Tarot University Archives

Payne-Towler Tarot Library at Tarot.com

   

Welcome to the Christine Payne-Towler Tarot Library. Included here are excerpts from her book, The Underground Streams: Esoteric Tarot Revealed. Upon viewing the essays, you'll have the option of opening up a print-friendly PDF version in Acrobat Reader (free from Adobe).

                                                                                                                           

Payne-Towler Library Contents

Tarot History
History of Tarot	An approach to tarot history.
Esoteric Origins of Tarot	Dr. Lewis Keizer's essay on the history of Tarot.
Criteria for Esoteric Tarot	A discussion of what attributes constitute the esoteric tarot.
Tarot Influences
The Gnostic Tarot	Gnostic significance of the tarot as a Judeo-Christian tradition.
Kabbalah	Influence of the Kabbalah on Tarot.
Confluence	The confluence of the three great systems.
Tarot Theory
Continental Tarots	"What Happened" to the Major Arcana in the late 1600's.
Spanish School	A look at the influential Spanish tarot tradition.
The English School	Short history of the Hermetic Order of The Golden Dawn.
Major Arcana	General discussion of the Tarot and its traditions.
Minor Arcana	In-depth discussion of the Minor Arcana and its origins.
The Cards
Major Arcana	A card-by-card look at the Major Arcana.
Coins	A card-by-card look at the suit of Coins.
Cups	A card-by-card look at the suit of Cups.
Swords	A card-by-card look at the suit of Swords.
Wands	A card-by-card look at the suit of Wands.

About the Author

Christine Payne-Towler

............Tarot.com's Instant Reading Text ............. by Christine Payne-Towler

How Do Tarot.com Computerized Tarot Readings Really Work?
Read Christine's explanatory article here

How Do Tarot.com Computerized Tarot Readings Really Work?
Read Christine's explanatory article here

Study Resources for Esoteric Tarot

These are the current recommended resources for further study of esoteric tarot:

Major Arcana and their Astrological Influences

by Christine Payne-Towler

Tarot's Major Arcana cards are linked to an astrological influence...a planet, zodiac sign or element. Because both Tarot and Astrology have evolved over the centuries, so have these correlations. Below are lists of common correspondences and are grouped in "schools of thought" with a link for more in-depth information following the group.  Note that this table does not list the arcana number as these vary between decks, but a common card name.  This name signifies a card in every esoteric deck (though not every deck uses the same name).

The Four Astrological Elements of Tarot

by Christine Payne-Towler

What is Esoteric?

 by Christine Payne-Towler
This exercise proposes Faivre's definitions of "Western Esotericism" and "esoteric spirituality", as showcased in his contributions to Modern Esoteric Spirituality (Crossroads Press, 1995) and Access to Western Esotericism (SUNY Press, 1994.) If we are interested in determining when Tarot became esoteric, it seems only logical for us to definie the idea  -- what IS esoteric?

History of Tarot

by Christine Payne-Towler

View PDF

This work began in 1970 when I purchased a used deck of the 20th Century Tarot in a book shop in Salem, Oregon. I was a freshman in college. With parents who were both therapists, I instantly recognized that Tarot was a tool with great potential for helping people grapple with the changing circumstances in their lives.

The Esoteric Origins of Tarot: More than a Wicked Pack of Cards

by Lewis Keizer, Ph.D.

Foreword

Modern Tarot is not a card game. It is a form of divination. As such, modern Tarot does not originate in medieval Italian card games, although they eventually became mediums through which cartomantic divination was done. Modern Tarot has a much more ancient derivation in the phenomenology of religions, iconography, and in Western esoteric tradition.

The Criteria for Esoteric Tarot

by Christine Payne-Towler

View PDF

The term "esoteric Tarot" defines our approach to the unfolding history of Tarot. Throughout this program, it is the key concept and watchword. So the reader can follow the discussion, I have listed the following characteristics that must be met to qualify a deck as an esoteric Tarot:

Gnosticism and Tarot

Gnosticism and Tarot
by Christine Payne-Towler
View PDF

The subject of Gnosticism is entirely too large to be dealt with in an essay such as this one. This spiritual path has a history longer than that of Christianity and covers a territory that includes most of western and eastern Europe, the Middle East, North Africa, India, China and the Russian territories.

The Kabbalah/Cabbalah

The  Kabbalah/Cabbalah

by Christine Payne-Towler

View PDF

For the first three decades during which I was assimilating information about Tarot, I avoided the history of the Kabalah. Not only had it seemed too abstruse and foreign, but the teachings had apparently fragmented due to the many forced migrations imposed upon the Jews throughout their history. I did not relish the task of sorting out all the nuances, and I was intimidated by the volume of literature associated with this ancient study.

Confluence of the Three Great Systems

Continental Tarots

Tarot; Spanish School

The English Order of Tarot

The Major Arcana

The Minor Arcana

major arcana cards

Suit of Swords

Suit of Wands

Suit of Cups

Suit of Coins