Trending Products

The Untold History of Tarot: Myths, Legends, and the Facts Behind the Cards

The Untold History of Tarot: Myths, Legends, and the Facts Behind the Cards

Tarot didn’t appear overnight as a mystical tool. It evolved from centuries of art, politics, punishment, and imagination.
Behind every card is a story — some proven, others whispered through time.

This feature explores the origins and truths behind a few of tarot’s most fascinating cards and characters, separating documented history from legend, and showing how even ancient symbols can evolve into modern meaning.
You’ll also see how Tarot MasterGuide’s Tranquility Deck reinterprets these images to honor their history while keeping them aligned with peace, empowerment, and insight.

1. The Hanged Man: The Knight Who Was Hung Upside Down for Treason

Status: Not historically verified, but widely said to have inspired the image

The Hanged Man is one of tarot’s most recognizable — and most misunderstood — cards. Today, it represents surrender, patience, and new perspective. But its roots are said to reach back to a much darker tradition.

In medieval Europe, knights accused of treason were sometimes hung upside down by their feet from trees or wooden frames. This was not a simple execution. It was a ritual of disgrace. Knights represented loyalty and honor, and betrayal was the greatest sin. Turning a knight upside down was a literal and symbolic inversion of everything he stood for.

The practice appears in early Italian records of pittura infamante, or “paintings of shame,” which depicted traitors hanging by their feet in public squares. These were meant to humiliate, not glorify, and the image would remain part of public consciousness for generations.

While there is no direct historical evidence that a specific knight inspired The Hanged Man, early Italian tarot decks such as the Visconti-Sforza depict a nearly identical image: a man suspended upside down, arms behind his back, eyes open, calm but powerless. Over time, as tarot moved from a game to a spiritual tool, the meaning transformed. The once-condemned traitor became a seeker — still suspended, but now illuminated.

In the Tranquility Deck by Tarot MasterGuide, this history was reimagined with care. Because of the negative origins tied to the punishment of knights, the deck intentionally avoids depicting suffering. Instead, the card shows a man resting in a tree, waiting. The message of surrender remains, but the violence does not.

Whether or not a knight truly inspired the image, the symbolism of inversion — seeing life from a new angle — endures. The Hanged Man reminds us that peace often comes when we stop resisting and allow stillness to teach us what struggle cannot.

2. The High Priestess: The Hidden Pope and the Woman Who Was Never Supposed to Exist

Status: No historical documentation, but rooted in enduring legend

Few cards hold more intrigue than The High Priestess. She represents sacred knowledge, intuition, and the wisdom that lives between the seen and unseen. But her original title, La Papessa — “The Popess” — hinted at something far more scandalous.

In the earliest European tarot decks, she appeared dressed as a pope, holding a staff or book, wearing the papal crown. This was controversial imagery for the time. Women were forbidden from holding religious office, and depicting one as the head of the Church challenged the entire structure of medieval authority.

The story behind her image is said to come from the legend of Pope Joan.
According to this medieval tale, Joan disguised herself as a man to pursue a religious education. Brilliant and devout, she rose through the ranks of the Church until she was elected Pope.
Her secret was discovered during a public procession when she gave birth, revealing her identity. The crowd, enraged by the deception, dragged her from her horse and tore her apart.

Modern historians agree that there is no evidence that Pope Joan ever existed. Her story appears to have originated centuries later as a symbolic tale about hidden power and deception within the Church. Still, the legend was powerful enough to influence art, literature, and tarot design.

When the Papessa later became the High Priestess, her role shifted from rebellion to revelation. No longer a forbidden figure, she became the guardian of mystery — the one who holds the scroll of truth and sits between light and shadow.

Fact or not, the myth still matters. The High Priestess stands for knowledge that cannot be silenced, for the strength of the unseen, and for the wisdom that defies rules.
Her story reminds us that truth, once known, cannot be unlearned.

3. Pamela Colman Smith: The Woman Who Drew the World’s Most Famous Tarot Deck

Status: Historically documented

Every tarot reader knows her art, even if they don’t know her name.
Pamela Colman Smith, often called “Pixie,” was the visionary artist who gave modern tarot its form.

