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Origins of the Tarot: Cosmic Evolution and the Principles of Immortality
Conventional wisdom traces Tarot cards to medieval Italy, but their roots go back much further in time and draw on a surprisingly rich variety of cultures and spiritual traditions. Combining pioneering scholarship with practical spiritual instruction, Origins of the Tarot is the first book to unveil the full range of the ancient streams of wisdom from which the Tarot emerged.The timeless principles of conscious realization and cosmological unfoldment underlying the Tarot have never been explored in a comparably extensive and detailed herein the teachings of a tremendous range of traditions, including Kabbalah, Western esotericism and alchemy, Buddhism, Taoism, yogic disciplines, Sufism, mystical Christianity, Gnosticism, and Neoplatonism, are masterfully incorporated and synthesized.Author Dai Léon explores a confluence of philosophical schools from East and West as they relate to the Tarot, giving each its due in the exposition of a universal procession of evolution and the soul’s quest for enlightenment. In the process, the Tarot is seen as a unique exemplification of perennial teachings on the soul and its liberation, as well as a still-unfolding window into concealed currents of human history. The book’s profound learning and unprecedented range of references are sure to attract close study among students both of the world’s most enduring esoteric tradition and of esotericism itself.
560 pages, Paperback
First published September 23, 2008
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
February 15, 2023
2023 Update: I just made some minor edits to this review, and there’s some more interactions on this review. Just want to say that I would not recommend this to folks just starting to learn about the history of tarot. Idk if I would recommend this to ppl who do know something about the history of tarot.
An ok read about the esoteric and spiritual origins of Tarot that will prove to be incredibly dense at one point or another. For me, that point came during the chapters on Neoplatonism and Gnosticism as well as the math chapter, which he saved for the last chapter, thank god. Dai Leon, the author, will assume the reader will know enough to follow along and will give no quarter. This is fine if you have prior knowledge of a wisdom tradition but if you don't, you may find yourself reading fat paragraphs with 5 italicized terms you have no way of making an educated guess about based on context clues.
So that's nice.
This is an academic writing style I.E. it's not meant to be readable. He capitalizes things like the Great Tradition (and of course the Google Search results do not help) and uses words like exoteric when he could probably another word that would be less alien and strange to the reader. The reader can make a guess about what exoteric would mean ("outside something") but it's not really a common word, is it? Anyways, I suppose his reader is someone who has already prior knowledge of some if not all the wisdom traditions he references.
However, I loved Origins of the Tarot because of Dai Leon's impeccable research. Chapter one alone should be photocopied into every Tarot coursebook. And in fact, the main sell of this book is how Dai Leon talks about what was going during the time period that the Tarot was created. I loved the chapters on knights templar and Sufism - absolutely fascinating historical look!
But ok back to the origins of the Tarot. Well, what is it? Dai Leon's thesis is that the Major Arcana "conceptually originated in Sufi circles trained in Greek studies" and that the person who created Tarot was an "unknown Eastern Christian-influenced artist."
Tarot was used in a "merchant-class society focused on understanding and influencing the forces of fate and fortune. That multicultural class included Italian cosmopolitans, Sufi sages, and Byzantine literati. We will see that Venice, Alexandria, and Constantinople were primary urban centers involved with creating the original Tarot card, concepts, and symbols."
Dai Leon is clear that there are no Occult associations with Tarot before the 18th century. However, the Major Arcana cards were associated with archetypal court personas with these cards composed into readings by educated women in the context of psycho-social play.
Further, Dai Leon argues that the "Tarot is composed of eleven pairs of archetypes, ten of which are hierarchical, one of which is the Questor amidst the stages. The first six stages of the Quest serve as Initiation to Awakening, the following stages of the Quest serve as Enlightenment, even while the Questor is undergoing initiation! The Trionfi, thereby, form a Great Circle of Consciousness." I think this is based on Ibn Arabi's essential teachings about 21 Universal and Immortal Exemplars, which I have to do additional metaphysics research on because I'm lost.
I also think one of the worst ideas for the book layout was to show two cards at the beginning of the chapter and then additional commentary for subsequent cards within the chapter located at the top page corners. I'm not sure if I'm convinced about all the arguments Dai Leon makes, and keep in mind that he's not only a lifelong student of East-West philosophy so he's into comparative esoteric and spiritual studies and finding the underlying connections between the wisdom traditions of the east and west, but he's also a mathematical savant. The math chapter is where Dai Leon combines both of his lifelong interests, he draws parallels between universal, scientific principles and the Immortal principles of the Kosmos.
There is a cheat sheet at the end of the book where he lists the Immortal Name, Sufi Station, Cosmic Stage, Social Stage and Questor Stage to each card in the Major Arcana. This is only really meaningful if you got everything he put down previously. There are also "keys" to understanding the card, some "strengths", and "dangers." This cheat sheet was probably put to summarize his thesis points but also to provide some fun for tarot readers who read to find out the future, and it is another interesting way to think of these cards in readings.
An ok read about the esoteric and spiritual origins of Tarot that will prove to be incredibly dense at one point or another. For me, that point came during the chapters on Neoplatonism and Gnosticism as well as the math chapter, which he saved for the last chapter, thank god. Dai Leon, the author, will assume the reader will know enough to follow along and will give no quarter. This is fine if you have prior knowledge of a wisdom tradition but if you don't, you may find yourself reading fat paragraphs with 5 italicized terms you have no way of making an educated guess about based on context clues.
So that's nice.
