| II. The High Priestess
|| II. The High Priestess
|| II. The Priestess
|-
| III. The Empress
|| III. The Queen
|| 6. Night /Day
|| III. Isis-Urania
|| 3. The Empress
|| III. The Empress
|| III. The Empress
|| III. The Empress
|-
| IV. The Emperor
|| IV. The King
|| 7. Support /Protection
|| IV. The Cubic Stone
|| 4. The Emperor
|| IV. The Emperor
|| IV. The Emperor
|| IV. The Emperor
|-
| V. The Pope
|| V. The Lead Hierophant, or the High Priest
|| 13. Marriage /Union
|| V. The Master of the Mysteries (of the Arcana)
|| 5. The Pope
|| V. The Hierophant
|| V. The Hierophant
|| V. The Hierophant
|-
| VI. The Lovers
|| VI. The Marriage
|| (none){{efn|But note that Revak identifies a single card labeled "1. Etteilla/Male querent" that does not correspond to any in the Tarot de Marseille.}}
|| VI. The Two Roads
|| 6. The Lover
|| VI. The Lovers
|| VI. The Lovers
|| VI. The Lovers
|-
| VII. The Chariot
|| VII. Osiris Triumphant
|| 21. Dissension
|| VII. The Chariot of Osiris
|| 7. The Chariot
|| VII. The Chariot
|| VII. The Chariot
|| VII. The Chariot
|-
| VIII. Justice
|| VIII. Justice
|| 9. Justice /Jurist
|| VIII. Themis (the Scales and Blade)
|| 8. Justice
|| XI. Justice
|| XI. Justice
|| VIII. Adjustment
|-
| IX. The Hermit
|| IX. The Sage, or the Seeker of Truth and Justice
|| 18. Traitor
|| IX. The Veiled Lamp
|| 9. The Hermit
|| IX. The Hermit
|| IX. The Hermit
|| IX. The Hermit
|-
| X. The Wheel of Fortune
|| X. The Wheel of Fortune
|| 20. Fortune /Increase
|| X. The Sphinx
|| 10. The Wheel of Fortune
|| X. The Wheel of Fortune
|| X. Wheel of Fortune
|| X. Fortune
|-
| XI. Strength
|| XI. Strength
|| 11. Strength /Sovereign
|| XI. The Muzzled Lion (the Tamed Lion)
|| 11. The Strength
|| VIII. Strength
|| VIII. Strength
|| XI. Lust
|-
| XII. The Hanged Man
|| XII. Prudence
|| 12. Prudence /The People
|| XII. The Sacrifice
|| 12. The Hanged Man
|| XII. The Hanged Man
|| XII. The Hanged Man
|| XII. The Hanged Man
|-
| XIII. Death{{efn|Typically unlabeled.}}
|| XIII. Death{{efn|name=CourtDeGebelin13|Court de Gébelin incorrectly labeled both Death and Temperance as XIII.{{sfn|Place|2005|p=35}}  The latter is probably a printing error.}}
|| 17. Mortality /Nothingness
|| XIII. The Skeleton Reaper (the Reaper, the Scythe)
|| 13. Death
|| XIII. Death
|| XIII. Death
|| XIII. Death
|-
| XIV. Temperance
|| XIV. Temperance{{efn|name=CourtDeGebelin13}}
|| 10. Temperance /Priest
|| XIV. The Two Urns (the Genius of the Sun)
|| 14. Temperance
|| XIV. Temperance
|| XIV. Temperance
|| XIV. Art
|-
| XV. The Devil
|| XV. Typhon
|| 14. Great Force
|| XV. Typhon
|| 15. The Devil
|| XV. The Devil
|| XV. The Devil
|| XV. The Devil
|-
| XVI. The House of God
|| XVI. God-House, or Castle of Plutus
|| 19. Misery /Prison
|| XVI. The Beheaded Tower (the Lightning-Struck Tower)
|| 16. The Tower
|| XVI. The Blasted Tower
|| XVI. The Tower
|| XVI. The Tower
|-
| XVII. The Star
|| XVII. The Dog Star
|| 4. Desolation /Air
|| XVII. The Star of the Magi
|| 17. The Star
|| XVII. The Star
|| XVII. The Star
|| XVII. The Star
|-
| XVIII. The Moon
|| XVIII. The Moon
|| 3. Comments /Water
|| XVIII. The Twilight
|| 18. The Moon
|| XVIII. The Moon
|| XVIII. The Moon
|| XVIII. The Moon
|-
| XIX. The Sun
|| XIX. The Sun
|| 2. Enlightenment /Fire
|| XIX. The Blazing Light
|| 19. The Sun
|| XIX. The Sun
|| XIX. The Sun
|| XIX. The Sun
|-
| XX. Judgement
|| XX. The Last Judgment
|| 16. Judgment
|| XX. The Awakening of the Dead (the Genius of the Dead)
|| 20. Judgment
|| XX. Judgement
|| XX. Judgement
|| XX. The Aeon
|-
| XXI. The World
|| XXI. Time
|| 5. Voyage /Earth
|| XXI. The Crown of the Magi
|| 21. The World
|| XXI. The Universe
|| XXI. The World
|| XXI. The Universe
|-
| — The Fool
|| 0. The Fool
|| 78 (or 0). Folly
|| 0. The Crocodile{{efn|Christian, following Lévi, placed his "Crocodile" between Arcanum XX and Arcanum XXI.}}
|| — The Fool{{efn|Wirth typically placed his unnumbered "Fool" last, but depicted the penultimate Hebrew letter ''shin'' (ש) on the card, following Lévi's arrangement of Arcanum 0 between Arcanum XX and Arcanum XXI.{{sfn|Decker|Depaulis|Dummett|1996|p=187}}{{sfn|Decker|Dummett|2002|p=179}}}}
|| 0. The Fool
|| 0. The Fool{{efn|While the Fool is numbered 0 in the Rider–Waite–Smith tarot, Waite follows Lévi in listing it between Arcanum XX and Arcanum XXI in his ''Pictorial Key to the Tarot,'' despite calling such an order "ridiculous on the surface [and] wrong on the symbolism".{{sfn|Decker|Dummett|2002|p=138}}}}
|| 0. The Fool
|}

