Here is an easy visual to explain:
If you'd like to read more, there is a pretty good overview here.
The illustrations on modern day Tarot cards all incorporate elements of myth, alchemy, astrology, astronomy, practices and rites going back to ancient times. Look at the Magician card, number one in the major arcana, for example:
He represents Hermes Trismegistus, the ancient Greek's god of magic and communication melded with the Egyptian Thoth. He is for whom Hermeticism, or practitioners of occult Qabalah, take their name. Hermes holds his wand to the heavens and his hand points to the ground, representing the Hermetic principle, "As above, so below." He is the number one, so he is the initiate, learning. The tools on his table represent the four elements of the earth (and the four suits of the tarot): air/swords, water/cups, fire/wands, and pentacles/earth.
Another example of ancient symbolism is the High Priestess card:
She is the Egyptian Isis, the most powerful and spiritual woman in the Tarot deck. She sits between King Solomon's pillars of Mercy and Severity ("Boaz" and "Jachin"), written of in the Bible. Behind her is a veil, representing the occult (meaning "hidden"), and pomegranates, the fruit Persephone ate that kept her in Hades for one dark season of winter (this myth representing the triple goddess of maiden, mother and crone). Isis sits with her foot on the crescent moon, as the moon's 28-day cycle reflects the feminine on earth.
There are many other legends and symbols built into Tarot cards, with the idea being that these, like Jung's universal archetypes that touch the collective unconscious in us all, open intuition and understanding of one's self and others.
While it's true that Tarot started as a card game, the evidence shows it to be much, much greater than that.
Thanks for reading. Feel free to send me your questions and I will blog on them as I have time.
© Julia Gordon-Bramer 2012
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