Secret Symbols of the Tarot

This work details the subtle historic threads which have contributed to the development of Tarot Cards. Pagan and Christian influences are equally examined, as are the theories of early Hermetic influences such as Court de Geblin, Eliphas Levi, A.E. Waite and Pamela Coleman Smith, Aleister Crowley, and the Golden Dawn. A refreshing overview of the insights of important Tarot scholar Gertrude Moakely are also included in relation to the carnival tradition of Northern Italy and the influence of Petrarch (the founder of humanism and mentor of Dante). The second part of this work examines each of the cards of the Major Arcana and the numbered and Court cards of the Minor Arcana as they relate to the art of Divination/Tarot reading.