The history of Tarot cards is shrouded with mystery, speculation and theory - their suggested origins linking to many ancient cultures.......

Scholars of the history of tarot claim that Gypsies brought the tarot cards to Europe prior to the fourteenth century employing them for fortune-telling purposes. They were used in Italy in the fifteenth century as a popular card game.

Wealthy patrons fascinated by the ancient history of tarot, commissioned beautiful decks, some of which have survived. The Visconti-Sforza Tarocchi Deck, created in 1450 or thereabout, is one of the earliest and most complete.

During the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, a number of influential persons, scholars of the occult, claimed hidden significance in the images of the Tarot and recognised them to be more powerful than a mere game of cards.

They claimed to have found the "true" history of tarot by connecting the cards to, Hermetic philosophy, the Qabalah (Kabbalah), alchemy, and other mystical systems.

It has been suggested, but cannot be proven, that the Qabalah and Tarot shared a common origin in Ancient Egypt.

The symbol of the Sphinx on the Wheel of Fortune Trump in medieval packs, long before the Sphinx was known in Europe, makes this plausible in the case of the Tarot.

Whereas Qabalah is believed to have originated with Moses, who received his education in Egypt and according to The Bible, became ‘a most formidable Mystic and Magician with direct access to God'.

Due to associations with black magic, witchcraft and ‘anti-religion’, the tarot card reading has, in past times, been viewed with suspicion. Used as a tool for extracting gifts of money and other goods from vulnerable people.

In our enlightened age, people are becoming aware that spiritual and psychic matters are not to be feared.