A History of the Occult Tarot

by Ronald Decker, Michael Dummett

Starting with the late 19th century, the authors―art historian and antique card curator Ronald Decker and former Oxford logic professor Michael Dummett―examine how the Tarot went from a deck used simply for card games to being the favored divination tool of occultists, a bridge to the spirit world, and even a map of the unconscious mind.                   Looking at the people and organizations who adopted the Tarot, ranging from the Theosophical Society and Aleister Crowley to the Order of the Golden Dawn and P.D. Ouspensky, this compelling scholarly look at Tarot’s occult history describes many of the fascinating decks used by occultists as well as the secret histories of magical and occult groups of the late 19th century through contemporary times. It is one of the essential histories of the subject and a key volume for the libraries of all serious students of Tarot.

Genres: Tarot, Occult, History, Spirituality, Esoterica, Nonfiction, Divination

400 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 2002

Reviews

[Serena Cecchinato · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a history of esotericism, not of tarot. Appreciate the need to contextualise, but not to the point where the book is more about the history of people and occult groups who almost as a side note happened to be interested in tarot.
It’s really hard to read and doesn’t flow.
There were some valuable insights, but it’s not the book I thought it would be.
Sorry!

[Bill · Rating 3 out of 5]

Where the preceding book, A Wicked Pack of Cards, enthralled me in spite of its enormous detail, this volume lost me. I started to lose interest during all the detailed accounts of the Golden Dawn, its beliefs and infighting, and I ended up skimming through succeeding accounts of the plethora of mystery schools, societies, and various crackpots and scammers that line the history of 20th century esotericism.

It was only during the biography of the influential Eden Gray that I momentarily got some interest back, but that seemed too little too late.

I think the authors are burdened with too much history, and a desire to be complete. Problem is, catalogues are not fun to read. It is a shame that they abandoned writing about tarotism post 1970, and did not break up or whittle down the scope of study. There is much in here of interest, but I feel the narrative ultimately spirals out of control.

[Philebus · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book picks up where A Wicked Pack of Cards leaves off, taking up the story from the end of the 19th century to tell the story of the second hundred years of the occult beliefs surrounding tarot. If anything, the tale of myth making becomes more revealing of the absurdities of occult tarot that had dominated English speakers' perception of the cards. These two books are of great value to sceptics, as understanding the past is essential to taking on the present problems.

[David Burkam · Rating 4 out of 5]

Like its predecessor, this book offers an essential and detailed (if not always reader-friendly) historical account of Tarotism from 1870 through 1970. An important reference book more so than an engrossing read.

[Lucia Graziano · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nulla da eccepire sul contenuto o sulla (impeccabile) qualità della ricerca, ma sarei curiosa di sapere chi fosse il lettore-tipo che gli autori avevano in mente scrivendo questo libro. Con ogni evidenza, pensavano a qualcuno che non ha la più pallida idea di cosa sia la cabala e che non ha mai sentito nominare Eliphas Lévi, visto che hanno sentito l'esigenza di concedersi lunghissime (e dettagliatissime, e corposissime) digressioni a presentare il loro schema di pensiero.

E ci sta, se il loro intento era quello di scrivere per la volenterosa cartomante della porta accanto che ha iniziato a fare i tarocchi leggendo i tutorial su Internet e adesso vuole scoprire la loro storia vera (a costo di veder scardinare tutte le sue certezze. Perché questo è un libro che ha sicuramente il merito di scardinare tutte le certezze mainstream sui tarocchi).

Il problema è che, se era questo l'intento degli autori, il saggio manca di quel tono divulgativo che secondo me sarebbe stato necessario per portare a casa il risultato. Ora come ora, a mio parere personale, è un libro che riesce nel mirabile risultato di essere pesante per ambo le categorie di lettori: i semplici curiosi (che secondo me si scoraggiano dopo un centinaio di pagine, vista l'oggettiva complessità del testo) e gli studiosi professionisti (che secondo me finiscono con lo sbuffare di fronte all'ennesimo capitolo in stile "cabala for dummies". Fra l'altro, la struttura non rende nemmeno così immediato saltare a piè pari le digressioni su ciò che si conosce già, perché nel testo sono costantemente inframmezzate a informazioni sui tarocchi che invece è - ovviamente - importante trattenere).

[Mark Dickson · Rating 2 out of 5]

There is a good book to be written that chronicles the history of the tarot from a non-occultist perspective, but this is not it.

Beware that while this chronicles an extraordinary amount of information and people, it is not written with a cohesive structure; it is encyclopaedic and leans heavily into completionism.

There is a large chunk of the book that chronicles one of the largest establishments that practiced occultism, the Golden Dawn, and documents how its eventual collapse causes ripples that lasted for decades. The rest of the book unfortunately descends into dense lists of “this person came out with their own book and tarot pack that is different for X reason or Y reason”.

I have come away with a list of further books I want to read (as this book is great at providing notes, sources and references), as there are some both god awful and bloody fascinating people involved in this world.

[E. Kahn · Rating 4 out of 5]

A review of tarot decks and systems for their interpretation from their first use as instruments of divination in 18th C France to 1970. Could be a 5* for the scholarship but it drags in later parts for its biographical minutia of a litany of occultists running initiation-by-post grifts.

[Dedrick · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very detailed book with a lot of notes about secret societies and quite an array of people who used Tarot in different ways. Quite informative.

[junebear · Rating 4 out of 5]

very dry and a little hard to read! fantastic other than that

[DeanJean · Rating 4 out of 5]

Informative, almost to the point of exhaustion.

[Kimberly]

I gave up. The history stuff is too dry for me.

[Jessie B. · Rating 2 out of 5]

Comprehensive if a bit dry, it has a lot of information but does not always tie it together well or demonstrate its connection to tarot.