bA stunning visual history of tarotb p Used for self-exploration or divination, tarot has, for more than 500 years, been the most popular and accessible of all esoteric tools, looming large in today's mainstream culture. Why Because the cards are inexpensive and easy to carry--a perfect traveling companion and, therefore, an invitation to a journey inward and out. p Humans are drawn to playing games and feel driven to find meaning in the chaos of paradoxical signs. The vivid iconography of the Arcanas speak to us like no other language, moving us to the core, weaving through each card a universal story, a metaphorical pathway of transformation. p This 400-page book presents--for the first time--a close look at 500 years of figurative card decks created or used for fortune telling, divinations, and oracle purposes, and explores, one card at the time, their iconographic roots at the crossroads of the medieval imaginarium, Western esoteric wisdom, folklore, and also contemporary art and p