The tarot: history, symbolism, and divination

The Tarot is one of the few books that cuts through conventional
misperceptions to explore the Tarot deck as it really developed in the
Middle Ages and Renaissance Europe-not, as some would suggest, in the
far reaches of Egyp-tian antiquity. Mining the Hermetic, alchemical, and
Neoplatonic influences behind the evolution of the deck, author Robert
M. Place provides a historically grounded and compelling portrait of the
Tarot's true origins, without overlooking the deck's mystical
dimensions.
Indeed, Place uncommonly weds reliable historiography
with a practical understanding of the intuitive help and divinatory
guidance that the cards can bring. He presents techniques that offer new
and valuable ways to read and interpret the cards. Based on a simple
three-card spread, Place's approach can be used by either the seasoned
practitioner or the new inquirer.