Tarot, as we know it now, was invented sometime in the middle 15th century
in Italy. It closely mirrored the playing cards of the day. Some believe that
people had started using playing cards for divination purposes and the tarot
were just a refined version of these cards. These basics playing cards had
four suits of ten cards each. These cards were brought to Europe from the
Islamic world. It is thought that tarot originated when gypsies and
astrologers started using ordinary playing cards to tell fortunes.