Tarot cards are now mainly used for fortunetelling.

The origin of tarot cards is unclear. It is thought they were introduced into Europe by Crusaders between 1095 and 1270 or by gypsies. They were certainly used in Italy in the early 14th century. Although the game of tarot is mostly used for fortunetelling in parts of central Europe they use the full tarot pack to play games. A full tarot deck consists of 78 cards: the minor arcana (56 suit cards) and the major arcana, also known as trumps (22 pictorial symbol cards). The minor arcana, somewhat like a deck of modern playing cards, consist of suits of wands (clubs), cups (hearts), swords (spades), and pentacles (diamonds). Each suit contains 14 cards: 4 court cards (king, queen, knight, and page) plus cards numbered from ace to ten. The major arcana consist of a fool (also called a madman) card and pictorial cards numbered from 1 to 21. Artists often designed tarot packs, the German artist Albrecht Dürer, painted packs in the late 15th and early 16th centuries. The pictures cards in a tarot pack represent the sun, death, the devil, and a hanged man, symbolise natural forces and human virtues and vices. Fortunes are told by interpreting the combinations formed as the cards are dealt out. Today the tarot is widely used not only as a means of foretelling the future but also as a tool for self-exploration and personal growth.