Tarot Cards first appeared in 15th Century Europe, and by the 18th Century Tarot cards were being used in the divination of Medieval Religious Symbols with origins in Egyptian (Kemet) Spirituality.
In Ancient Egypt, we find the Metutu Oracle of Kemet used for divination where each card represented a message from the Neteru Deities.
Ancient Egypt (Kemet) was a deeply spiritual and symbolic culture, and each Metutu Card provided guidance towards the Individual’s Spiritual understanding of life’s material conditions.
Egyptian Origins Of The Kemetic Tarot
The Egyptian origins of the Kemetic Tarot can be traced by comparing several Tarot cards with their earlier Egyptian counterparts in Kemet.
- The Magician: Ausar: The Unconditioned Self in the likeness of the Supreme Being;
- The High Priestess: Hathor: The divine feminine and arouser of the Life Force;
- The Empress: Auset: The Great Mother of Nature and regarded as the Seat Of Ausar;
- Will: Heru: Represents Free Will to follow Divine Law;
- Justice: Maat: Divine Law and Conscience;
- The Hanged Man: Herukhuti: Enforcer of Maat’s Divine Laws through Karma and consequence;
- The Devil : Sebek: Man’s rational consciousness dominated by left brain thinking;
- The Sun: Ra: The Life Force;
- The World: Geb: The Unenlightened Man on the Earth Realm lacking Spiritual awareness.
Like the Egyptian Metutu Oracle, the Tarot of Kemet provides Spiritual guidance through Metaphor.
The first use of symbols and archetypes to interpret Life’s situations was in the Egyptian Civilization’s Metutu Oracle of Kemet.
Medu Netcher Symbols (Hieroglyphic Script) dating back to at least 3 400BC was used in the Metutu Oracle of Kemet.
Furthermore, Tarot Card themes like Judgment, The Tower, and The Wheel of Fortune all relate to the conditions of life.
As such, the symbols of the Tarot Deck show the influence of Ancient Egypt’s Kemetic Tarot on the Major Arcana.
Today, Tarot Cards are associated with the Occult, but the Egyptian origins of the Kemetic Tarot in the Metutu Oracle of Kemet demonstrate that the Tarot was influenced by Egyptian Kemetic Spirituality.
Other Oracles or systems of Divination that are descended from Egyptian Kemetic Spirituality like the Tarot exist in Africa today including Nigeria’s Ifa Oracle and Voudon (Voodoo) in Benin which is also practiced in Haiti.
