What is "tarot"

Tarot \Tar"ot\, n. [F.; cf. It. tarocco.]

1. A game of cards; -- called also taroc.
   --Hoyle.

2. any of a set of 22 playing cards which bear allegorical images representing various objects or influences affecting human life, and widely used in fortunetelling; they are also used as trumps in the game of taroc. Various images are used by different artists to represent the themes of each card.

1590s, from French tarot (16c.), from Old Italian tarocchi (plural), of unknown origin, perhaps from Arabic taraha "he rejected, put aside." The deck first was used in Italy 14c., as playing cards as well as for fortune-telling. The tarots, strictly speaking, are the 22 figured cards added to the 56-card suits pack.

n. 1 (context singular or plural English) A card game played in various different variations. 2 Any of the set of 78 playing cards (divided into five suits, including one of permanent trumps), often used for mystical divination.

n. any of a set of (usually 72) cards that include 22 cards representing virtues and vices and death and fortune etc.; used by fortunetellers [syn: tarot card]

The tarot (; first known as trionfi and later as tarocchi, tarock, and others) is a pack of playing cards (most commonly numbering 78), used from the mid-15th century in various parts of Europe to play a group of card games such as Italian tarocchini and French tarot. From the late 18th century until the present time the tarot has also found use by mystics and occultists for divination.

Like the common deck of playing cards, the tarot has four suits (which vary by region, being the French suits in Northern Europe, the Latin suits in Southern Europe, and the German suits in Central Europe). Each of these suits has pip cards numbering from one (or Ace) to ten and four face cards ( King, Queen, Knight, and Jack/Knave) for a total of 14 cards. In addition, the tarot has a separate 21-card trump suit and a single card known as the Fool. Depending on the game, the Fool may act as the top trump or may be played to avoid following suit.

François Rabelais gives tarau as the name of one of the games played by Gargantua in his Gargantua and Pantagruel; this is likely the earliest attestation of the French form of the name. Tarot cards are used throughout much of Europe to play card games. In English-speaking countries, where these games are largely unplayed, tarot cards are now used primarily for divinatory purposes. Occultists call the trump cards and the Fool "the major arcana" while the ten pip and four court cards in each suit are called minor arcana. The cards are traced by some occult writers to ancient Egypt or the Kabbalah but there is no documented evidence of such origins or of the usage of tarot for divination before the 18th century.

Tarot is a heavy metal band from Finland. They are most famous for the song “Wings of Darkness” from the 1986 album Spell of Iron. While having enjoyed a broad underground popularity in Finland, the band has never been very famous elsewhere until gaining new success in recent years when their singer and bassist Marco Hietala joined Nightwish in 2002.

Tarot (Marie-Ange Colbert) is a fictional character, a mutant in the Marvel Universe.

Tarot is a 1986 West German drama film directed by Rudolf Thome. It was entered into the 15th Moscow International Film Festival.

Tarot is a 2009 Filipino horror-thriller film directed by Jun Lana and starring Marian Rivera and Dennis Trillo.

• Tarot, card decks used for divinatory and esoteric/occult purposes and for trick-taking games
  • Divinatory, esoteric and occult tarot, divinatory and esoteric/occult uses
  • Tarot, tarock and tarocchi games, a family of trick taking card games
    • French tarot, a trick-taking card game

In comics:

• Tarot (comics), a Marvel Comics character
• Tarot: Witch of the Black Rose, an American comic book
• The Tarot Café, a series of manhwa comics by Sang-Sun Park

In music:

• Tarot (album), an album by heavy metal band Dark Moor
• Tarot (band), a heavy metal band from Finland

In film and television:

• Tarot, the lead character in the television series Ace of Wands
• Tarot (film), a 1973 film directed by José María Forqué
• Tarot (1986 film), a 1986 German film

In fiction:

• Tarot (series), a trilogy by Piers Anthony

In video / role-playing games:

• T.A.R.O.T., the fictional international criminal network headed by villain Karl Ferenc Skorpios that James Bond opposes in the James Bond 007 role-playing game
• Tarot in Shin Megami Tensei: Persona Series major use of tarot cards and classifications in the console rpg series
  • Shin Megami Tensei: Persona
  • Persona 2 (not localized outside Japan)
  • Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3
  • Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 4

Tarot is the sixth full-length album by the Spanish power metal band Dark Moor. The songs of the album are all named after the Major Arcana deck in the Tarot card game. The first single extracted from the album was "The Chariot". Manda Ophius of the Dutch symphonic metal band Nemesea is the guest female vocalist on Tarot.The final track, "the Moon", samples Ludwig van Beethoven's "Symphony No. 5" and "Moonlight Sonata". The bonus track, "Mozart's March" is based on Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's "Rondo A'la Turca". It was also performed live in Granada, Spain, Piorno Rock, back in 2002, five years before it was even released.