The brevity of this article is necessary, as the space this topic deserves would take a whole book. Speaking of book, the main source for this article is Mystical Origins of the Tarot, by Paul Huson. Another work, Origins of the Tarot, by Dai Leon, was also consulted.
Most Christians view tarot as evil or Satanic, due to their use in divination or fortune telling. In fact, many called tarot cards the Devil’s picture book, down through the centuries.
It would thus amaze, and yes, shock some folk to realize that tarot has deep roots within Christianity. This is true, even while sharing its origins with non-Christian traditions.
How would this change our views (Christian or non) to learn about the origins of tarot cards? For example, the major arcana (the first 22 cards of a typical deck) came from Medieval traveling plays? These traveling plays had strong Christian themes and elements within them. While they developed into playing cards, their use for fortune telling came later. Occultists and Hermeticists began to study them later on still. And many of these occultists were Christians! After becoming the subject of higher thought, tarot was no longer just for fortune telling. What may have begun as a Christian teaching device developed into what they are today.
Purpose
Knowledge dispels ignorance, encouraging greater understanding. Ignorance breeds fear based on misinformation and superstition. So, I hope that this article will serve to inform and educate on the origins (Christian and other) of tarot. There’s no pretense that tarot will have a general acceptance within Christianity. The intention rather is that one appreciates their strong Christian beginnings.
Structure of a deck of tarot cards
A typical tarot deck contains 78 cards. These are the 22 major arcana (greater mysteries) and 56 minor arcana (lesser mysteries). These were more popularly known as the playing card game called Triomphe (Triumph), which is known in Italy by various names, Tarocchi, Tarot, etc…
The 56 minor arcana, also known as pip cards, is where our household playing cards derived from. They make up 4 suits: Wands, Cups, Swords, and Pentacles (or Coins). These correspond to the clubs, hearts, spades and diamonds of a regular deck of playing cards.
In each suit, there are 4 court cards: Kings, Queens, Knights and Pages. The knights and pages combined in our household playing cards as the Jack. The only card to survive from the major arcana in our playing decks is the 0. Fool card, known as the Joker. There are also the numbered cards 1-10 (where 1 = the Ace).
Of the 22 major arcana, also known as trump cards, each have Roman numerals: I. The Magician – XXI. The World, with the Fool as unnumbered, being 0.
The different traditions within tarot
The Minor Arcana:
The minor arcana were first introduced into Europe from Mamluk, Egypt. These were thus called Mamluk Cards. Their suits were batons (or polo-sticks), cups, swords and coins. These cards with their suits originated in China and Persia. They had a common origin with mahjong. They were then carried down by the Sufis (who interpreted them), into Egypt. From there, they made their way up to Europe in the late 14th century. In Egypt, these cards served as teaching tools used by the Sufis, Islamic mystics. This was before they became a popular card game called Mulûk wa-Nuwwâb (Kings and Deputies).
Suit meanings:
1. Polo Sticks, clubs or known later in tarot as wands. This refers to the deity (or fate) as the Polo Player. He takes a swing at the created person, as at a ball in this game of life. God is the ultimate Authority, Arbiter and Sovereign over our lives.
2. Cups, chalices (known in playing cards as hearts). This refers to the Sufi’s heart, as filled with wine, meaning spiritual ecstasy.
3. Swords or scimitars. This is the sword of submission and of ego-death, inner (or greater) jihad.
4. Coins or dinar, dinarii (also known as pentacles). This suit represents the world of form, hidden treasure, and hidden divinity.
The Court Cards:
These depict the Nine Worthies, chivalrous individuals from scripture, legend and history. These came from 3 different spheres:
1. Pagans: Hector, Alexander the Great, and Julius Caesar
2. Jews: Joshua, David, and Judas Maccabeus
3. Christians: King Arthur, Charlemagne, Godfrey of Bouillon
And of course you have the Mamluk designations of the King, and two deputies, etc…
These meanings underlie the 16 court cards.
Number meanings:
We derive these definitions from Pythagorean and Neo-Platonic, as well as other sources:
1. The Ace (both the highest and the lowest card): The One; Oneness; Unity; (Heb.) Achad; The Monad; (Arab.) Tawhid. The Creator. Mankind (as standing upright). The first of all things.
2. The duad. Balance. Conflict. Coincidentia oppositorum. Partnership. Relationship. The Son (2nd Personae of the Trinity). The Logos. The Nous. Yin and Yang.
3. The triad. The triangle. The Trinity. Synthesis. Time: past, present, future. Birth, life, death. Beginning, middle, end.
4. The tetrad. The square. The world. Nature. Cardinal directions. The seasons. Four winds. Four Western elements (air, water, fire, earth). Death (Chinese).
5. The pentad. The human being (as having 5 limbs). The 5 senses. Number of grace (the 5 wounds of Christ).
6. The hexad. The cube of space. The number of man and beast. Imperfection. The work week. 6 jars of water turned to wine (1st miracle of Jesus). The Hebrew letter vav, part of the divine Name. The Son of Man. Tiphareth-beauty. The Small-Countenance.
