There were several fortune-telling games or devices prior to the 18th century. These included random selections of symbolic pages in the books of fortune and similar play with divination decks of cards, and by the 1700’s fortune-telling included giving symbolic meanings to standard playing cards. But by the 1770 we’d see “Tarock” develop beyond traditional card play into the fortune-telling most of us think of when we hear “Tarot”.
It was in that year the first book on cartomancy was published. Written by Etteilla, first professional cartomancer, Etteilla, ou manière de se récréer avec un jeu de cartes (Etteilla, Or a Way to Entertain Yourself With a Deck of Cards) was a how-to book of divination via regular playing cards. The cards used for such divination came from our by-now-familiar Tarock cards, minus cards 2-7 (in each suit) for a total of 32 cards. This deck was called a piquet deck, and was ‘best’ if the cards had a true ‘right side’ to reverse rather than of the double-headed variety. (Etteilla’s deck added a 33rd card to the deck called ‘Etteilla’ and 33 card decks of this style are often called ‘Petite Etteilla’ or ‘Piquet Etteilla’ decks.)
In 1781, in his Le Monde primitif, analysé et comparé avec le monde moderne (The Primitive World, Analyzed and Compared to the Modern World), volume VIII, Antoine Court de Gébelin, a former Protestant pastor, also wrote about the wisdom of divination available in the Tarot. But it is the Etteilla’s 1785 Manière de se récréer avec le jeu de cartes nomées Tarots (How to Entertain Yourself With the Deck of Cards Called Tarot) which is considered to be the first true book of divination by Tarot.
In 1788 Etteilla published the first Tarot deck specifically designed for divinatory and esoteric use. Now referred to as the ‘Grand Etteilla’, none of the original deck has survived. While only four cards were printed in Etteilla’s book, descriptions of the cards and their designs were published in his books, allowing Tarot collectors the opportunity to evaluate cards/decks to see how closely they match Etteilla’s originals.
Both Etteilla and Gébelin seemed to be oblivious to &/or uncaring about the 350 year history of Tarot as they interpreted the images freely. Since both used the 22 trumps as representative of the 22 letters of the Hebrew alphabet, the Tarot became synonymous with Cabalistic magic.
Both authors also mentioned detailed but undocumented and unsubstantiated details of the Tarot’s origin which included a history in ancient Egypt, complete with temple initiates and Jewish mystics, which was carried to France (by way Italy) via wandering Gypsies. One school of thought is that these stories were made up simply to lend more mysticism — marketing to validate the authenticity of the occultist practice. Another is that fantasies of Egyptian esoteric knowledge were very popular at the time and ran rampant in general, but were not fiction to market the Tarot. Still others believe that the proof of these legends have been lost in time.
Whatever the reason, Egyptian themed decks have always been very popular in Tarot.
While authentic antique decks are nearly impossible to find, Tarot collecting is very popular. New decks, Tarot divination books, and historical publications are released continually, and several organizations dedicated to Tarot exist.
Do you collect Tarot decks? Why not show them off in the Collectors’ Quest Community?
