The Tarot Deck, in its origins, depicted life, as it was being experienced, by a certain level of society, during the Renaissance. Tarot, a French derivation of the Italian tarocco, was first a parlour game. Only in the 1800's did the special significance as a divinatory tool, as we know it today, come into vogue. Popular myth and legend do little to clarify the history of the Decks.

The majority of the Decks consist of 78 cards, twenty-two trump cards, 56 pip, or pictorial cards, divided into four suits. The cards are allegorical. We see symbolical representations of the forces of nature, the virtues, and the vices of we humans. A skilled interpreter can bring the many symbols of the cards, individually and as a group, into focus, addressing the querants needs.

There are tie ins with Judaic Kabbala, Astrology, Hermetics, Alchemy and in the last years of the 1900's a plethora of divergent esoteric practices. Needless to say, the various systems of interpretation are unnumbered. Many modern additions to the Decks relate directly to the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, a so-called secret society, in which the occult sciences were both preserved and practiced.

The Deck is divided into the Major and the Minor Arcana; 'arcana', a mystery, a secret, a specialized knowledge or detail that is mysterious to the average person. In brief, the images of the Major Arcana represent the spiritual, universal issues of life: the Minor Arcana, the more mundane aspects, and the Court Cards serve as the bridge. The 56 pip cards of the Minor Arcana are divided into suits, each suit is imbued with associations, and each card has a specific, individual interpretation of meaning.

Most Decks use Cups, Wands (Batons, Sceptres), Swords and Coins (Pentacles) to designate the suits, however the artists who create Decks may use the elemental association instead: Water, Fire, Air, Earth. The cards are used in today's context to uncover and develop personal myth, to discuss fears, desires and to bring experience into focus. The Cards can be said to strengthen the connections between the body/mind/emotion and as a tool for healing the layers of spiritual discomfort rampant in today's society.

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