===Personal use===
Next to the usage of tarot cards to divine for others by professional [[cartomancy|cartomancers]], tarot is also used widely as a device for seeking personal guidance and spiritual growth. Practitioners often believe tarot cards can help the individual explore one's spiritual path.

People who use the tarot for personal divination may seek insight on topics ranging widely from health or economic issues to what they believe would be best for them spiritually.<ref name="auto">{{cite web |last1=van Rijn |first1=Bastiaan Benjamin|title=The Mind Behind the Cards|date=September 2017 |url=https://openaccess.leidenuniv.nl/handle/1887/51373|access-date=31 July 2017}}</ref> Thus, the way practitioners use the cards in regard to such personal inquiries is subject to a variety of personal beliefs. For example, some tarot users may believe the cards themselves are magically providing answers, while others may believe a supernatural force or a mystical energy is guiding the cards into a layout.

Alternatively, some practitioners believe tarot cards may be utilized as a psychology tool based on their [[archetypal]] imagery, an idea often attributed to [[Carl Jung]]. Jung wrote, "It also seems as if the set of pictures in the Tarot cards were distantly descended from the archetypes of transformation, a view that has been confirmed for me in a very enlightening lecture by Professor Bernoulli."<ref>{{cite book |author-last=Jung |author-first=C. G. |title=The Archetypes and the Collective Unconscious |date=1959 |publisher=Pantheon Books |isbn=978-0691018331 |editor1-last=Read |editor1-first=Sir Herbert |series=The Collected Works of C. G. Jung |volume=9, part 1 |location=New York |at=p. 38, paragraph 81 |translator-last=Hall |translator-first=R. F. C. |chapter=Archetypes of the Collective Unconscious |editor2-last=Fordham |editor2-first=Michael |editor3-last=Adler |editor3-first=Gerhard}}</ref> During a 1933 seminar on [[active imagination]], Jung described the symbolism he saw in the imagery:<ref>{{cite book |title=Visions: Notes of the Seminar given in 1930–1934 by C. G. Jung, vol. 2 |date=1997 |publisher=[[Princeton University Press]] |isbn=978-0691099712 |editor-last=Douglas |editor-first=Claire |series=Bollingen Series |volume=XCIX |location=Princeton, NJ |page=923 |language=En}}</ref><blockquote>The original cards of the Tarot consist of the ordinary cards, the king, the queen, the knight, the ace, etc., only the figures are somewhat different, and besides, there are twenty-one [additional] cards upon which are symbols, or pictures of symbolical situations. For example, the symbol of the sun, or the symbol of the man hung up by the feet, or the tower struck by lightning, or the wheel of fortune, and so on. Those are sort of archetypal ideas, of a differentiated nature, which mingle with the ordinary constituents of the flow of the unconscious, and therefore it is applicable for an intuitive method that has the purpose of understanding the flow of life, possibly even predicting future events, at all events lending itself to the reading of the conditions of the present moment.</blockquote>

