The Tarot is a pack of playing cards, used from the mid-15th century in various parts of Europe to play games. It was not until the late 18th century that some tarot packs began to be used for divination in the form of tarotology and cartomancy and even later specialized packs were developed just for these purposes.
The word tarot is derived from the Italian tarocchi and while the origin of the word is uncertain, taroch was used as a synonym for foolishness in the late 15th and early 16th centuries.
The earliest recorded use of a tarot deck for divination is from an anonymous manuscript from around 1750 which documents rudimentary divination meanings for the cards. The first issue of an occult tarot deck was by French occultist know as Etteilla around 1789, Etteilla’s tarot contained themes related to ancient Egypt.
The 78-card tarot deck consists of the 22 card Major Arcana (greater secrets) and the 56 card Minor Arcana (lesser secrets). The terms major and minor arcana where first used by Jean-Baptiste Pitois, the French author of the 1870 book The History and Pratice of Magic. The terms where never used in relation to the tarot card games.
The most common tarot decks use today are Tarot of Marseilles, Rider-Waite Tarot and the Thoth tarot deck.
