Tarot and Divination Cards: A Visual Archive

Used for self-exploration or divination, Tarot has, for more than a 500 years, been the most popular and accessible of all esoteric tools, looming large in today's mainstream culture. Humans are drawn to playing games and feel driven to find meaning in the chaos of paradoxical signs. The vivid iconography of the 'arcanas' speak to us like no other language, moving us to the core, weaving through each cards a universal story, a metaphorical pathway of transformation. This book presents a close look at 500 years of figurative card decks created or used for fortune telling, divinations, and oracle purposes and will explore, one card at the time, their iconographic roots at the cross-roads of the medieval imaginarium, Western esoteric wisdom, folklore, and also contemporary art and pop culture.