==Criticism==
[[Skeptic]] [[James Randi]] once said that:<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.randi.org/encyclopedia/Tarot%20cards.html|title=Tarot cards|last=Randi|first=James|website=James Randi Educational Foundation|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130514085055/http://www.randi.org/encyclopedia/Tarot%20cards.html|archive-date=2013-05-14|access-date=2019-07-03}}</ref><blockquote>For use as a divinatory device, the tarot deck is dealt out in various patterns and interpreted by a gifted "reader." The fact that the deck is not dealt out into the same pattern fifteen minutes later is rationalized by the occultists by claiming that in that short span of time, a person's fortune can change, too. That would seem to call for rather frequent readings if the system is to be of any use whatsoever.</blockquote>Tarot historian Michael Dummett similarly critiqued occultist uses throughout his various works, remarking that "the history of the esoteric use of Tarot cards is an oscillation between the two poles of vulgar fortune telling and high magic; though the fence between them may have collapsed in places, the story cannot be understood if we fail to discern the difference between the regions it demarcates."{{sfn|Decker|Depaulis|Dummett|1996|pp=24–25}} As a historian, Dummett held particular disdain for what he called "the most successful propaganda campaign ever launched", noting that "an entire false history, and false interpretation, of the Tarot pack was concocted by the occultists; and it is all but universally believed."{{sfn|Decker|Depaulis|Dummett|1996|p=27}}

Many Christian writers discourage divination, including tarot card reading, as deceptive and "spiritually dangerous", citing, for example, Leviticus 19:26 and Deuteronomy 18:9–12 as [[proof texts]].<ref>[https://www.crosswalk.com/faith/bible-study/what-does-the-bible-say-about-tarot-cards.html ''What Does the Bible Say about Tarot Cards?''] by Whitney Hopler at crosswalk.com. Retrieved 6 June 2023.</ref><ref>[https://www.christianity.com/wiki/cults-and-other-religions/what-should-christians-know-about-tarot-cards.html ''Are Tarot Cards Evil and What Should Christians Know about Them?''] by Jack Ashcraft at christianity.com. Retrieved 6 June 2023.</ref>

==See also==
* [[Psychic reading]]
* [[Parrot astrology]]

