The Link Between Tarot and Divination

How did the tarot card deck go from card game to divination tool? The most accurate beginning to tarot cards and divination came from the Egyptian Book of Thoth; Thoth being the Egyptian god of wisdom. European intellectuals in the 18th century believed that ancient Egypt had a secret point of view of human existence, they linked the tarot imagery with Egyptian mysticism. When the German King Charles VI was found to have a mental illness, his court had entrusted gypsies to bring a copy of the book to France in the 18th century, where the contents of the book were then interpreted along with hieroglyphics onto a deck of tarot cards. They then attempted to use this to “heal” the king’s mental illness. Thus giving credibility to the card’s capacity for divination. Over the centuries the cards gained different meanings and interpretations, but the biggest correlations are Qabalah and astrology. Jean-Baptiste Alliette (1738-1791) began the popularization of the tarot cards, but would strictly use them to make money by fortune telling. He applied astrological meaning to each card and would use Qabalah to back his meanings. Alliette’s interpretation of the cards was very popular and there are different versions of his tarot decks being used to this day.