I have just come across this book called beyond the time barrier by andrew tomas, in ithe states that among other things the tarot deck shows us the future in the pictures, but not just in a reading eg:

il bagattel: the ancient mysteries 1st century bc

la papessa: the establishment of the christian church 1st century ad

l'imperatrice: the grandeur of rome 2nd century

l'imperator: the roman power and persecution of the christians 3rd century

il papa: christianity becomes state religion, emporer constantine 4th century

gli amanti: seperaton of rome and byzantium 5thcentury

il carro: mohammed and the emporer justinian 6th century

la guistizia: the law of islam 7th century

l'ermita: the decline of the arab empire 8th century

fortuna: the rise of the monarchy and feudalism, charlemagne 9th century

la forza: royalty tamed by the church 10th century

l'appesso: the crusades and their victims 11th century

la morte: the mongol invasion 12th century

la temperanza: the renaissance 13th century

il diavolo: the black death, and the 100 years war 14 century

la torre: the church and state shaken by the discovery of printing 15 century

le stelle: reformatin and the rise of astronomers 16th century

la luna: 30 years war, and civil war in england 17th century

il sole: splendour and tears, the sun king and versailles 18th century

il guidizio: revolutions the rise of the common people 19th century

il matto: the 0 century, the fool before an abyss, and crises 20th century

il mondo: the space age, world brotherhood 21st century

he states that when it was invented it was to show what was to come, as a sort of prophecy.