==Notes==
{{notelist}}

==References==
{{Lacking ISBN|date=May 2012}}
{{Reflist}}

==Bibliography==
* Alexander, Skye and Mary Shannon (2019). ''The Only Tarot Book You'll Ever Need''. Avon, MASS: Simon & Schuster. 
* {{cite book|last=Case|first=Paul Foster|title=An Introduction to the Study of the Tarot|date=August 2012 |orig-year=first published 1920|publisher=Ancient Wisdom Publications|isbn=9781936690831}}
* {{cite book|last=Case|first=Paul Foster|title=The Tarot: A Key to the Wisdom of the Ages|date=1947 |location=New York|publisher=Macoy Publishing Company}}
* {{cite book|last=Christian|first=Paul|title=L'homme rouge des Tuileries|date=1863|location=Paris |publisher=Paul Christian|url=https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k9799239b}}
* {{cite book|last=Christian|first=Paul|title=Histoire de la magie, du monde surnaturel et de la fatalité à travers les temps et les peuples|date=1870|location=Paris|publisher=Furne, Jouvet et Cte. |url=https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k2029696}}
* {{cite book|last=Court de Gébelin|first=Antoine|title=Le monde primitif|volume=VIII|date=1781 |location=Paris|publisher=Chez Court de Gébelin, Valleyre, & Sorin |url=https://archive.org/details/b30411956_0008}}
* {{cite book|last1=Crowley|first1=Aleister|title=The Book of Thoth (Egyptian Tarot)|date=1974|orig-year=first published 1944|publisher=Samuel Weiser, Inc.|location=New York|isbn=0877282684}}
* {{cite book|last1=Decker|first1=Ronald|last2=Depaulis|first2=Thierry|last3=Dummett|first3=Michael |date=1996|title=A Wicked Pack of Cards: The Origins of the Occult Tarot|location=New York|publisher=St. Martin’s Press}}
* {{cite book|last1=Decker|first1=Ronald|last2=Dummett|first2=Michael|title=A History of the Occult Tarot: 1870–1970|location=London|publisher=Duckworth|date=2002|isbn=0715631225}}
* {{cite book|last=Dummett|first=Michael|date=1980|title=The Game of Tarot|location=London |publisher=Duckworth|isbn=0715631225}}
* {{cite book|last=Frater S.M.R.D.|display-authors=etal|title=The Secret Workings of the Golden Dawn: Book "T": The Tarot|date=1967|publisher=Helios Book Service Ltd.|location=Gloucester, England}}
* {{cite book|last1=Gray|first1=Eden|title=A Complete Guide to the Tarot|date=1970|publisher=Crown Publishers, Inc.|location=New York}}
* {{cite book|last1=Greer|first1=Mary K.|title=Tarot for Your Self: A Workbook for the Inward Journey |date=September 2019|edition=35th anniversary|publisher=Weiser Books|location=Newburyport, MA|orig-year=first published 1984 |isbn=9781578636792}}
* {{cite book|last1=Le Normand|first1=Camille|title=Fortune-Telling by Cards; or, Cartomancy Made Easy |date=1872|publisher=Robert M. De Witt|location=New York}}
* {{cite book|last=Lévi|first=Éliphas|title=Dogme et rituel de la haute magie|date=1861|location=Paris |publisher=Germer Baillière|url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_KFOi-CfETNIC}}
* {{cite book|last=Lévi|first=Éliphas|title=La clef des grands mystères|date=1861|location=Paris |publisher=Germer Baillière|url=https://archive.org/details/leclefdesgrandsm00lvil}}
* {{cite book|last=Lévi|first=Éliphas|date=1886|title=The Mysteries of Magic}}
* {{cite book|last=Lévi|first=Éliphas|date=1896|title=Transcendental Magic: Its Doctrine and Ritual |translator-last=Waite|translator-first=Arthur Edward|location=London|publisher=George Redway}}
* {{cite book|last=Lévi|first=Éliphas|date=2002|title=The Key of the Mysteries|translator-last=Crowley |translator-first=Aleister|orig-year=1959|location=Boston, MA|publisher=Red Wheel/Weiser|isbn=0877280789}}
* {{cite book|last1=Mathers|first1=S.L. MacGregor|title=The Tarot: Its Occult Signification, Use in Fortune-Telling and Method of Play|date=1888|url=https://sacred-texts.com/tarot/mathers/index.htm}}
* {{cite book|last=Papus|title=Le tarot des Bohémiens|date=1889|location=Paris|publisher=Ernest Flammarion |url=https://archive.org/details/clefabsoluedelas00papuuoft}}
* {{cite book|last=Papus|title=Le tarot divinatoire|date=2006|publisher=Elibron Classics|isbn=054378603X |orig-year=first published 1909}}
* {{cite book|last=Place|first=Robert|title=The Tarot: History, Symbolism, and Divination|location=New York |publisher=Jeremy P. Tarcher/Penguin|date=2005|isbn=9781585423491 |url=https://archive.org/details/tarothistorysymb00plac|url-access=registration}}
* {{cite book|last1=Pollack|first1=Rachel|title=Seventy-Eight Degrees of Wisdom: A Tarot Journey to Self-Awareness|date=2019|publisher=Weiser Books|location=Newburyport, MA|orig-year=first published in two parts in 1980/1983 |isbn=9781578636655}}
* {{cite book|last=Star|first=Ély|title=Les mystères de l'horoscope|date=1888|publisher=E. Dentu |location=Paris |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tIG3GjV2jU4C}}
* {{cite book|last1=Waite|first1=Arthur Edward|title=The Pictorial Key to the Tarot|date=2005|orig-year=first published 1911|publisher=Dover Publications Inc.|location=Mineola, NY|isbn=9780486442556}}
* {{cite book|last1=Waite|first1=Arthur Edward|title=The Mysteries of Magic: A Digest of the Writings of Éliphas Lévi|date=1886|location=London|publisher=George Redway |url=https://archive.org/details/A.EWaiteTheMysteriesOfMagic}}
* {{cite book|last1=Westcott|first1=W. Wynn|title=Tabula Bembina, sive Mensa Isiaca: The Isiac Tablet of Cardinal Bembo: Its History and Occult Significance|date=1887|publisher=Robt. H. Fryar|location=Bath |url=https://www.sacred-texts.com/eso/isi/index.htm}}
* {{cite book|last1=Wirth|first1=Oswald|title=Le tarot des imagiers du moyen âge|date=1966|publisher=[[Claude Tchou]]|orig-year=first published 1927}}

==External links==
{{wikiversity|Tarot}}

* [https://web.archive.org/web/20140209074108/http://tarotpuu.com/images/Etteilla%201890.pdf Images from the Grand Etteilla Deck]

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