For centuries, people have turned to tarot cards as a way of accessing self-knowledge. Despite the negative connotations of superstition and fakery often associated with the idea of fortune-telling, tarot, at its best, creates a space for self-reflection and offers the chance to excavate the unconscious mind.
Often a collaboration between mystics and artists, the arcane art of the tarot card itself has evolved and transformed through the ages. The mysterious symbolism and iconic figures who grace the tarot deck have been muses for the likes of Salvador Dalí and the House of Dior.
A new book, Tarot: A Visual History, gathers together the art of the tarot deck, tracing how tarot's iconic archetypes have been interpreted through the ages, and featuring some never-before-published examples. Exploring the history of the mystical art form, Tarot also offers a fascinating account of how the practice has evolved from its unidentified origins as far back as the 1400s, to the present day, and the new generations who are turning the esoteric as a way of making sense of the world and their place within it.
Tarot: A Visual History is published by Taschen and available here