Pagan history of playing-cards

The earliest authentic references to playing-cards in Europe date from 1377, but, despite their long history, it is only in recent decades that clues about their origins have begun to be understood. Cards must have been invented in China, where paper was invented. Even today some of the packs used in China have suits of coins and strings of coins - which Mah Jong players know as circles and bamboos (i.e. sticks). Cards entered Europe from the Islamic empire, where cups and swords were added as suit-symbols, as well as (non-figurative) court cards. It was in Europe that these were replaced by representations of courtly human beings: kings and their attendants - knights (on horseback) and foot-servants. (Taken from The International Playing-Card Society.)

The history of cartomancy [=the act of divining using cards] is shrouded in mystery. We do know that playing cards have been around at least 600 years and it is believed that paper cards originate in China since they developed the first known paper currency which resembled playing cards. It is believed that the tradition of playing cards traveled from Western Asia to Egypt, then to North Africa. From there, they finally surfaced in Europe. One theory of the history states that the Arabs and Moors introduced the cards to the Spaniards in 1379. In Spain, people called the cards naibi, which means "to foretell." Whether they originated as tools for playing games or for divination purposes cannot be sure, however, cards were definitely being used for predictive purposes by the sixteenth century. By the eighteenth century, cartomancers - as fortune tellers were frequently called - were all the rage. The Emperor Napoleon is said to have consulted the cards on a regular basis. (Taken from What is Cartomancy?)

There was a time when the church took a strong stand against the card game. In the fifteenth century European clergy attacked the games as being immoral and unclean. In 1423 a German preacher called them "The Invention of the Devil" and his hearers made a huge bonfire of cards in the Town Square. In another city, cartloads were destroyed. Until relatively recent times fundamental preachers and churches warned about the dangers of cards. Although the deck of cards has lost neither their meaning nor their evil influence, there is a strange silence about them in most churches today. (Taken from Cartomancy.)

For further information on the history of playing-cards see: Frequently Asked Questions about Playing-cards