The Divinatory Tarot: The Key to Reading the Cards and the Fates

This represents the culmination of Papus’ work on the Tarot. This book represents a chance to fully understand this master of the occult’s mature thinking on the philosophy of the Tarot and his system of reading the cards.

The book is devoted to a practical, detailed discussion of divination by Tarot, including reproduction of a lengthy compendium of divinatory meanings which depend from the eighteenth century French Tarotist Etteilla and his followers.

Additionally, a significant portion of the book is devoted to drawings for an entire Tarot deck by Gabriel Goulinat. They include Egyptianized figures and numerous correspondences with other metaphysical systems, e.g., alphabets and astrology, and carry key words or phrases to facilitate divination and discussion of esoteric philosophy.

Papus was a major influence on Aleister Crowley, A.E. Waite, McGregor Mathers and through them the entire Golden Dawn tradition. His Tarot of the Bohemians has never gone out of print and is translated into a plethora of languages.