Tarot in the context of "Major Arcana"

Western esotericism and the arts surveys documented intersections between Western esotericism—notably Hermeticism, Christian Kabbalah, Alchemy, and Astrology—and the visual arts, literature, and the performing arts from the late Middle Ages to the present. Scholarship highlights recurring vectors: Renaissance and early modern image–text programmes (emblems, alchemical series, Kabbalistic diagrams) that formalised "operative images"; encyclopedic displays and diagrams in early modern erudition; nineteenth-century Spirit photography and related "psychic" image technologies; fin de siècle milieux linking occult orders with salon culture; early twentieth-century abstraction tied to Theosophy/Anthroposophy; ritual poetics on stage and in experimental film; and later artist-authored Tarot and neo-alchemical process art.

Aby Warburg's reading of the Palazzo Schifanoia frescoes in Ferrara established a foundational model for interpreting astrological programs in Renaissance art, while Barbara Obrist documented the late-medieval shift toward serial illustration and diagrammatic representation in alchemical manuscripts. Early modern encyclopedic projects—epitomized by Athanasius Kircher—wove hieroglyphs, cosmology, and spectacular display into ambitious image-systems that influenced the period's visual culture. In parallel, historians of science and craft have emphasized how chymistry's "wider worlds" intersected with literature, theatre, and the visual arts. Classic studies have traced how esoteric metaphysics and "spiritual" aesthetics contributed to early abstraction (e.g., Wassily Kandinsky and Hilma af Klint), while recent scholarship reassesses the role of Spiritualism/Spiritism within abstract art and Surrealism's image-making and poetics.

Antoine Court, who named himself Antoine Court de Gébelin (Nîmes, 25 January 1725 – Paris, 10 May 1784), was a Protestant pastor, born in Nîmes, who initiated the interpretation of the Tarot as an arcane repository of timeless esoteric wisdom with imagined origins in Ancient Egypt in 1781.

The New International Encyclopedia of 1914 reports that Court de Gébelin, who adopted the surname of his grandmother, was a literary man of recognized rank, and rendered excellent service, first as his father's amanuensis and assistant, and afterward as a scholar at the capital. He is remembered in connection with the case of Jean Calas, by his work Les Toulousaines, ou lettres historiques et apologétiques en faveur de la religion réformée (Lausanne, 1763).

Tarot card reading is a form of cartomancy whereby practitioners use tarot cards to purportedly gain insight into the past, present or future. The process typically begins with formulation of a question, followed by drawing and interpreting cards to uncover meaning. A traditional tarot deck consists of 78 cards, which can be split into two groups, the Major Arcana and Minor Arcana. French-suited playing cards can also be used; as can any card system with suits assigned to identifiable elements (e.g., air, earth, fire, water).

Kumalak (qumalaq; Kazakh: құмалақ) is a form of geomancy, or divination, which originates in Central Asia. This fortune telling method involves 41 beans, stones, or sheep dung ("kumalak" means sheep dung in the Turkic languages) sorted into piles, and has been used for hundreds of years in the region of present-day Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, and Siberia by Turkic peoples such as the Kazakh, Kyrgyz, and Tatars.

Similar to other forms of divination such as tarot or runecasting, Kumalak is practiced by shamans who seek to connect to their Turkic ancestors in the spiritual realm. A spiritual teacher trains and mentors the shaman for years before the initiation ritual is completed. Such shamans are often consulted by villagers looking for advice on their future. Kumalak is believed by Kazakhs to be a spiritual tool which opens spiritual gateways to connect with their ancestors. Similar connections can be seen in other Shamanic cultures.

The Minor Arcana, sometimes known as the Lesser Arcana, are the suit cards in a cartomantic tarot deck.

Ordinary tarot cards first appeared in northern Italy in the 1440s and were designed for tarot card games. They typically have four suits each of 10 unillustrated pip cards numbered one (ace) to ten, along with 4 court cards (face cards). Tarot games are still widely played in central and southern Europe; French Tarot is the second most popular card game in France after Belote.

Atziluth or Atzilut (also Olam Atsiluth, עוֹלָם אֲצִילוּת, literally "the World of Emanation") is the highest of four worlds in which exists the Kabbalistic Tree of Life. It is also known as "near to God." Beri'ah follows it. It is known as the World of Emanations, or the World of Causes. In the Kabbalah, each of the Sephiroth in this world is associated with a name of God, and it is associated with the suit of wands in the tarot.

The Tarot of Marseilles is a standard pattern of Italian-suited tarot pack with 78 cards that was very popular in France in the 17th and 18th centuries for playing tarot card games and is still produced today. It was probably created in Milan before spreading to much of France, Switzerland and Northern Italy. The name is sometimes spelled Tarot of Marseille, but the name recommended by the International Playing-Card Society is Tarot de Marseille, although it accepts the two English names as alternatives. It was the pack which led to the occult use of tarot cards, although today dedicated decks are produced for this purpose.