Review: Tarot Histriy, Mystery and Lore

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The Tarot: History, Mystery and Lore

This book is not a book on how to read the cards. It provides no interpretations, no spreads, no instructions on how to care for your cards. It does provide a well researched history of the Tarot, separating the historically documented from conjecture, speculation and wishful thinking. It traces the evolution of esoteric Tarot from the predecessors of the Golden Dawn, up to the present, including a section on esoteric thought and quantum physics. Major figures in Tarot thought are discussed, including Count de Gebelen, Eliphas Levi, Papus, Crowley and Waite. There is a short section describing various decks and an outstanding bibliography of Tarot books. The bibliography gives s brief review of each book listed and a sample paragraph from the book to give you a feel for the writers style. I highly recommend this book, which is now also available in paperback.

The Tarot: History, Mystery and Lore

Author: Cynthia Giles

ISBN: : 0671891014 (paperback)

Excerpt

“Sometime between 1450 and 1470, in Umbria, deep in the mountainous heart of Italy, a Franciscan friar preached a sermon on the subject utilis de ludo - the use of games. He posed the question “Who invented gaming?” then gave his own somewhat oblique reply: “I answer that there are three kinds of games of chance, namely the dice, the cards and the trumps.”

This sermon , which was collected with a number of others in a manuscript thought to date around 1500, is the first detailed reference we have to the Tarot trumps.

(Tarot: History Mystery and Lore, page 7)

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