Tarot Timeline Using Timeline JS

My chosen topic for using the Timeline JS tool is the evolution of Tarot from a simple card game to the future telling reputation tool it has become today. I personally am a huge collector of themed tarot decks, including the Sola Busca, which is mentioned in the timeline. However I was unclear about the origins and wanted to trace its rise in popularity out of esoteric obscurity. This timeline follows the evolution of the use of the cards, which coincide with the evolution of its imagery. 

For those unfamiliar with a tarot deck, it consists of 78 cards which are divided into a major and minor arcana. The first 22 cards are considered the major arcana and depict symbolic themes such as “Death” and “Strength.” The minor arcana consist of four suites including royal face cards: cups, pentacles, swords, wands, pages, knights, queens, and kings. Today a tarot deck is used to gain insight on a situation, or for spiritual guidance. 

To be honest, there is not much scholarly information on this topic except for the very old decks which belong to the archives of Yale and a few other university repositories. Since my timeline is more about how tarot became used as a popular divination tool and less about the details of its use as a game, scholarly references were not necessary. Cross-referencing several sites with sources to confirm information was how I picked my sources. 

Even though this timeline stretches 600 years, the evolution of the topic was slow enough that it actually wasn’t as much of a challenge to narrow down pivotal points. The challenge I did face was confirming the origin and deciding where to start. Several sources argued about what was the first “tarot” deck on record. Some argued Sola Busca is the oldest deck since it is the oldest complete deck and contains symbolic imagery like tarot now. However I sided with the Visconti deck as a place to start, as it the oldest deck used for tarrochi that we can study.

Another factor I considered, but didn’t use, in my research as a reason for the rise of using tarot as a divinatory tool, was the effect of uncertain times through history. I noticed during the time of the French Revolution that the Etteilla deck came out, which focuses more on predicting the future. The French Revolution stared up a lot of uncertainty and people wanting answers. It is very similar to right now; times are very uncertain and people want answers and reassurance, hence tarot’s current popularity. While I made these connections, there was not enough research supporting this so I left it out of the timeline. 

Timeline JS was fairly user friendly. The only challenge was finding media that Timeline JS supported.

References for the Timeline

Tarot's Origins

In the cards: Library partners work together to solve mysteries of rare tarot deck. In the cards: Library partners work together to solve mysteries of rare tarot deck | Yale Library. (2023, October 4). https://library.yale.edu/news/cards-library-partners-work-together-solve-mysteries-rare-tarot-deck

Make It Allegorical

A Renaissance riddle: The sola busca tarot deck (1491). The Public Domain Review. (n.d.). https://publicdomainreview.org/collection/sola-busca/

A Turn Towards the Esoteric

Etteilla’s Livre de Thot tarot (ca. 1789). The Public Domain Review. (n.d.-b). https://publicdomainreview.org/collection/etteilla-thot/

Tarot Gets Printed

The tarot de marseille. Tarot Heritage. (2015, September 3). https://tarot-heritage.com/history-4/the-tarot-de-marseilles/

Psychic Readings

Gong, T., Lattice, Sharma, G., Tina, & Chiara. (2017, October 3). An introduction to Lenormand cards: Plus Lenormand card meaning list. Labyrinthos. https://labyrinthos.co/blogs/learn-tarot-with-labyrinthos-academy/an-introduction-to-lenormand-cards-plus-lenormand-card-meaning-list#:~:text=Madame%20Lenormand%20and%20the%20History,the%20British%20Museum%20in%20London.

Rider-Waite-Smith Makes it to the Masses

Wikimedia Foundation. (2024, March 5). U.S. Games Systems. Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._Games_Systems#:~:text=In%201971%2C%20the%20company%20acquired,for%20the%20company’s%20early%20success.

From Small Communities to the Mainstream

Ourisman, J. (2024, September 30). The rise of the TikTok psychic-and their online impersonators. Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/sites/jessicaourisman/2024/09/26/the-rise-of-the-tiktok-psychic-and-their-insidious-online-scammers/

Other

https://tarot-heritage.com/history-4/tarot-history-chronology/