Freemasonry
And the Tarot
The connection of the Freemasons to the Tarot is well established. There is writing about Freemason involvement in just about every book written on the Tarot. The first exponent of the Tarot and its influence was ANTOINE COURT de GEBELIN.
Antoine Court de Gebelin was a freemason who wrote a nine volume work titled Le Monde Primitive (The Primitive World). This primitive world was based on an idea that perpretates in many occult circles of a golden age of man, when all people shared a common language and culture.
In his eighth volume, published in 1781, de Gebelin elaborated on the meanings of the Tarot pack. This volume launched an immense interest and established the use of the Tarot in spite of negative pressure from the Churches. Court de Gebelin described how the Tarot derived from an ancient Egyptian religion. At that time, ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics was not deciphered yet, but that was no obstacle to a man with Court de Gebelin’s intuitive gifts. He was able to inform us that the word Tarot meant "Royal Road" being derived from the ancient Egyptian "tar" meaning "way" and "row" meaning "royal."
Around 1887, the Freemasons’ influence began to grow and as freemasonry grew, the use of the Tarot spread simultaneously. Many of Freemasonry’s occult branches used the Tarot, propagating its further development and widespread use.