I was drawn into the Cracked article 5 Artifacts That Will Shatter Your Image of the Middle Ages by a picture of a strange metal, Devil-like helmet Henry VIII was said to have worn.
But it was the third item in the piece entitled The Most Confusing Book of Revelation that really caught my attention.
The section shows illustrations from the Spanish Beatus Apocalypse manuscripts, a Middle Ages commentary on the Bible’s Book of Revelation.
Though the images in the manuscripts were all created about four or five hundred years before the first known Tarot deck was made, some of them sure look familiar.
Here are a few of the Beatus images alongside cards from the Visconti, Rider Waite Smith, and Thoth Tarots.
Wheel of Fortune
Strength
Judgment
The World
The Lovers
