In addition to an informative piece by Manly P. Hall, this is the first time since their original publication that the two inter-related tarot essays by A E Waite and Brodie-Innes have been reprinted together. Included here are: The Tarot Cards, The Tarot and Secret Tradition and An Analysis of the Tarot Cards.

A profusely illustrated history of the occult nature of the tarot from its origins in ancient Persia • Thoroughly examines the original historical source for each tarot card and how the cards’ divinatory meanings evolved from these symbols • Provides authentic 18th- and 19th-century spreads and divination techniques • Reveals the divinatory meanings of the cards as understood by diviners in the Middle Ages and Renaissance The origins of the tarot have been lost in the mists of time. Most scholars have guessed that its origins were in China, Egypt, or India. In Mystical Origins of the Tarot, Paul Huson has expertly tracked each symbol of the Minor Arcana to roots in ancient Persia and the Major Arcana Trump card images to the medieval world of mystery, miracle, and morality plays. A number of tarot historians have questioned the use of the tarot as a divination tool prior to the 18th century. But the author demonstrates that the symbolic meanings of the Major Arcana were evident from the time they were first employed in the mid-15th century in the popular divination practice of sortilege. He also reveals how the identities of the court cards in the Minor Arcana were derived from a blend of pagan and medieval sources that strongly influenced their interpretation in tarot divination. Mystical Origins of the Tarot provides a thorough examination of the original historical source for each card and how the cards’ divinatory meanings evolved from these symbols. Huson also provides concise and practical card-reading methods designed by the cartomancers of the 18th and 19th centuries and reveals the origins of the card interpretations promoted by the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn and A. E. Waite.

Helena P. Blavatsky was a prolific writer and scholar who spearheaded the modern Theosophic movement. Here she gives an historical examination of the history and study of alchemy, but specifically as it was related to the esotericists of the 19th century. And, as always she includes her philosophical comments on the matter.

The Chemical Marriage appeared anonymously, in Germany, in 1616. It's one of three primary documents which announced and helped define who the secret society of Rosicrucians were. Presented here is a translated, condensed and modernized version of the original, which used heavily veiled language and is difficult to understand at times. The story is told with alchemical symbolism and deals with mystical initiation, and it has been the subject of serious occult study for centuries since its first appearance.

Karl von Eckhartshausen was an 18th-century German mystic. The Cloud upon the Sanctuary is Christian mysticism veiled in hermetic code and often considered a classic among Rosicrucians and Theosophists. Eckhartshausen was briefly a member of Adam Weishaupt's Bavarian Illuminati but left for spiritual reasons. In this work, he cryptically mentions a "society of the Elect" that has existed from the very beginning of time as "the invisible celestial Church". He predicted that "it is the society whose members form a theocratic republic, which one day will be the Regent Mother of the whole World." This book would later become a strong influence on the 19th-century members of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. Arthur Edward Waite offers an informative, historical introduction.

Astra Cielo explores dream interpretation and asks the questions if dreams foretell the future and how they should be interpreted. Included is a lengthy, pre-Jungian dictionary of typical dream symbols.

This is one of Dion Fortune's first works, when she was still writing under her birth name of Violet Firth. Here she is examining spiritual and metaphysical subject matter through a psychological lens. She looks into the consciousness, dreams, hypnosis, symbolization and much more.