The Tarot: A Collection of Secret Wisdom from Tarot’s Mystical Origins

This massive, informative compilation pieces together ancient elements of divination, history, numerology, astrology, Christian prophecy, and even etymology from across the 19th and 20th centuries to demonstrate the power of the Tarot. The book is primarily based on the work of Waite, cocreator of the standardized Rider Waite-Smith Tarot deck, who sourced material from a variety of spiritual traditions, including Rosicrucianism, Hermetics, Theosophism, and Christianity. Despite representing a variety of traditions, each of the eight authors claim Tarot as the singular method to sway the human mind. This is not an introductory reference, and readers without knowledge of occultism, Kabbalistic study, ritualistic magic, and turn-of-the-century spiritualism will have difficulty understanding the densely theoretical language the authors employ as they explore the occultist traditions that spawned the modern Tarot. However, those who are already well-versed in Tarot will love this sweeping collection. (Oct.)