

The tarot is a deck of cards used from the mid-15th century in various parts of Europe to play card games such as Italian tarocchini and French tarot. From the late 18th century through the present, tarot cards are used by mystics and occultists in either divination or as a map of mental and spiritual pathways.
The English and French word tarot derives from the Italian tarocchi, which has no known origin or etymology. One theory relates the name “tarot” to the Taro River in northern Italy, near Parma; it seems to have originated in northern Italy, in either Milan or Bologna. Other historians believe it comes from the Arabic word turuq (طرق), which means “pathways”.