7. The heptad. Perfection. The Sabbath. The center (of the cube). Spirit. Marriage between heaven (3) and earth (4). Seven primary colors (rainbow). Days of the week. Days of creation. Seven classical planets. Seven heavens. Seven Spirits (the Holy Spirit).
8. The ogdoad. Transcendence. Infinity. 888 = ‘Jesus’ in Greek gematria; 800 = ‘Lord’ in Greek.
9. The ennead. Completion. Gestation. The fruits and gifts of the Spirit.
10. The decad. A complete cycle. Number of perfection. The full circle.
The Major Arcana:
The original 22 triumphs (or trumps), were the confluence of several sources:
1. Medieval Drama.
Medieval theater (the 5th to the 15th century) was Christian themed. These were all stories from the Bible, dramatic depictions of:
Lucifer’s fall
Creation
Adam and Eve
The crucifixion
The devil and hell
Judgment and
Eternity
Traveling pageant wagons portrayed each of these scenes, calling them trionfi (triumphs)!
The types of plays were called:
1) Mystery Plays. Clergy begun to perform or organize these, but the craft guilds took them over. They depicted Christian themes centered around the liturgical calendar.
2) Morality Plays. These featured dramatized allegories depicting the fall followed by the redemption story. There were figures from pagan mythology, such as the goddess Fortuna (as in the Wheel of Fortune). The representations of Death, and Judgment were also present. Mercy and Peace would be on one side of the stage, and Truth and Justice on the other side.
Present, too, were all four of the Cardinal Virtues:
Justice
Wisdom or Prudence (holding a mirror as represented by the suit of coins)
Courage or Fortitude (Strength), and
Temperance.
3) The Dance of Death (not too different than the Día de Muertos – Day of the Dead parades). This was a powerful instrument due to the then recent Black Death. This sought to focus the wealthy and frivolous on more spiritual matters.
4) Miracle Plays. These featured religious and edifying stories of heroism and martyrdom. A German miracle play depicted Pope Joan (Frau Jutten), the Papacy’s only female pope. She’s featured in the cards as either La Papessa (the female Pope), or as the High Priestess.
Note the poem by Francesco Petrarch (1304-1374), I Trionfi, or The Triumphs. Written in the 1300’s, appeared when tarot cards began to emerge in Europe. The Italian poem speaks of Petrarch’s unrequited love for a married woman named Laura. It depicts one virtue triumphing or trumping the preceding virtue. These virtues one by one, unfolding his love for her. There were six allegorical triumph carts involved, they would roll passed the audience in procession:
1st- The triumph of Cupid (love) over men and gods;
2nd- Chastity (Temperance) triumphing over love, married as she was. She exercised this toward Petrarch;
3rd- The triumph of Death over Laura during the Plague;
4th- The triumph of Laura’s Fame (The Chariot) over Death;
5th- The inevitable triumph of Old Man Time (The Hermit) over Laura’s fame; and finally
6th- The ultimate triumph of Eternity (The World) over time.
2. Other Sources:
1) Pagan Mythos. Fortuna holding the wheel of the world (Wheel of Fortune). She faces Wisdom or Prudence holding her mirror (suit of coins/pentacles).
2) The Cardinal Virtues (as mentioned). Justice, Wisdom or Prudence (holding a mirror), Courage or Fortitude (Strength), and Temperance.
3) The Last Things. Roman Catholic doctrines on Death, the Devil, Judgment, and the World [to come]. If not a source of these trumps, at least a reinforcement of their origins.
In Conclusion:
The rich contributions of Christianity to the origins of the Tarot should now be evident. This is particularly true of its Major Arcana of 22 trumps.
But along with that tradition are the mysterious 56 Minor Arcana. These traveled the Silk Road from China (where playing cards originated). Traveling along with it were its meanings. This was also true of Mahjong. Passing through Persia, and into the Arabic world they became a Sufi teaching device. Entering into Egypt, they then became the Mamluk playing cards. From there they traveled up through Venice and Italy in the 14th century. They were finally combined with the Trump cards. These had in turn developed out of the Medieval plays and spiritual entertainment of the day.
What are not considered here are the Occult and Kabbalistic origins. necessarily. These came about much later (18th century), when they were being used as fortune telling in 1750. They then receiving divinatory meanings thereafter throughout the centuries down to our present day. The influence of Hermeticism is outside the scope of our current considerations. We’re here focused on the raw origins, insofar as we can determine this.
Many tarot scholars have undertaken similar works, and my article is but rudimentary. But what I do offer may be a jump-off point for further discussion. Anyone who wishes to expand on the findings presented here, may do so. Or else, use it to deepen their own understanding toward personal enrichment. But seeing the confluence of two major religions, along with other influences, into what tarot is today is priceless.
Blessings.
Leon Bahrman.
Suggested Reading:
Mystical Origins of the Tarot by Paul Huson
A heavily illustrated book which I also possess in my library, detailing in a very precise way the origins of tarot and their imagery, from ancient Persia, along the Silk Road, all the way down to Medieval Europe.
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