Have you ever had questions about the future? Staying up during long nights simply staring up at the ceiling only to wonder- “What’s going to happen to me tomorrow?” The chase to find answers is exhilarating, but, what’s even more exciting is to find those answers. To find a grasp on the future after so much pondering and needless anxiety about tomorrow is what is available with tarot cards. Although they might never give a definite or set-in-stone answer, they can lead the way to the knowledge you desire.
Tarot Cards have been around for an extremely long time in history, they are even told to date all the way back to the 14th century in Italy, while one of the oldest tarot card decks is from the 1440s. This deck was named the Visconti – Sforza deck and was made by Bonifacio Bembo, as stated by the met museum, “Workshop of Bonifacio Bembo (Italian, Cremonese, active ca. 1442–died before 1482). Queen of Swords, from The Visconti-Sforza Tarot, ca. 1450. Made in Milan, Italy. Paper (pasteboard) with opaque paint on a tooled gold ground; 6 3/4 x 7 3/8 in. (17.3 x 8.7 cm). The Morgan Library & Museum, New York (MS M.630.23)”.
In Italy, tarot cards were used as a stylized change from normal playing cards to new tarot cards. The rich would often get customized decks for themselves which contained their own suites for each card, coin, cup, polo sticks, and swords.

While, in the cards from Europe, hieroglyphics were found on the tarot cards by Mellet during the year 1781. Since then, there were rumors that tarot cards originated in Egypt. Similar to the rumors about the location origins of tarot cards, in contrast to the occult practices that tarot cards have been deemed to be used for in history when tarot cards first were introduced, they were used for both division, and for the sake of entertainment. (One of the games that were played with the cards was Tarocchini.) In fact, tarot cards only began to be used for occult purposes in the 20th century. People would use these cards to find answers to some of their questions, and reveal information about themselves.

This process of reading their future is something called, “divination”. Many Catholic Churches spoke against using tarot cards for this very reason. The church stated that children of god shouldn’t worry about unanswered questions and to allow god to pave their way. There is even a quote from the bible that explicitly states against divination, “do not turn to the spirit mediums, and do not consult fortune-tellers so as to become unclean by them. I am the Lord your God.” Leviticus 19:31.

Additionally, others may say that tarot cards worsen the questions that you might ask. Finding an answer, asking another question, finding a new question, finding a new answer, and a downward spiral. This can definitely occur, so you need to be careful to draw a line when doing readings. An example of this could be setting a “one reading per month” rule for yourself. That way, you can avoid falling into the deep rabbit hole of tarot cards while also enjoying all that tarot cards have to offer.