There are a number of scholars on Tarot that have already written on the subject of Tarot history, and have done so quite extensively. Instead of recreating the same info, this post is an attempt to summarize the history of Tarot with visual references.
For further research, please check out: Tarot Wisdom by Rachel Pollack, Mary Greer (her books and her blog is amazing!), and Paul Huson. Most of my below info is from Tarot Wisdom by Rachel Pollack, but all three authors write on this subject and should be used for your own research.
Bonifacio Bembo. c 1450
The first known Tarot deck was created by Bonifacio Bembo, in Northern Italy. Bianca Visconti Sforza favored Bembo as a painter, and the deck was created as a sort of keepsake to show the marriage of the notable Visconti and Sforza families. The cards often depict members of those families.The Visconti Tarot is available and in use today (visit yer local occult store!), but it should be noted that that the images are replica paintings of the originals. It is a beautiful deck.
This deck and others like it were created and used for the upper classes for the purpose of playing a card game similar to bridge.
The Renaissance, 1300-1600
Bembo’s Tarot deck was painted during the Renaissance. This is significant, as it helps us to better understand the cards’ imagery. The Renaissance was a blending of antiquity (Pagan ideas) and the Church (Christianity). We can see the blending of these ideas between the above three cards.
On the left is the card known as Temperance. Temperance is a very Christian idea and illustrates the holiness of tempering behavior, as values of chastity, purity, and humility were encouraged during this time. However, cards like the Moon and the Star, following Temperance, suggest pre-Christian, Pagan beliefs (Tarot Wisdom, Pollack).
Pagan practices would have centered on worshiping nature (the Moon, the Stars!). We see that the Tarot is a blending of religious concepts, which is important in understanding the Tarot as an archetypal language and why we use it today.
The Gutenberg Press, 1440-1450
The invention of the Gutenberg press allowed for Tarot decks to be mass-produced and distributed across Europe through the middle of the 15th century and widening by 1500. Printing the cards also meant that standardized versions of the Tarot appeared.
Trionfi & Tarrochi
Card games using the Tarot develop (called Trionfi & Tarrochi, and other names) and continue from 1400’s – 1700’s.
The Tarot is associated with divination (at least this is the first known record of Tarot as used for anything besides card games).
Antoine Court de Gébelin, 1781
Antoine identifies the Tarot as a source of esoteric wisdom and credited the cards to the teaching of Ancient Egypt and the god Thoth (also known as Hermes).
However there was no evidence to back this up. In his writing, Antoine developed ideas on what the cards meant. He was also a Freemason, and it has been suggested that the Freemasons might have been connecting and/or developing connections with the Tarot and the occult for some time (Pollack, and Greer).
He also asserted, in Le Monde Primitif that the Tarot was connected to the Hebrew alphabet, as this has 22 letters, as the Tarot as 22 Major Arcana cards.
Éliphas Lévi, 1810 – 1875.
Lévi was a French occultist and ceremonial magician. He furthered the idea that the Tarot was connected to the Kabbalah. According to the Kabbalah, the Sefer Yetsirah (Book of Formation), the world was created with 10 numbers and 22 letters, which mirrors the Tarot:
Minor Arcana/Suit cards are numbered 1-10 (+ four Court Cards)
Major Arcana cards are numbered 0-22
Lévi published Dogme et Rituel de la Haute Magie, 1856 with an image of Baphomet.
Baphomet was a god worshiped by the Knights Templar. This image is one of the most famous occult images today. This is what Lévi says about the image:
“The goat on the frontispiece carries the sign of the pentagram on the forehead, with one point at the top, a symbol of light, his two hands forming the sign of occultism, the one pointing up to the white moon of Chesed, the other pointing down to the black one of Geburah. This sign expresses the perfect harmony of mercy with justice. His one arm is female, the other male like the ones of the androgyne of Khunrath, the attributes of which we had to unite with those of our goat because he is one and the same symbol. The flame of intelligence shining between his horns is the magic light of the universal balance, the image of the soul elevated above matter, as the flame, whilst being tied to matter, shines above it.
The beast’s head expresses the horror of the sinner, whose materially acting, solely responsible part has to bear the punishment exclusively; because the soul is insensitive according to its nature and can only suffer when it materializes. The rod standing instead of genitals symbolizes eternal life, the body covered with scales the water, the semi-circle above it the atmosphere, the feathers following above the volatile. Humanity is represented by the two breasts and the androgyne arms of this sphinx of the occult sciences.”
The Rise of Spiritualism 1820
Lévi influenced the rise of Spiritualism, a religion devoted to communing with the dead and connecting to the world beyond death, for the attaining of information relating to one’s present life. All of this seems to continue to show a connection and interest to esoteric wisdom, which continues to influence Tarot, and the rise of Magick, the occult, Witchcraft, and interest in Pagan and Pre-Christian concepts in the centuries to come.
The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn is formed, 1888
The Golden dawn combined Kabbalah, astrology, Neo-Platonism, esoteric Christianity, Freemasonry, and much more. Members of the Golden Dawn created complex systems within the Tarot, and modern Tarot is based on this system.
From this are many important figures, from Arthur Edward Waite, Aleister Crowley, and Pamela Colman Smith.
1910 The first Tarot deck with images on all 78 cards appears from the Golden Dawn Movement, the Rider-Waite Smith Tarot, however this deck was not widely distributed until the 60’s.
Carl Gustav Jung, 1875 – 1961
Jung has a huge impact on psychology, and explores the importance of symbols, archetypes, dreams and the collective unconscious to the human experience. He knows of the Tarot (but never studies it in depth) and acknowledges that the Tarot contains powerful, archetypal imagery that can be used for divination or the process of “individuation.” This is important as it correlates on a timeline with the Golden Dawn movement, as well as the modern approach to Tarot which sees the Tarot as a gateway to the unconscious.
1960 – Present
The 60’s onward included a rise of Pagan (hello hippies!) interests, freedom of expression, etc. From this onward, the Tarot continued to grow in interest. It should be noted again that the RWS smith deck was published for wider use now (1966), making a full image Tarot-deck with meanings (created by A.E Waite) accessible to the public.
In the early 80’s Rachel Pollack published a book about the Tarot and its archetypal wisdom; she is considered the Mother of Modern Tarot, bridging the ideas between the Golden Dawn, Jung, and further exploring mythologies and archetypes within the cards.
Most Tarot decks used nowadays are based on the Rider-Waite-Smith or Thoth Tarot (which also emerged from the Golden Dawn).