The Illustrated Key to the Tarot: The Veil of Divination
The Illustrated Key to the Tarot: The Veil of Divination
First published in 1913, this landmark volume transformed Tarot from a dismissed fortune-teller's trick into a respected system of symbolic wisdom. De Laurence, a pivotal figure in early 20th-century American occultism, systematically unpacks every card in the Rider-Waite deck, the very deck most readers encounter today. He distinguishes between the Major Arcana's profound spiritual lessons and the Minor Arcana's psychological subtleties, offering both upright and reversed interpretations that remain foundational to modern practice. The book argues passionately that Tarot is not prophecy but self-knowledge: a mirror reflecting the reader's own consciousness back through ancient imagery. For anyone who has ever pulled a card and wondered what it truly means, this text provides the keys to unlock centuries of accumulated esoteric knowledge. It remains essential reading not because it contains all answers, but because it teaches a method of questioning.
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“pictures are like doors which open into unexpected chambers,””
— L. W. De Laurence
“A winged angel, with the sign of the sun upon his forehead and on his breast the square and triangle of the septenary. I speak of him in the masculine sense, but the figure is neither male nor female. It is held to be pouring the essences of life from chalice to chalice. It has one foot upon the earth and one upon waters, thus illustrating the nature of the essences. A direct path goes up to certain heights on the verge of the horizon, and above there is a great light, through which a crown is seen vaguely. Hereof is some part of the Secret of Eternal Life, as it is possible to man in his incarnation. All the conventional emblems are renounced herein.””
— L. W. De Laurence
“the strength which is raised to such a degree that a man dares lose himself shall shew him how God is found,””
— L. W. De Laurence
“THE pathology of the poet says that "the undevout astronomer is mad";””
— L. W. De Laurence
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Laurence, L. W. De. The Illustrated Key to the Tarot: The Veil of Divination. Lex, lex-books.com/book/the-illustrated-key-to-the-tarot-the-veil-of-divination-b34aff11-6e30-4fb0-8f9a-b1368714a245.Laurence, L. W. D. (n.d.). The Illustrated Key to the Tarot: The Veil of Divination. Lex. https://lex-books.com/book/the-illustrated-key-to-the-tarot-the-veil-of-divination-b34aff11-6e30-4fb0-8f9a-b1368714a245Laurence, L. W. De. The Illustrated Key to the Tarot: The Veil of Divination. Lex. https://lex-books.com/book/the-illustrated-key-to-the-tarot-the-veil-of-divination-b34aff11-6e30-4fb0-8f9a-b1368714a245.
