SkarpChapter 2 of 14
Historical Roots: From Renaissance Game to Esoteric and Psychological Tarot
Travel from 15th‑century European card tables to 19th‑century occult salons and 20th‑century psychology labs to see how tarot’s imagery was reinterpreted again and again.
From Playing Cards to Tarot: Setting the Stage
Time-Travel Through Tarot
We will follow tarot from a Renaissance card game to a modern psychological tool, focusing on how its meanings were repeatedly reinterpreted.
Three Big Shifts
1) 15th-century Italian game with triumph cards, 2) 18th–19th century occult reinterpretations, 3) 20th-century psychological and self-reflective tarot.
Key Idea
Tarot did not begin as a mystical book of secrets. Esoteric and psychological meanings were layered on later by specific historical figures.
Step 1 – Early Italian Tarot: A Fancy Card Game
Tarot in 15th-Century Italy
Tarot (tarocchi) appears in northern Italy in the 1400s as a trick-taking card game, not a fortune-telling tool.
Trumps and Triumphs
Early decks added a suit of trionfi (triumphs), special trump cards used in play, similar to how some modern games use jokers or high trumps.
Christian and Social Imagery
Trump images reflected Christian and social hierarchies: ordinary people, rulers, church figures, and cosmic scenes like Death and Judgment.
Key Takeaway
Early tarot was a luxury game with moral and religious symbolism, not an occult or divinatory system.
Activity – Reading a Renaissance Trump as a Moral Image
Imagine you are in 1450s Milan, looking at a Visconti-Sforza style Death card.
Typical features (based on surviving cards):
- A skeletal figure, sometimes on horseback
- Cutting down people from different social ranks
- No modern keywords, no little white book of meanings
Your task (2–3 minutes):
- Write down 2–3 possible messages this image might send in a Christian moral context, without any occult ideas.
- Ask yourself:
- What would this say about social status?
- What would it say about human life in general?
Hint: Think of medieval art like "The Dance of Death" (Danse Macabre), where Death comes for everyone.
After you reflect, compare with this historical angle:
- The card likely reminded players that death equalizes all, from peasants to kings.
- It fits a moral lesson: earthly power is temporary; only spiritual matters endure.
This shows how early tarot images can be read as Christian moral illustrations, not yet as coded esoteric symbols.
Step 2 – From Game to Fortune-Telling
From Game to Divination
Between the 16th and 18th centuries, tarot moves from pure gameplay toward use in fortune-telling, following the earlier use of playing cards for divination.
Tarot de Marseille Era
In 18th-century France, Tarot de Marseille decks are common, and readers begin assigning predictive meanings about love, money, and health.
Not Yet Occult
At this stage tarot is a practical fortune-telling tool, not a structured occult or mystical system.
Step 3 – Enlightenment-Era Occult Turn: Court de Gébelin
Court de Gébelin (1781)
In 1781, Antoine Court de Gébelin claimed tarot was an ancient Egyptian book of wisdom, preserved as a deck of cards.
Symbolic Text, Not Game
He reimagined tarot as a symbolic text containing hidden teachings, aligning it with Enlightenment-era fascination for Egyptian mysteries.
Modern Verdict
Current research finds no historical link to Egypt. His theory was imaginative, but it legitimized reading tarot as an esoteric system.
Step 4 – 19th-Century Occultists: Lévi and the Golden Dawn
Eliphas Lévi
In the mid-1800s, Eliphas Lévi linked tarot to Kabbalah and astrology, treating the 22 Major Arcana as keys to the universe and the soul.
Golden Dawn System
Founded in 1888, the Golden Dawn created a detailed system of correspondences: tarot cards mapped to Hebrew letters, zodiac signs, planets, and elements.
Rider-Waite-Smith Deck
Published in 1909, the RWS deck, based on Golden Dawn teachings, added full scenes to all 78 cards, supporting narrative and symbolic readings.
Layering Symbols
By this stage, tarot carries Christian, Hermetic, Kabbalistic, and astrological layers, all built on top of the original game imagery.
Example – How Occult Layers Change a Card
Magician in Renaissance Context
Originally, the Magician likely depicted a street performer or juggler, hinting at trickery, skill, or low social status.
Magician in Occult Systems
In 19th-century occultism, the Magician becomes a symbol of willpower and mastery, linked to Hebrew letters and planetary forces.
Magician in Psychology
In modern psychological tarot, the Magician often represents personal agency, focus, and the ability to direct one’s energy.
Key Insight
One image, three layers: moral street performer, ritual magician, and psychological self. Each era adds its own worldview.
Step 5 – 20th-Century Psychology: Tarot Meets Jung
Jung and Archetypes
Carl Jung introduced archetypes and the collective unconscious. He did not create a tarot system, but his ideas fit tarot’s symbolic imagery.
Tarot as Psyche Mirror
Modern readers use tarot to explore inner conflicts, life stages, and unconscious patterns, not just external predictions.
Hero’s Journey Framing
The Major Arcana are often read as a hero’s journey or individuation path, from innocence (Fool) to integration (World).