This is an academic writing style I.E. it's not meant to be readable. He capitalizes things like the Great Tradition (and of course the Google Search results do not help) and uses words like exoteric when he could probably another word that would be less alien and strange to the reader. The reader can make a guess about what exoteric would mean ("outside something") but it's not really a common word, is it? Anyways, I suppose his reader is someone who has already prior knowledge of some if not all the wisdom traditions he references.
However, I loved Origins of the Tarot because of Dai Leon's impeccable research. Chapter one alone should be photocopied into every Tarot coursebook. And in fact, the main sell of this book is how Dai Leon talks about what was going during the time period that the Tarot was created. I loved the chapters on knights templar and Sufism - absolutely fascinating historical look!
But ok back to the origins of the Tarot. Well, what is it? Dai Leon's thesis is that the Major Arcana "conceptually originated in Sufi circles trained in Greek studies" and that the person who created Tarot was an "unknown Eastern Christian-influenced artist."
Tarot was used in a "merchant-class society focused on understanding and influencing the forces of fate and fortune. That multicultural class included Italian cosmopolitans, Sufi sages, and Byzantine literati. We will see that Venice, Alexandria, and Constantinople were primary urban centers involved with creating the original Tarot card, concepts, and symbols."
Dai Leon is clear that there are no Occult associations with Tarot before the 18th century. However, the Major Arcana cards were associated with archetypal court personas with these cards composed into readings by educated women in the context of psycho-social play.
Further, Dai Leon argues that the "Tarot is composed of eleven pairs of archetypes, ten of which are hierarchical, one of which is the Questor amidst the stages. The first six stages of the Quest serve as Initiation to Awakening, the following stages of the Quest serve as Enlightenment, even while the Questor is undergoing initiation! The Trionfi, thereby, form a Great Circle of Consciousness." I think this is based on Ibn Arabi's essential teachings about 21 Universal and Immortal Exemplars, which I have to do additional metaphysics research on because I'm lost.
I also think one of the worst ideas for the book layout was to show two cards at the beginning of the chapter and then additional commentary for subsequent cards within the chapter located at the top page corners. I'm not sure if I'm convinced about all the arguments Dai Leon makes, and keep in mind that he's not only a lifelong student of East-West philosophy so he's into comparative esoteric and spiritual studies and finding the underlying connections between the wisdom traditions of the east and west, but he's also a mathematical savant. The math chapter is where Dai Leon combines both of his lifelong interests, he draws parallels between universal, scientific principles and the Immortal principles of the Kosmos.
There is a cheat sheet at the end of the book where he lists the Immortal Name, Sufi Station, Cosmic Stage, Social Stage and Questor Stage to each card in the Major Arcana. This is only really meaningful if you got everything he put down previously. There are also "keys" to understanding the card, some "strengths", and "dangers." This cheat sheet was probably put to summarize his thesis points but also to provide some fun for tarot readers who read to find out the future, and it is another interesting way to think of these cards in readings.
June 9, 2011
Not for the offhand tarot reader, that's for sure. This is a serious book on what is called perennial wisdom or primordial tradition. It is scholarly and the best book to read if you wish to understand the authentic philosophical meanings of the tarot cards.
October 27, 2012
This book is very interesting, and I have learned a lot about Tarot cards which I had never known, thought of knowing, or considered in the past. My only criticism is that the book becomes at times difficult to follow as the analysis goes on for pages upon pages. I think it is a very serious work, but it is not easy to read, and I have an education in philosophy.
June 9, 2025
Personally, I think that it’s a very interesting book to read. However the content is quite heavy and the terminology is not always explained (or barely explained), meaning that you do need to understand a lot of the basics to really get the full idea—the author does acknowledge that it becomes quite dense in certain areas, like in chapter 4. We do get pictures of the tarot cards with their meaning. We also get the historical context on the origins of the concept of tarot. Sometimes the topic is a bit all over the place and you can get lost on the subject that’s being brought up—it seems to go off topic from time to time (that may also just be my own impression).
I would say this book is more for people doing research on the subject rather than people wanting to do a casual read on it. If you want to read about the origins of tarot without it being too complicated, then this book is not really meant for you.
I would say this book is more for people doing research on the subject rather than people wanting to do a casual read on it. If you want to read about the origins of tarot without it being too complicated, then this book is not really meant for you.
July 12, 2012
This is not for people with casual interests in esoterica or tarot.
But getting beyond that, if you ARE very interested in these topics, this book is for you. It is jam packed full of historical anecdotes and information. It fills in all the usual holes people have regarding the tarot, mostly because it is the first book to come along to address many of these issues/questions. Most books on tarot will merely conjecture or throw out a plethora of common theories. This book actually takes a stance and supports it with research.
But getting beyond that, if you ARE very interested in these topics, this book is for you. It is jam packed full of historical anecdotes and information. It fills in all the usual holes people have regarding the tarot, mostly because it is the first book to come along to address many of these issues/questions. Most books on tarot will merely conjecture or throw out a plethora of common theories. This book actually takes a stance and supports it with research.
December 24, 2020
Omg this took me. So long. To finish. Absolutely mind-melting and frankly borderline incomprehensible; I'm regarding it as a work of mathematical, tarot and philosophical poetry like The White Goddess is a work of mythological poetry (and I truly, honestly don't mean that in a disparaging way). It could have been (should have been?) at least two-thirds shorter and it still would have been a really interesting take on tarot and a nice philosophical book.
Not recommended for folks looking for historically and scholastically supported (with evidence) Tarot history and exploration.
Not recommended for folks looking for historically and scholastically supported (with evidence) Tarot history and exploration.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews