Yet it wasn't until the late 1700s
that Tarot cards became strongly connected to fortune telling, psychic powers,
or the occult. The writings of Antoine Court de Gebelin in 1781 were hugely
influential on the public image of the Tarot deck. An amateur scholar, Gebelin
suggested that the pictures on the Tarot deck were related to occult Egyptian
hieroglyphics. As mentioned before though, this was pure romantic history being
written.
Tarot
divination really gained popularity during the 19th century, spurred on by a
growing interest in psychic spiritualism. Everyone was holding séances, Houdini
was busy debunking the Mediums, and ghosts and fairies were everywhere. People
became very interested in the Tarot, Runes, Pendulums, Ouija Boards, and
everything related to metaphysics.
This is about the time that the Rider-Waite-Smith
Tarot deck was produced (created in 1909 to be exact). If you are vaguely aware
of this deck, you will notice that I called it “Rider-Waite=Smith” instead of
simply “Rider-Waite” as it is commonly known. The reason for this is that
Pamela Smith is the lady who produced the artwork for this deck, but because of
the culture of the times, only the man involved in the project, A.E. Waite, and
the publisher, the Rider Card Company, were credited in the name of the deck. This
is now often considered the "standard" deck in the English world. It
is certainly the one that most people are familiar with, and can be purchased
at any major book store or metaphysical shop, or even on Amazon!
