Basically, according to Colin Wilson (1971), there is no known legend connected to the Tarot. But accordng to Wilson, a philologist named Antoine Court de Gébelin proposed in 1781 that the Tarot is an ancient Egyptian brainchild called The Book of Thoth. Thoth is the Egyptian god of knowledge and wisdom. But he declared it before the Rosetta stone, an artifact which helped archeologists to read Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics, was found, and did not help support this theory. But this still resisted because of the notion that gypsies, said to be descendants of the ancient Egyptians, said to have carred the deck with them during the 15th century. But Wilson again contradicted, saying that evidence showed Tarot cards have been used in Spain, Germany, and France in the 14th century. A Tarot deck was made by a painter Gringonneur for the insane King Charles VI of France in 1392. (Seventeen of those cards still survive today in the Bibiliothèque Nationale in Paris.) But De Givry, in his book Anthologie de L'Occultisme, made a claim that Tarot cards are used in Germany in 1329. Both contradicted that the Tarot is Egyptian in origin; but this fueled the revival of the Tarot per se, let alone as a means of divination.

      The reason I said per se is because tarot is originally a game played in 15th-century Italy by the nobles (and is still played today in Southern Italiy). The Major Arcana contained in the decks used in that game, called the "Visconti" deck, were referred to as the Trumps. But certain cards like Death, the Devil, and the Tower were deemed offensive to more conservative nobles, which forced religious leaders to ban the Trumps from the game. Even a Franciscan friar who delivered a sermon sometime between 1450 and 1470 condemned the Trumps and their use, saying that they are invented and named by the Devil, and credits them with the triumph of the Devil. The friar even said that the Devil wins through the loss of souls who play the game.

      It was Count de Gébelin, mentioned earlier, and his "ancient Egyptian" Tarot theory, who revived the use of the Tarot deck per se, as well as its use in divination. But eleven years earlier, Jean-Baptiste Alliette, a.k.a. Etteilla, became the first person who gave meaning to the Tarot deck. He published his divinatory readings of only 32 cards (plus the querent card). He even published several other works focusing on the Trumps, which became no surprise as they were published at the same time de Gébelin formulated his Egyptian-Tarot theory. Because of this, his deck became the first deck to be used specifically to cartomancy (fortune telling using cards).

      Another theory of the Tarot is its connection to the Jewish Kabalah (The Tree of Life), developed by the popular 19th-century occultist Eliphas Lévi. The theory correlates that the Tarot deck originated not in Egypt, but in what is now Israel. All seventy-eight cards are said to be keys to the mysteries of the Kabalah. No concrete ideas have yet surfaced to prove this theory, but this theory fueled the Tarot its borderless and esoteric qualities as a study of life.

      But the pioneers of reviving the Tarot deck and "pegging" it in modern society were The Theosophical Society, the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, the Rosicrucians, the Church of Light, and the Builders of the Adytum or BOTA. It became more popular in the U.S. during the 1960's, a period of exploration of society.

      But the most significant persons to revolutionize the Tarot are Arthur Edward Waite and Pamela Coleman Smith, creaters of the Rider-Waite deck. Waite commissioned Smith to create the so-called "rectified" deck. Easy to understand and rich in symbolism due to its simplicity, it became the most popular deck of the 20th century. But what made that deck unique in its time is the fact that while most earlier "pip" cards look similar to most modern playing cards, the Minor Arcana's "pip" cards contain images which allow users to easily interpret the cards. They made Smith's influence readily recognizable today. Even this trend made Tarot decks follow suit, figuatively and literally.

      Though the Tarot's history is made clear, there are still loop holes about it. If there are ever evidences that the Tarot is either Egyptian or Jewish in original, will they ever be found? If not, who made de Gébelin and Lévi formulate their theories anyway? Why are the so-called "evil cards," such as Death, the Devil, and the Tower, among the Trumps in the first place? And since anybody who practices cartomancy knows that the Minor Arcana and the Fool are the descendants of our modern playing deck, who gave the spade, club, heart, and diamond symbols to the cards that formerly bear the sword, wand, cup, and pentacle symbols and why? These questions will not be answered and may never be answered; but what's important is it exists. Otherwise, I never thought of the deck and its website!