First known as tarocchi, tarot is a pack of cards (most commonly 78 in number) used from the mid-15th century in various regions in Europe to play card games known as Italian tarocchini and French tarot. Meanings of the cards vary depending upon their usage, and tarot virtual readings have become quite popular these days as many people seek guidance to help them deal with the problems that occur within their daily lives.
Beginning in the late 18th century and up until the present when tarot virtual readings became possible over the Internet, the tarot has also been adopted for use by psychics and other mystics to divine the future and to use as a map of mental and spiritual pathways.
The tarot has four suits that correspond to the suits of the more conventional playing cards. Each of these suits has pip cards in number from ace to ten and four face cards, for a total of 14 cards per suit. The tarot deck, though, is distinguished from conventional playing cards by an additional 21-card trump suit and single card known as The Fool. Depending on the game being played, The Fool card may act as the top trump or may be played to avoid following suit. (Tarot meanings of the cards in the trump suit can be seen by clicking on any one of the links to the right.)
Tarot cards are commonly used to play card games throughout much of Europe. However, these games are largely unknown in English-speaking countries, where they are now used primarily for divinatory purposes. Psychics and other occultists refer to the trump cards and The Fool as cards of the “major arcana” while the ten pip and four court cards of each suit are referred to as belonging to the “minor arcana”.
The tarot spread is the configuration in which the cards are played. There are a variety of tarot spreads, all the way from 3-card spreads to 11-card spreads. Certain spreads, or the patterns of cards in which they’re dealt, cater to certain topics such as love interests and romance, business and finance, divination of the future, and other applications.
The origin of the cards can be traced back to ancient Egypt and the Jewish Kabbalah, but there is no documented evidence of such origins or of the usage of tarot for divination or fortune-telling before the 18th century.