To make the story brief, the tarot cards were used as playing cards, still being used is in some countries as a game. But in the late 1700s, Etteilla (pseudonym of Jean-Baptiste Alliette) popularize the playing cards into divination. Etteilla was a French occultist and documented and of the first person who made a living by card divination. In addition, he added meanings to the cards with elements, astrology and symbols.