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Aleister Crowley's interpretations of the cards also differ somewhat from Waite's, but they are both based in the Hermetic Kabbalah and both are in use today, however the Rider-Waite deck is the most popular. The current revival began with the trend in the late 1960's and early 1970's when there was a turn to holistic health alternatives, and to alternative religion and alternatives to traditional counseling.
A new interest and popularity for the tarot began. Many now consult the tarot as it has become part of our culture of the folk counselors of our world today. Many new decks have been created as adaptations of the Waite-Smith or Crowley-Harris decks. Reinvented to reflect the artist's creativity and philosophy. One can find decks with many themes and meanings from Fairy Decks to Wicca decks, feminist decks, Native American decks, and so on. Some are more for those who collect games and decks of cards and not for the serious student or reader.
The history of the tarot is a reflection of the philosophical and religious currents that flow to us through the story of European culture. It reaches back in time to ancient Gnosticism, through the medieval practices of alchemy and astrology, through the fascination with the occult in recent centuries, and on into our modern "new age" movement.
The cards and their meanings have been sifted through many different subcultures and much of the symbolism has been changed by each culture and movement. The Hermit trump card was once Time, an old man with an hourglass. Strength used to depict a man swinging a club at a crouching lion. The Star once featured a woman near a precipice clutching with her left hand at an eight-pointed star. Most likely these early images evolved from still earlier ones.
We can study the Tarot's current symbolism and we have many clues about its original form, but the exact form itself is probably lost to us. We may never know what the first Tarot cards looked like. Nor do we know with certainty who created them or where they came from.
Frustrated Tarot experts have inspired countless origin theories. Perhaps this mystery is what makes them so interesting to us. Regardless of their original use, as a clever card game or a clever way to impart mystical teachings in the 1300's in Europe it is the wisdom and guidance we gleam from their images today that may be the most intriguing.
In the hands of an adept, they tell your story and portray your journey.
For further research read Stuart Kaplan, The Encyclopedia of Tarot which contains superb illustrations of the oldest decks that still survive.
