Iara Lima

This is a text to talk about the origins of the tarot.

The association between Tarot and Thoth did not begin with Aleister Crowley when he conceived the Thoth Tarot as we know it today together with Lady Frieda Harris this connection was already being woven for at least 150 years.

Crowley did not start alone. He was, in fact, one of the last heirs of a generational tradition. What he did was the movement of appropriating, expanding, and systematizing a seed that had already been planted long before.

Since the 18th century, there was a tradition of calling the Tarot “the Book of Thoth,” and it all begins with Antoine Court de Gébelin, in 1781. He was a Protestant pastor who associated the reasoning as follows: the tarot contained universal symbols, and Egypt was seen at the time as the source of all ancient wisdom; therefore, the tarot could only be Egyptian. Note here that Antoine had no historical backing that the tarot was actually Egyptian he was merely creating a legend that caught on… and caught on strongly! This hypothesis emerged in a European context deeply fascinated by Egypt.

After Etteilla we have Éliphas Lévi, around 1850. He was responsible for synthesizing the Egyptian tradition with Jewish Kabbalah, creating the esoteric foundation that Crowley would later inherit. Lévi was the one who associated the 22 Major Arcana with the 22 letters of the Hebrew alphabet and linked the Tarot to the Kabbalistic Tree of Life. In doing so, he reinforced the idea that the tarot was a “book of wisdom” coming from Egypt. Lévi was an important link between the Egyptian fantasy of the 18th century and the systematic occultism of the 20th century.

It is also worth mentioning here the Emerald Tablet and Hermes Trismegistus, a figure from the Hermetic tradition, because this is central to understanding this story.

The Tabula Smaragdina (Emerald Tablet) is a short Hermetic text, attributed to Hermes Trismegistus, who is a legendary figure (a fusion of the Greek god Hermes with the Egyptian god Thoth). The central principle of the Emerald Tablet is: “As above, so below” the macrocosm reflects the microcosm.

This principle became the basis of the Hermetic worldview, which influenced Kabbalah, alchemy, and, by extension, the esoteric interpretation of the Tarot.

19th-century occultists believed that the Tarot was a visual materialization of the Hermetic principles contained in the Emerald Tablet, hence the enduring association between Tarot, Thoth, and Hermes.

It is important to separate what historians say today about the tarot: its origin derives from 15th-century Italy as a card game (tarocchi). There is no evidence that the Tarot existed in ancient Egypt. The association with Egypt is an 18th-century construction, fueled by the occultist imagination of the time.

But the esoteric tradition says that the Tarot is a book of ancient wisdom that survived Egypt, and that it was preserved by secret societies.

Notice that both views coexist. One is factual; the other is symbolic and ritualistic. Just like the tarot itself, which is symbolic.

If you feel a connection with Egypt, with Thoth, with the Emerald Tablets, that is valid on the symbolic plane. The esoteric tradition of the Tarot is powerful precisely because it carries centuries of layers of meaning, even if the historical origin is different.

The Tarot you use, whether it be RWS, Etteilla, Thoth, or Marseilles, is steeped in this imaginary heritage of Egypt. It is precisely on this symbolic plane that many people continue to find meaning in this tradition.

Now, how about a reading?