INTRODUCTION BY COLIN WILSON -- Author of The Outsider, The Occult, The Mysteries An analysis of the mysterious philosophy in"the ancient cards that became modern playing cards. Citing Dante, C.G. Jung, and early alchemists and Gnostics, Campbell and Roberts reveal a "path" that has psychological and spiritual meaning for everyone today. An impressive piece of work. Roberts is clearly well versed in the occult tradition and in Jungian psychology. The most serious study of the Tarot I have seen." -- Theodore Roszak, Author of Where the Wasteland Ends, The Making of A Counter Culture, and Person/Planet. According to legends, if the twenty-two cards of the Tarot Major Arcana are placed in the correct arrangement so that they can be 'read' meaningfully not only horizontally but also vertically, then their relation to one another will be apparent, and their deepest esoteric meanings will be revealed." -- Richard Roberts Highly significant is the fact that our earliest evidence for the existence in Europe of Tarot packs date from Dante's time... A single philosophical strain, it seemed to me, could be recognized as supporting, on one hand, the mighty edifice of Dante Alighieri's Divine Comedy and, on the other hand, the enigmatic imagery of a contemporary pack of cards." -- Joseph Campbell It is my thesis that Waite's Tarot is specifically alchemical in theme, restoring what may have been the original orientation of Tarot... In the twenty-two cards comprising the Major Arcana we have a genuine Gnostic document of the soul's initiation into higher consciousness. As such the Major Arcana may be interpreted as a Western Book of the Dead." -- Richard Roberts