Born in 1878, she spent her childhood between Jamaica, London, and New York, absorbing a mix of cultures that later shaped her work. She studied at the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, where she was one of the few women — and one of the few students of color — in her class. She later joined London’s literary and occult circles, illustrating books, designing theater sets, and performing storytelling readings.

In 1909, mystic scholar Arthur Edward Waite hired her to illustrate a new tarot deck for the Rider publishing company. Working quickly, she painted all 78 cards in only a few months — a staggering achievement. Her innovation was simple but revolutionary: she illustrated the entire Minor Arcana, turning numbered pips into living stories.

It was her art, not the symbolism alone, that made the Rider-Waite-Smith deck the most recognized tarot in the world.

Yet, Pamela saw little reward. She once said it was “a big job for very little cash.” She was paid a small flat fee, received no royalties, and her name was omitted from the deck’s title. The men received credit; the woman who created its enduring imagery faded into history.

Later in life, Smith converted to Catholicism and lived modestly in Cornwall, surrounded by friends but largely forgotten by the art world. She died in 1951. The most haunting part of her story is that no one knows the exact location of her grave. She was buried quietly, in an unmarked or unrecorded site.

The woman whose images illuminated millions of spiritual journeys left no marker behind — only her art, which still speaks louder than any monument could.
Today, her legacy is finally restored. The Rider-Waite-Smith deck now carries her full name, honoring the artist who gave tarot its soul.

4. The Rider-Waite-Smith Deck: The Blueprint of Modern Tarot

Status: Historically documented

The Rider-Waite-Smith deck didn’t just influence tarot — it defined it.
First published in 1909, it became the visual template for nearly every deck that followed.

It was the first tarot deck to feature illustrated scenes on all 78 cards, allowing readers to connect emotionally and intuitively without needing to memorize arcane symbols.

Its impact is immeasurable. More than a century later, the RWS deck has sold over 100 million copies and is still used worldwide by beginners and professionals alike. The Fool, The Lovers, and The Hanged Man — all drawn by Pamela Colman Smith — became universal icons of symbolism.

Behind the name were three figures:

Arthur Edward Waite, who structured the deck’s esoteric system.
William Rider, the publisher who distributed it.
Pamela Colman Smith, the artist who made it timeless.

It’s ironic that only one of those names — Rider — ever saw true financial profit. Yet the real inheritance belongs to Pamela, whose work turned a secretive system into a language of intuition.

5. The Real History of Tarot: From Playing Cards to Spiritual Mirror

Status: Historically documented

Tarot didn’t start as divination. It began as a card game for European nobles in the 1400s called trionfi or tarocchi. The earliest decks were painted by hand for wealthy families, with elaborate imagery representing virtues, virtues, and social ideals.

By the 18th century, mystics and philosophers reinterpreted those images through a spiritual lens. French writer Antoine Court de Gébelin claimed the cards contained lost Egyptian wisdom — a theory now debunked but influential enough to transform tarot’s purpose.

From there, tarot became a tool for self-reflection, archetypal psychology, and storytelling.
It evolved from a game of chance to a mirror for human experience.

Today, tarot isn’t about predicting the future. It’s about understanding energy, cycles, and possibilities — the space where choice meets destiny.

6. Why These Origins Matter

Knowing the history doesn’t take away tarot’s mystery — it deepens it.
Each card is more than a symbol. It’s a human story:

A knight’s punishment turned into a lesson on surrender.
A forbidden pope became the face of intuition.
A woman artist shaped the most iconic spiritual tool of the last century.

Every shuffle carries pieces of these stories. When you read tarot, you aren’t just interpreting symbols — you’re continuing a legacy of resilience, reinvention, and meaning that spans centuries.

7. The Modern Evolution: Reclaiming the Symbols

Tarot changes with every generation.
Just as Pamela Colman Smith redefined the cards for her time, modern creators are reinterpreting them again.

The Tranquility Deck by Tarot MasterGuide honors the traditional system while reshaping its tone. Where old imagery reflected punishment, secrecy, or fear, Tranquility emphasizes peace, growth, and awareness.

The Hanged Man is no longer a victim — he is at rest.
The High Priestess is no longer hidden — she stands revealed.
This evolution reflects the modern reader: one who seeks balance and understanding, not superstition or judgment.

That is tarot’s greatest strength — it never stops transforming, just like the people who read it.