The Mystical Tarot in its current form was believed to have been reborn from ancient Egyptian cards, although, they were possibly a secret symbol language of the Albigensian sects. The most common form of Tarot card today was made to the design specifications of A.E.Waite; the man who was responsible for doing the research that gave the Tarot this rebirth.

A.E.Waite was a founding and leading member of the Golden Dawn, a society of well-educated men and women who gathered and undertook Occult studies around the turn of the 20^th Century. The Golden Dawn was responsible for the resurrection of much of the Occult knowledge that has gone into the Western tradition. Its methods were often viewed as a little outlandish in their ceremonial nature, but since this is not an exposé on the Golden Dawn, I need go no further into them.

The Tarot itself is a deck of (usually) 78 cards, split into two divisions, the Greater Arcana or Trumps, and the Lesser Arcana, or the Four Suits. The Greater Arcana is divided into 22 Cards, Numbered from 0 to XXI (21), which each represent a single entity or facet of human life. As a whole, the Greater Arcana have no real definite underlying structure of meaning. These cards are symbolic of the more powerful part of the Tarot. Some readers read only with the Greater Arcana, for it's symbology is more powerful, although this is far more difficult than reading the entire deck. The Lesser Arcana is divided into four parts or Suits. This works in the same way as a deck of playing cards, and in fact the Lesser Arcana of the Tarot is given credit for the idea of playing cards. The suits are Wands (Fire), Cups (Water), Swords (Air), and Pentacles (Earth). These are then divided into a further 14 cards- Ace, 2 to 10, and 4 Court Cards- Page, Knight, Queen and King. In the Lesser Arcana, each suit rules over facet of human life, and each card (Ace, 2, 3, etc.) rules over a facet. The divinatory meaning of each card is then a synthesis of the two facets.

There have also been many different designs of Tarot cards. Since Waite's deck was supposed to be read from the pictures, many of these new decks fail in this respect, by leaving the meaning to the dictionary, and having the card design devoid of meaning. The advanced reader should let the symbology of the card speak to them, so it is very important that the deck's design fully convey the original meanings, without the need for a dictionary. There are also many 'hidden' symbols in the original Waite deck, which are over-looked in the redesigning of decks, but add to the symbolic reading of the cards. You need only look above the triangle on the chest of Temperance to see the Tetragrammaton (IHVH) in the pleats of the robe! A good reader will be familiar with these 'little things', and also how the cards link symbolically to each other.

Everybody who has heard of the Tarot will understand that it can be used as a system of divination, but they were in fact not commonly used for this purpose. Waite himself has admitted to the fact that they were probably used as a symbolic language used by the Albigensian sects. Franz Bardon, a respected Occult writer, speaks of knowing the mysteries of the first two cards- The Mage (or Magician) and the High Priestess, in respects to Hermetics. Tarot cards can also be used in the act of meditation for Magickal purposes. Their highly powerful symbology, and links to the Kabbalah, works well with the stimulation of the correct symbols for such meditation.

In general, the Tarot is far too widespread to encapsulate in such a short time, and although I will attempt to place further information here at a later date, this field of Occult Study is far too large to place on such limited web-space with such limited time. There is a short list of further readings outlaid to help you study more.