Tarot's History, Structure and How to Read It: From Card Game to Symbolic Tool, the 78 Cards, Court Cards, the Fool's Journey and Numerology
Tarot did not come from secret Egyptian scriptures; it began as a 15th-century Italian card game. The 78-card structure, the four suits and court cards, the 'Fool's Journey' reading tradition, the link to numerology, and how to use tarot for self-reflection — with sources.
Last reviewed 2026-09-29
Where did tarot come from?
You may have heard that tarot preserves the secret wisdom of ancient Egypt. Historians say otherwise. Tarot began in mid-15th-century northern Italian courts as a card game called tarocchi. Lavish cards painted for the Visconti and Sforza families of Milan are the oldest surviving tarot (Dummett, 1980).
Its use for divination and the occult came much later. In 1781 the Frenchman Antoine Court de Gébelin claimed that tarot held Egyptian wisdom — without evidence. Fortune-tellers and 19th-century occult societies then layered astrology, Kabbalah and other symbol systems onto it (Decker, Depaulis & Dummett, 1996). The most widely used deck today, the Rider–Waite–Smith, appeared in 1909, designed by Arthur Edward Waite and illustrated by Pamela Colman Smith.
Knowing this history makes tarot easier to approach. It is not an ancient book of prophecy but a collection of symbols that people have been adding meaning to for centuries.
The 78-card structure
| Section | Cards | Content |
|---|---|---|
| Major Arcana | 22 | From 0 The Fool to 21 The World — life’s big themes |
| Minor Arcana | 56 | Four suits × 14 cards (Ace–10 plus four court cards) |
The four suits and elements
In the 19th-century occult tradition, the four suits were paired with the four elements. In the Rider–Waite–Smith tradition they are commonly read like this:
- Wands — fire: passion, action, beginnings
- Cups — water: emotions, relationships
- Swords — air: thought, conflict, judgement
- Pentacles (coins) — earth: work, money, body, practical life
Court cards: people and attitudes
Each suit’s Page, Knight, Queen and King are often read as real people or as attitudes you are taking: the Page as the learning stage, the Knight as the pushing stage, the Queen as inward maturity and the King as outward, leading maturity. When a court card appears, asking “Who — me or someone around me — is showing this attitude?” makes interpretation easier.
The Fool’s Journey: the Major Arcana as one story
Reading the Major Arcana as a coming-of-age story in which 0, The Fool, meets each card in turn from 1, The Magician, to 21, The World, is called the “Fool’s Journey.” The original game cards carried no such narrative; it is a reading tradition that spread through 20th-century guidebooks. Rachel Pollack (1980) read the Major Arcana as a journey in three stages, and Sallie Nichols (1980) interpreted it through Jungian archetypes and individuation.
The framework helps you remember the 22 cards as a flow rather than memorising them one by one. Just keep in mind that it is a modern way of reading, not the historical original meaning. Because it resembles Joseph Campbell’s “hero’s journey,” many guides compare the two.
The link to numerology
The numbers on tarot cards are often linked to numerology, the tradition of giving meaning to numbers. For example, 1 is read as a beginning (The Magician, the Aces) and 10 as the completion of a cycle (the Wheel of Fortune, each suit’s 10). Adding up a birth date to find a “birth card” is also a popular practice.
Such links are useful for sparking associations, but there is no scientific evidence that numbers determine a person’s character or fate. They work best as a playful prompt.
Using tarot for self-reflection
There is no evidence that tarot predicts the future. Many people use it anyway because randomly drawn symbols can bring up perspectives they had not considered. It tends to be more useful when you:
- Ask open questions, not yes/no ones: rather than “Will it work out with them?”, ask “What am I missing in this relationship?”
- Write down what the card brings to mind: the thoughts the image sparks matter more than the book meaning.
- Make decisions yourself: for important matters such as health, money or law, decide on facts and professional advice, not cards.
Summary at a glance
| Topic | Key point |
|---|---|
| Origin | A 15th-century Italian card game; divination use from the late 18th century |
| Structure | 22 Major + 56 Minor (4 suits × 14) |
| Four suits | Wands = fire, Cups = water, Swords = air, Pentacles = earth |
| Court cards | Page, Knight, Queen, King = stages of an attitude |
| Fool’s Journey | A reading tradition that spread in the 20th century |
| Numerology | A prompt for associations, no scientific basis |
| How to use | Open questions, note what comes up, decide for yourself |
You can try one-, three- and five-card spreads with the full 78-card deck in OIYO’s tarot reading.
References
- Dummett, M. (1980). The Game of Tarot: From Ferrara to Salt Lake City. Duckworth.
- Decker, R., Depaulis, T., & Dummett, M. (1996). A Wicked Pack of Cards: The Origins of the Occult Tarot. St. Martin’s Press.
- Court de Gébelin, A. (1781). Le Monde primitif, vol. 8.
- Waite, A. E. (1910). The Pictorial Key to the Tarot. Rider.
- Pollack, R. (1980). Seventy-Eight Degrees of Wisdom. Aquarian Press.
- Nichols, S. (1980). Jung and Tarot: An Archetypal Journey. Samuel Weiser.