Tarot is a pack of playing cards, used from at least the mid-15th century in various parts of Europe to play card games such as Tarocchini. From their Italian roots, tarot-playing cards spread to most of Europe, evolving into a family of games that includes German Grosstarok and modern games such as French Tarot and Austrian Königrufen. In the late 18th century French occultists made elaborate, but unsubstantiated, claims about their history and meaning, leading to the emergence of custom decks for use in divination via tarot card reading and cartomancy. Thus, there are two distinct types of tarot packs in circulation: those used for card games and those used for divination. However, some older patterns, such as the Tarot de Marseille, originally intended for playing card games, are occasionally used for cartomancy.
The Minor Arcana, sometimes known as Lesser Arcana, are the suit cards in a cartomantic tarot deck.
The Rider–Waite Tarot is a widely popular deck for tarot card reading, first published by the Rider Company in 1909, based on the instructions of academic and mystic A. E. Waite and illustrated by Pamela Colman Smith, both members of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. Also known as the Waite–Smith, Rider–Waite–Smith, or Rider Tarot, the deck has been published in numerous editions and inspired a wide array of variants and imitations. Estimates suggest over 100 million copies of the deck circulate across 20 countries.
An ace is a playing card, die or domino with a single pip. In the standard French deck, an ace has a single suit symbol located in the middle of the card, sometimes large and decorated, especially in the case of the ace of spades. This embellishment on the ace of spades started when King James VI of Scotland and I of England required an insignia of the printing house to be printed on the ace of spades. This insignia was necessary for identifying the printing house and stamping it as having paid the new stamp tax. Although this requirement was abolished in 1960, the tradition has been kept by many card makers. In other countries the stamp and embellishments are usually found on ace cards; clubs in France, diamonds in Russia, and hearts in Genoa because they have the most blank space.
In playing cards, a suit is one of the categories into which the cards of a deck are divided. Most often, each card bears one of several pips (symbols) showing to which suit it belongs; the suit may alternatively or additionally be indicated by the color printed on the card. The rank for each card is determined by the number of pips on it, except on face cards. Ranking indicates which cards within a suit are better, higher or more valuable than others, whereas there is no order between the suits unless defined in the rules of a specific card game. In a single deck, there is exactly one card of any given rank in any given suit. A deck may include special cards that belong to no suit, often called jokers.
In a deck of playing cards, the term face card (US) or court card, and sometimes royalty, is generally used to describe a card that depicts a person as opposed to the pip cards. In a standard 52-card pack of the English pattern, these cards are the King, Queen and Jack. The term picture card is also common, but that term sometimes includes the Aces.
Playing cards have been in Italy since the late 14th century. Until the mid 19th century, Italy was composed of many smaller independent states which led to the development of various regional patterns of playing cards; "Italian suited cards" normally only refer to cards originating from northeastern Italy around the former Republic of Venice, which are largely confined to northern Italy, parts of Switzerland, Dalmatia and southern Montenegro. Other parts of Italy traditionally use traditional local variants of Spanish suits, French suits or German suits.
The Ace of Cups is a card used in Latin-suited playing cards. It is the ace from the suit of cups. In Tarot, it is part of what card readers call the "Minor Arcana", and as the first in the suit of cups, signifies beginnings in the area of the social and emotional in life.
The Knight of Cups is a card used in Latin-suited playing cards, including tarot decks. It is part of what tarot card readers call the "Minor Arcana".
The Knight of Swords is a card used in Latin-suited playing cards which include tarot decks. It is part of what tarot card readers call the "Minor Arcana".
The Queen of Swords is a card in the suit of swords, part of the Minor Arcana set of the tarot.
Ace of Coins is a card used in Latin-suited playing cards, which include tarot decks. It is part of what tarot card readers call the "Minor Arcana" The coins suit is often called "Pentacles" by tarot readers.
Nine of Coins is a card used in Latin-suited playing cards which include tarot decks. It is part of what tarot card readers call the "Minor Arcana" and represents a financially independent aristocrat.
The Queen of Coins, also known as the Queen of Pentacles, is a card used in Latin-suited playing cards. It is the queen from the suit of coins. In tarot, it is part of what tarot card readers call the "Minor Arcana".
The suit of coins is one of the four suits used in tarot decks with Latin-suited cards. It is derived from the suit of coins in Italian and Spanish card playing packs.
The Ace of Wands is a tarot card of the Minor Arcana, arcana being Latin for mysteries. The cards of the Minor Arcana are considered to be lesser compared to the Major Arcana because they discuss the minor mysteries of life, less important archetypes. Modern tarot readers interpret the Ace of Wands as a symbol of optimism and invention.
The suit of wands is one of four suits in tarot, collectively known as the Minor Arcana. Like the other tarot suits, the suit of wands contains fourteen cards: ace (one), two through ten, page and knight, queen and king. When Tarot cards are to play Tarot card games, where wands corresponds to the suit of batons. Tarot cards came to be utilized for divinatory purposes by esotericists such as Eliphas Levi and were regularized into the divinatory form most known today by the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn and the Rider–Waite Tarot, created by a Golden Dawn member.
The suit of goblets, more often known in modern times as the Suit of Cups, is one of four suits of tarot which, collectively, make up the Minor Arcana. They are sometimes referred to as chalices. Like the other suits of the Minor Arcana, it contains fourteen cards: ace (one), two through ten, page, knight, queen and king. Historically, the suit represented the First Estate. Tarot cards were originally designed for card play and are still used throughout much of Europe to play various Tarot card games. However, in English-speaking countries, where the games are largely unknown, Tarot cards came to be utilized primarily for divinatory purposes. In modern card games, the equivalent suits are Hearts or Cups.
The Sola Busca tarot is the earliest completely extant example of a 78-card tarot deck. It is also the earliest tarot deck in which all the plain suit cards are illustrated and it is also the earliest tarot deck in which the trump card illustrations deviate from the classic tarot iconography. Unlike the earlier Visconti-Sforza tarot decks, the cards of the Sola Busca are numbered. The trump cards have Roman numerals while the pips of the plain suits have Arabic numerals.The deck was created by an unknown artist and engraved onto metal in the late 15th century. A single complete hand-painted deck is known to exist, along with 35 uncolored cards held by various museums. The deck is notable not only for its age, but also for the quality of its artwork, which is characterized by expressive figures engraved with precise contours and shading. Various theories have been suggested about who created the deck, but its authorship remains uncertain.
