Tarot was founded in Italy, and references to it are found in the Steele Manuscript, in a diatribe about tarot cards used for gambling. The cards were standardized by 1500. These cards were hand-painted or wood block printed.

Tarot cards were given divine status by their interpreters. French cleric Antoine Court de Gebelin believed that the cards were born in ancient Egypt as a commencement into priesthood. Alliette or Etteilla, a famous mystic gave different divine interpretations to religious Christian meanings. Alphonse Louis Constant, also a cleric who later called himself Eliphas Levi, believed that tarot was a word connected to Kabbala He felt the god Thoth-Hermes was the creator of the original deck. Eventually other mystic beliefs were used, including Sufism, Hinduism, Christianity, Norse gods and many others.

The major arcana or the trumps have some of the most interesting cards. Each of them is governed by one of the four elements and a planet. The Fool represents energy and new beginnings. The Magician is the conscious mind and fortune. The High Priestess denotes the subconscious mind. The Empress represents memory, creativity and imagination. The Emperor is the ruler of the conscious elements. The Hierophant is the inner being, the teacher and the subconscious. The Lovers are about relationships and compatibility. The Chariot controls the negative and positive forces. The Strength Card speaks of control over material forces. The Hermit is the controller of the elements. The Wheel of Fortune symbolizes change and its interpretations. The Justice Card is symbolic of balance. The Hanged Man represents reversal of views and also about control and balance. Death symbolizes change and rebirth. The Devil is about ambitions and is said to be a masculine card. The Tower represents actual understanding. Lightning is about use of power. The Star symbolizes the hidden mind assembling knowledge. The Moon is symbolic of the development of the spirit. The Sun is all about life, judgment and the understanding of spirituality.

The lesser arcana cards consist of 56 cards with 4 different suits. These are the wands, the cups, the swords and the pentacles. These have cards from ace to 10 and have lower ambience or auras. These cards are also linked to numerology.

There was a revival of interest in tarot cards in the 70s, when many new decks were published. To know about more about tarot cards, you could read Michael Dummett's The Game of Tarot, Cynthia Giles' The Tarot: History, Mystery and Lore, Brian Williams' A Renaissance Tarot and The Minchiate Tarot. These, together with the information available online, are sure to spark your interest in this other-worldly area.