A card game, not a crystal ball
Tarot cards were first used in the 15th century — as a card game called tarocchi, played by Italian nobility. The mystical associations came later, much later, and largely through 18th-century French occultists.
The major arcana
The 22 cards of the major arcana — the Fool, the Magician, the High Priestess, and so on — were originally trump cards in a game. Their imagery drew on medieval and Renaissance symbolism, much of it Christian, classical, and allegorical.
What tarot actually is
Modern tarot is best understood not as a prediction device but as a reflective tool. The cards offer a structured set of symbols and archetypes that can prompt reflection, surface intuition, and frame a situation in a new way.
The cards do not tell you what will happen. They help you notice what you already sense.
Your cards. Your signs. Your meaning.
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