No one knows definitely when or where the Tarot originated. Many stories abound, most of which agreed that the allegorical illustrations on the Tarot cards may contain meanings or are designed to enable one to develop personally and spiritually. Tarot images and symbols are inextricably linked to ancient beliefs, mythologies and religious systems such as the Hebrew Kabbalah, astrology and numerology. They were believed to contain divine essence and knowledge beyond the everyday mundane.
The first entire deck still in existence today is probably the set painted by the Italian artist Bonifaco Bembo for the Duke of Milan. The Deck of 78 cards is divided into 22 Major Arcana Cards and 56 Minor Arcana Cards. Most historians agreed that the Minor Arcana cards were added to the Tarot much later in the 14th or 15th century and many speculated that these originated from an Italian card game known as Tarrochi (an alternative view is that the Major Arcana cards were added to the game or Tarrochi). Present day poker cards most closely resemble the Minor Arcana Cards. You can refer to the Tarotpedia for an interesting and detailed history of cards and Tarot.
The Tarot was at one time (and still is at times and in places) condemned as heretical. Recent interests in it as a divination tool have however re-surfaced, with a huge number of Tarot designs now available for one to choose from.
A growing interest in the presence of the “Higher self” also drives an interest in Tarot as a tool to guide us where the symbols and numbers presented in the Tarot sprung from “anima mundi”, the soul of the world. The Tarot itself is a vast repository of knowledge about a cosmic world, worlds past, present and future. If you are willing to make the effort to connect with your Higher Self or the cosmic divine, you can easily access this knowledge. Your unconscious will call forth the cards as it surfaces to be integrated into your conscious.
As in myths and stories, the images on the cards form meaningful patterns that can clarify issues for the individual. The cards can stimulate your intuition, bringing your higher self to you and illuminate the hidden factors that you may yet to be aware of. It helps to bring forth the light from within yourself and your greater consciousness. It can offer us advice and guidance if we allow it to help us understand our past, present and future. Believe it or not, every one of us has the innate ability to find the answers we seek, if we would just connect to ourselves, to who we are.
Keep an open mind. Use the Tarot freely as a tool. Your tool to discover your psychic ability, to understand and discover who you are and what you could be.