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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.

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.

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Did you know...

Edward Kelly

• ... that Edward Kelley was arrested after failing to perform alchemy?
• ... that Pluto was last closer to the sun than Neptune in 1999?
• ... that the demon Obizuth was depicted on Byzantine amulets?
• ... that the gemstone Hyacinth features prominently in the Bible?
• ... that the demon Aim sets cities on fire?
• ... that Horus had more than six different forms?
• ... that the angel Aladiah protects the guilty?
• ... that Qebehsenuef was a protector of Osiris?

This month in history Jan Hus being burnt at the stake 1 July - The Echols Sigil Oracle is launched on Kickstarter. (2024) 2 July - French seer and mystic Nostradamus dies. (1566) 3 July - Folk saint and shaman Don Pedro Jaramillo dies in Brooks County, Texas. (1907) 6 July - Jan Hus is burned at the stake for heresy. (1415) 7 July - Zé Pilintra Day, celebrating the Brazilian folk saint in Rio de Janeiro. 10 July - King Charles I appoints Thomas Rudd "Chief Engineer of All castles, forts, and fortifications within Wales." (1627) 10 July - Czech occultist and author Franz Bardon dies from pancreatitis while in police custody. (1958) 11 July - Feast day of Archangel Uriel in the Coptic Church. 12 July - Johann Georg Faust receives his baccalaureate degree. (1484) 12 July - French author Jean-Baptiste Pitois, who coined the terms Major Arcana and Minor Arcana, dies. (1877) 13 July - John Dee, court astrologer to Queen Elizabeth I, is born. (1527) 13 July - French author and occultist Papus is born. (1865) 14 July - New Horizons spacecraft performs a flyby of Pluto. (2015) 16 July - The French army, led by Joan of Arc enters the city of Reims. (1429) 17 July - The last Tsar of Russia, Nicholas II, dies. (1918) 19 July - Date of the heliacal rise of Sirius used to begin the Egyptian calendar. (3000 BC) 19 July - Accused witch Rebecca Nurse is executed by hanging. (1692) 19 July - Australian cannibal murderer Alexander Pearce is executed by hanging. (1824) 19 July - Occultist Aleister Crowley begins his 40 day seclusion on Esopus Island. (1918) 19 July - Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard is commissioned in the U.S. Naval Reserve. (1941) 19 July - Principal filming wraps on occult horror film The Craft. (1995) 22 July - Elizabethan astrologer Simon Forman marries 17-year-old Jane Baker. (1599) 24 July - Occultist and artist Marjorie Cameron, formerly married to Jack Parsons, dies in Los Angeles. (1995) 26 July - Accused witch Bridget Bishop marries her second husband, Thomas Oliver. (1666) 26 July - Argentine folk saint Eva Perón dies. (1952) 28 July - Accused witch Lilias Adie is arrested for witchcraft. (1704) 31 July - A second fire is started by arson at Boleskine House in Scotland. (2019)

Featured image Amethyst is a purple variety of quartz and owes its violet color to irradiation, impurities of iron and in some cases other transition metals, and the presence of other trace elements, which result in complex crystal lattice substitutions. The meaning of amethyst varies from time to time and culture, which is why amethyst has different meanings in Feng Shui and focuses on increasing wealth. In ancient China, it was also used as a powerful tool to remove negative energies and drive away the hazards of daily life. Tibetans consider amethyst sacred to the Buddha and make prayer beads from it. Photo credit: Gonzalo Devia (More Images)

Featured Quote "Who does not understand should either learn, or be silent." - John Dee

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