The history of the Tarot has been obscured by writers who have not distinguished between the Tarot in its higher aspect, as the record in symbols of what man has discovered about his relation to the universe, and the Tarot in its lower aspect, as a pack of cards used for divination and card-play.

The higher aspect is chiefly shown in the 22 Trumph cards, the lower aspect in the remaining 56 court and pip cards of the four suits; but it should not be concluded that there is any incompatibility between these two aspects. The essence of a symbol is that it should convey to eash as mush meaning as study and native intelligence enable him to grasp. It is therefore to be executed that the Tarot should contain, in addition to the cards which have a special significance for initiates, the lesser cards adapted to the same uses as the modern playing cards which derive from the Tarot.

It is possible to trace with some certainty the origin in Europe of certain packs of Tarot and the historical periods at which these have been in general use. The various attempts, however, to assign a date to the creation of the Tarot and to the attribute its invention to particular persons and races is beside the point and fated to be inconclusive. The Tarot represent in symbolical form, an inheritance which is universal. It is the knowledge which man has inherited concerning the world in which he lives and the forces at work in it.

The history of comparative religions shows that, allowing for variations due to climatic and other local causes, man’s conception of his relation to God, the Life-Force, or whatever term we may safely employ, has followed the same broad outlines among all peoples. The Tarot is a record of the spiritual journey of Man and the rituals by which at each stage those capable of understanding the sign-posts are admitted to initiation. It is not therefore to be supposed that a tradition common to the human race can deascribed to any particular nation or epoch. All that can be described with assurance is the way in which the Tarot has been used at different times by different people.

The general tendency to derive the Tarot exclusively from ancient Egypt was begun by Court de Gebelin, who in 1782 completed the publication of Le Monde Primitif. The ready acceptance of this theory was in part due to the fact that the Tarot was long-known to have been in the hands of the Gypsies, who had reached Europe in the early 15^th century and were believed to have come from Egypt. From this false supposition the English word "gypsy" derives; the French word "Bohemien" comes from the old French word "Boem" meaning "sorcerer." The Gypsies so generally used the Tarot for divination that the cards become known as the Tarot of the Bohemians and also the Book of Thoth, the god in the Egyptian pantheon, corresponding to Mercury.

More profitable than following the history of the Gypsies is to trace the introduction of the cards into Southern Europe. An Eastern origin is suggested by deriving the words used in Italy, Spain and Portugal, "Naibi," "Naipe," from the Arabic word "Nabi," meaning a prophet or interpreter, and hence the "way" propounded by the prophet. The word appears to have taken no root in the English language, unless it may associated with "jackanapes," which begin to be current in the 15^th century in the sense of "knave" or "valet."

In an 18^th century history of Viterbo, the date 1319 is given as marking the importation of this game into Italy by the Saracens. This date correspond to that at which Jacquemin Gringonneur painted his famous pack for the entertainment of Charles VI of France during the time of his madness. Of the few remaining cards from this pack, all but one are Trumps, but there are remnants of a Tarot of Venice, which is believed to be contemporaneous, comprising court cards of the recognized suits. The invention of Tarocchini, the card game for which the Tarot was first used in Italy, is attributed to a Prince of Pisa, who died in 1914.

Hitherto familiarity with the Tarot had been virtually confined to Court circles and to the Gypsies; it is from the discovery of printing in Europe in the middle of the 15^th century that we may date the winder and more popular dissemination of the cards. By the time of renaissance they are generally known: "Le Tarau" is one of the games which , according to Rabelais, was played by Gargantua; Michel Angelo is said to have invented a game in Sienna played with the Tarot for the purpose of teaching arithmetic.

This story, even if apocryphal, is of interest as it emphasizes the numerical properties of the cards; each of the 22 Trumps is ascribed to a letter of the Hebrew alphabet, in which each letter has a numerical equivalent. In England there is a sermon by Latimer, in which the use of the word "triumph" for the modern word "trump" in connection with a game of cards, establishes this derivation. The French counterpart "Atout" probably designates a card superior to others, or "bon à tout." Neither the English nor the French derivation of the word throws light open the relation between the Tarot Trumps and the lesser cards of the four suits.

At this time the names of the traditional suits were well established, although variants were common in packs, mostly those of German make in which hearts, bells, acorns and leaves appear. In western Europe the suits came to be named in accordance with the French piquet pack which remains in common use. In the Tarot, Cups or chalices correspond to Hearts; Swords to Spades, a variant probably based on a mistranslation of the Spanish "Espada"; Wands or Batons to Clubs, and Deniers or Disks to Diamonds.

The Tarot suits are attributed to the four elements Fire (Wands), Water (Cups), Air (Swords) and Earth (Disks) and this number is repeated in the court cards, of which there are only three in the modern pack of playing cards. The usual designations are Knights or King, Queen, Prince and Princess or valet. In the pack now exhibited, the name Princess has been used as it gives a greater emphasis and describes the balance of the male and female principles.