Tarot: A History of Images and Interpretive Practices

Tarot emerged in European gaming culture; later esoteric explanations do not prove an ancient secret genealogy. The article distinguishes image, an author's doctrine, and personal application: a card can help pose a question, but does not establish other people's intentions or future events.

Questions explored

Key distinctions

Early surviving cards belong to fifteenth-century northern Italian court gaming; individual sets have uncertainties of date and attribution. (Morgan catalog)

Seventy-eight cards describe a common modern type, not every historical game. An organized structure does not confirm prediction. (V&A and Waite; the authors' analysis)

A new function is legitimate, but cannot be declared the sole original function without evidence. Each history of use requires its own grounds. (The authors)

Court de Gébelin's 1781 explanation matters to the history of occult Tarot, but its existence does not confirm its historical truth. (Morgan catalog; the authors' analysis)

Authors and schools select the features of a card that count as meaningful. Borrowed terms do not establish identity between a receiving system and the source tradition. (V&A; the authors' analysis)

Smith creates the artistic scene; Waite supplies an explanation. Without documents, every detail cannot be assigned to the artist's exact personal intention. (The authors, drawing on V&A and Waite)

An event, time frame, and condition for error must be clear in advance. Endless redescription after the fact is not a rigorous test. (The authors)

An image and a response to it do not establish another person's intentions, a diagnosis, or a future outcome. Possibilities are tested through information and conversation. (The authors)

The Fool, The Hanged Man, and The World belong to Waite's system. Visible description, religious doctrine, and application to a personal question have different statuses. (The authors, drawing on Waite's specific chapters linked in the master)

The authors' analysis compares a suspended state with a cosmic horizon in two verbal descriptions; strong composition does not authenticate prediction. (The authors, drawing on Waite's verbal descriptions; images were not newly inspected)

An image can direct attention and pose a precise question. Its cultural and artistic value does not require a guaranteed answer about the future. (The authors)

Limits of interpretation

• Do not present a card as a source of another person's intentions, a diagnosis, or confirmed prediction.
• Morgan was read through an extended search extract; direct opening was unavailable.
• Waite's five chapters belong to one book; the whole book was not read. Do not attribute modern meanings to Waite without a locator.
• Images were not downloaded or newly inspected visually; X compares verbal descriptions. The comparison map does not establish a common doctrine or historical influence.

Sources

• The Morgan Library & Museum. Visconti-Sforza Tarot Cards, MS M.630.1–35 — The Morgan Library & Museum

  An extended catalog commentary was read through a search extract; direct opening was unavailable to the tool. This was not the full body of research on early cards.

• Rebecca Billingham, Ruth Hibbard, Josephine Nardecchia. A history of tarot cards. Victoria and Albert Museum, updated July 16, 2026 — Rebecca Billingham; Ruth Hibbard; Josephine Nardecchia

  The museum overview was read; excessively broad claims about origins and priority in illustration were not adopted.

• Arthur Edward Waite. The Pictorial Key to the Tarot, 1911. Part I, §3: The Four Suits — Arthur Edward Waite

  An English primary text of a particular system.

• Arthur Edward Waite. The Pictorial Key to the Tarot, 1911. Part III, §1: Distinction between the Greater and Lesser Arcana — Arthur Edward Waite

  The section on illustration and the divinatory meaning of numbered cards was read.

• Epictetus. Enchiridion, English translation by Thomas Wentworth Higginson — Epictetus; Thomas Wentworth Higginson, translator

  §§I–IV and XXIV were read; comparison of the relationship to nature and action. The modern preface does not support the article.

• Laozi. Tao Te Ching, translated by James Legge — Laozi; James Legge, translator

  §§1–2 and 8 were read; an English intermediary, not the Chinese original. Comparison of the limits of naming and the relationship to action.

• Gospel of Matthew, 7:16–20, King James Version — Gospel of Matthew; King James Version

  The entire selected passage was read; comparison of a moral claim with the fruits of action, without a conclusion that religions agree.

• Sendivogius. A New Light of Alchymie, translated by John French, 1650 — Michael Sendivogius; John French, translator

  The author's preface and first discourse were read; the map compares the role of religious interpretation.

• Crowley. Liber II — Aleister Crowley

  The full short primary text was read; the map uses the distinction between direction and whim.

• Arthur Edward Waite. The Pictorial Key to the Tarot, 1911, Part II, The Fool — Arthur Edward Waite

  The short primary chapter was read in full; part of the same book, not an independent work.

• Arthur Edward Waite. The Pictorial Key to the Tarot, 1911, Part II, The Hanged Man — Arthur Edward Waite

  The short primary chapter was read in full; part of the same book, not an independent work.

• Arthur Edward Waite. The Pictorial Key to the Tarot, 1911, Part II, The World — Arthur Edward Waite

  The short primary chapter was read in full; part of the same book, not an independent work.