To most people, it conjures up pictures of fortune tellers in gypsy costumes, promising to peer into the future and hoping to con gullible passersby out of a few dollars.
Some people even think the cards are downright evil.
Most just think they're silly. The answer will appear as you read these pages. First, to separate the myths and misconceptions from the reality, I've prepared a page on the evolution of the tarot , summarizing the history of the cards from their invention in renaissance Italy to the present time. The tarot, as it has come down to us, is a sort of summary of the basic ingredients of the human condition in a set of 78 images. One doesn't need to invoke psychic phenomena or supernatural forces to explain how such a set of images is useful for introspective work.