When the Tarot was invented in Italy during the early fifteenth century, it was simply a pack of cards used for playing games, but today the cards are used throughout the world and not only for fortune telling – for true believers they are the key to secret knowledge and the meaning of life.



A History of the Occult Tarot is the classic work on the history of the Tarot deck and its use in occult circles. Decker and Dummett examine how the Tarot became the favoured divination tool of occultists from the late nineteenth century – a bridge to the spirit world, a map of the unconscious.



From Theosophical to Aleister Crowley to the Order of the Golden Dawn and P.D. Ouspensky, this compelling survey of the Tarot's history describes the many fascinating decks imagined over time as well as the secret histories of the mystics who devised them.