By now, you’re aware that tarot is a deck of cards. You might also know they are used for divination. However, when you explore the history of the cards, you’ll see they had nothing to do with telling the future. In fact, tarot evolved from playing cards.

Sometime in the 1400s, the cards made their way to Italy, where 22 “triumph,” or “trump,” cards were added to the deck. These 22 cards became what we now call the major arcana. Back then, tarot was hand-painted by artists, which made them expensive and rare—a privilege enjoyed by the upper classes. It wasn’t until the printing press was invented that more people could enjoy them. Some of the older decks were woodcut prints, and uncut images were used as bookbinding. These images can be found in museums around the world.

Divination became associated with the tarot during the 1700s, when Jean-Baptiste Alliette, also known as Etteilla, published a book with divinatory meanings assigned to each card. Tarot became forever seen as a fortune-telling device.

In 1909, the mystic Arthur Edward Waite worked with artist Pamela Colman Smith to create the Rider-Waite deck (now called the Rider-Waite Smith). It became hugely popular, and many modern tarot cards are based on the imagery. In 1960, Eden Gray released one of the first mass-published books on how to read the Rider-Waite Smith deck and the tarot became accessible—and trendy.

Nowadays, tarot isn’t simply for seeing the future. It’s used for introspection, therapy, and creativity. People are combining it with other modalities and finding new ways to enjoy the tarot all the time.

Now that you have an idea of where the tarot came from, let’s talk about what tarot is . . . and isn’t.

Tarot is a deck comprised of 78 cards.

That’s it.

Within those 78 cards are two parts: the Major and Minor Arcana. As you may recall, 22 “trump” cards were added to playing cards. These 22 are the majors.

The Major Arcana reflects the bigger picture, life lessons, and our spiritual journey. It shows our purpose, as well as the twists and turns that shape our destiny.

The Minor Arcana contains 56 cards. These represent our daily life and struggles, as well as the people who are involved. It’s the situations we have some control over.