Therapeutic Uses
From mid-20th century onward, some therapists and authors use tarot as a projective tool and for self-reflective journaling.
Activity – Spot the Historical Layer
You draw The Tower card in a reading.
Possible interpretations:
A. A warning of God’s punishment and the fall of human pride.
B. A sudden disruption linked to the planet Mars and specific paths on the Kabbalistic Tree of Life.
C. A psychological breakthrough: an old identity or belief structure collapsing so a more authentic self can emerge.
Your task (2–3 minutes):
- Match each interpretation (A, B, C) to one of these layers:
- Christian moral / medieval-Renaissance
- Hermetic-astrological-Kabbalistic (Golden Dawn style)
- Jungian / psychological
- Write a one-sentence explanation for each match.
Check yourself:
- A = Christian moral (echoes biblical stories like the Tower of Babel and the danger of pride).
- B = Hermetic-astrological-Kabbalistic (uses Mars and Tree of Life correspondences).
- C = Jungian / psychological (talks about identity, beliefs, and authentic self).
This exercise trains you to see the layers operating in modern tarot interpretations.
Quick Check – Historical Phases of Tarot
Test your understanding of tarot’s historical development.
Which sequence best reflects the historical development of tarot as discussed in this module?
- Ancient Egyptian wisdom text → Medieval church ritual → Renaissance card game → Modern psychology tool
- Renaissance card game with Christian moral imagery → 18th–19th century occult system with Hermetic and astrological layers → 20th-century psychological and self-reflective tool
- Medieval fortune-telling device → Renaissance alchemical manual → 19th-century party game → 20th-century therapy-only tool
Show Answer
Answer: B) Renaissance card game with Christian moral imagery → 18th–19th century occult system with Hermetic and astrological layers → 20th-century psychological and self-reflective tool
Historically supported evidence shows tarot starting as a 15th-century Italian card game with Christian moral imagery, then being reinterpreted by 18th–19th century occultists (Court de Gébelin, Lévi, Golden Dawn), and later adapted into 20th-century psychological and self-reflective approaches.
Review – Key Terms and Figures
Flip these cards (mentally or on paper) to review core ideas and people from this module.
- Trionfi (triumphs)
- The early name for the special trump cards added to Italian playing card decks in the 15th century; used in a trick-taking game, not originally for occult purposes.
- Tarot de Marseille
- A family of tarot designs common in 17th–18th century France, later used as a basis for both fortune-telling and historical research into early tarot imagery.
- Court de Gébelin
- 18th-century writer who claimed tarot was an ancient Egyptian book of wisdom. Historically incorrect, but crucial in launching esoteric interpretations of tarot.
- Eliphas Lévi
- 19th-century French occultist who linked tarot to Kabbalah and astrology, treating the Major Arcana as keys to universal spiritual laws.
- Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn
- Late 19th-century British occult society that systematized tarot correspondences with Hebrew letters, zodiac signs, planets, and elements; influenced modern decks like Rider-Waite-Smith.
- Rider-Waite-Smith (RWS) deck
- A widely used tarot deck first published in 1909, designed by A. E. Waite and illustrated by Pamela Colman Smith, incorporating Golden Dawn symbolism and full scenes on all cards.
- Archetype (Jungian sense)
- A recurring pattern or image in the collective unconscious; later applied to tarot cards as symbols of universal human experiences and roles.
- Individuation
- In Jungian psychology, the process of becoming a psychologically integrated and whole person; some modern readers map the Major Arcana onto this journey.
Key Terms
- Tarot
- A 78-card deck that began as a 15th-century European card game and later gained esoteric, divinatory, and psychological interpretations.
- Kabbalah
- A body of Jewish mystical teachings; in 19th-century Western esotericism, a modified form was used to create symbolic systems including tarot correspondences.
- Archetype
- In Jungian psychology, a universal pattern or image in the collective unconscious; often used to interpret tarot cards as symbols of shared human experiences.
- Occultism
- Systems of secret or hidden knowledge (such as magic, Kabbalah, and Hermeticism) that became closely linked with tarot in the 18th–19th centuries.
- Hermeticism
- A philosophical and spiritual tradition drawing on texts attributed to Hermes Trismegistus, emphasizing correspondences between the macrocosm (universe) and microcosm (human).
- Individuation
- Jung’s concept of the lifelong process of integrating different parts of the psyche into a more whole and authentic self; sometimes mapped onto the Major Arcana sequence.
- Trick-taking game
- A type of card game where players compete to win rounds (tricks) by playing higher-ranking cards, often with a trump suit that beats others.
- Trumps / Triumphs
- Special high-ranking cards in a game; in early tarot, the extra suit of symbolic images used to win tricks.
- Collective unconscious
- Jung’s term for a layer of the unconscious mind shared by all humans, containing archetypes and primordial images.
- Astrological correspondences
- Associations between tarot cards and astrological elements such as planets, zodiac signs, and decans, especially formalized by the Golden Dawn.