Christine Payne-Towler has made a life long study of the imagery, history and practice of the Tarot, Astrology, Kabbahah, Alchemy, Hermeticism, and other traditional branches of the Western Mystery Schools. Starting in 1970 with the purchase of used Tarot deck in a Salem, Oregon bookshop, her interest in occult imagery has burgeoned into a book and deck collection that spans centuries and continents. Contemplation upon these images over time has led to an understanding of the older Classical and European traditions of Tarot which have been nearly eclisped by the modern trend for innovation and eclecticism. In the early 1990's Christine was initiated into a Templar lodge with Martinist affliations, allowing her to further investigate the traditions associated with the imagery and esoteric content of Tarot. Happily, the Secret Society movement is still alive and well, and continues to provide a framework within wich striving individuals can align themselves with the great work of human evolution going on in all places at all times. Christine was made a bishop of the Apostolic Succession in 1995, completing the cycle that was begun a quarter of a century earlier.

In this thought provoking work Christine Payne-Towler weaves together strands of ancient knowledge and evolving magical traditions to illuminate the blind spots that inhibit our understanding of the origins of the Tarot. Drawing on her many years as a Tarot scholar and practitioner, she combines ancient astrology, Hebrew Kaballah, Alexandrian Hermeticism, Renaissance Magism, and a history of the European Secret Societies to present the esoteric structure underlying Tarot.

Profusely illustrated, with many images from the first two centuries of Tarot, this work allows one to see the Tarot as its originators saw it.