An Occult Guide to the Tarot
An Occult Guide to the Tarot is a book written by occultist and author Travis McHenry dealing with the history of tarot cards from their origins as playing cards to the modern usage of the cards for divination.
It was published by Rockpool Publishing in 2025.
History
In 2013, twenty years after first discovering the tarot, Travis devoted himself to serious study of the cards with the intention of learning the art of cartomancy while gaining a better understanding of the origin of tarot. This period of study and practice lasted approximately two years during which Travis read for himself or friends on a regular basis. At this time, he was also employed as a recruiter by California Psychics, the largest telephone psychic company in the world.
First self-published edition
Travis commenced work on the book in 2015. His initial goal was to create a single work which collated the meanings of individual cards from available public domain sources. The primary sources used to create the rough draft were:
- The Key to the Tarot by A.E. Waite
- The Tarot of the Bohemians by Papus
- The Symbolism of the Tarot by P.D. Ouspensky
- General Book of the Tarot by A.E. Thierens
Rather than credit himself as "author" of this first edition, Travis served as editor, linking the four author's meanings together with added commentary of his own. The book was a slim 120-page volume self-published through Lulu Press. This version of the text was not promoted for the general public, but was created more or less for the author's personal use as a convenient tarot guide.
While it contained historical images of tarot cards, it was entirely in black and white.
Rockpool Publishing edition
After the incredible success of Travis' tarot decks published through Australian esoteric publisher Rockpool Publishing, they encouraged him to revise his self-published version of An Occult Guide to the Tarot for a modern audience.
Throughout 2024 and 2025, Travis completely revised the original text, adding substantial historical details as well as kabbalistic, occult, and astrological information about each card. This new edition bears almost no resemblance to the original self-published version.
Content
An Occult Guide to the Tarot is 264 pages long and contains entries for all 78 tarot cards. Uniquely, it shows four full color images for all cards in the Major Arcana and Minor Arcana in addition to providing detailed meanings for every card. Each entry explains the historical foundations behind the card, esoteric interpretations, and the modern divinatory significance.
The four images of each card show the historical progression of the artwork and how it has changed over the course of 600 years since the tarot was created during the Italian Renaissance. It also includes examples of Trionfi artworks which the Major Arcana cards were originally based upon.
The primary decks used to showcase each card are:
- Rider-Waite-Smith Tarot
- Visconti-Sforza Tarot
- Tarot of Marseilles
- The Cary Sheet
- Sola Busca tarot
- Rosenwald Sheet
The book contains a lengthy introduction explaining the development of tarot and its connection to playing cards. While embracing occult associations of the tarot, Travis dispels many myths about the ancient origins of the deck, showing a clear historical progression from gaming cards in China which evolved as they passed through trade routes in India, Persia, and Egypt, before arriving in Spain and Italy.
There is also a section discussing the origin of the Sola Busca tarot, which Travis dates to the early 1800s, far later than most contemporary tarot historians.
Publication and release
An Occult Guide to the Tarot was published by Rockpool Publishing and distributed globally through Simon & Schuster in September 2025.
A release party was hosted at Soul Shine esoteric bookstore in Mountain Top, Pennsylvania on September 18th. The author was in attendance and gave a brief workshop on tarot reading as well as discussing the history of the book and tarot in general.