Through the Gypsies the Tarot cards may be traced back to the religious symbolism of the ancient Egyptians. In his Remarkable work, The Gypsies, Samuel Roberts presents ample proof of their Egyptian Origin. in one place he writes - "When Gypsies originaly arrived in England is very uncertain. They are first noticed in our laws, by several  statutes against them in the reign of Henry VIII, in which they are described as 'outlandish people, calling themselves Egyptians; who do not profess any craft or trade, but go about in great numbers,***.'"

A curious legend tells us, that after the destruction of Serapeum in Alexandria, The large body of Priests in attendence, came together to preserve the secrets of the rites of Serapis. Their Desendents (Gypsies) carrying with them the most precious of the volumes  saved from the burning library- The Book of Enoch or Thoth (The Tarot)- became wanderers upon the face of the earth, remaining a people apart with an acient language and a birthright of magic and mystery.

Count de Ge'belin believed the word Tarot to be derived from two Egyptian words, Tar, meaning "road" and Ro meaning "Royal". Thus the Tarot Constitutes the Royal road to Wisdom.

The Tarot is undoubtedly a vital element in Rosicrucian symbolism. Possibly the very book of universal knowledge which the members of the order claimed to posses. The Rota Mundi is termed frequently occuring in the early manifestoes of the fraternity of the Rose Cross. The word Rota by rearrangement of letters becomes Taro, the ancient name of the mysterious cards. 

Many symbols appearing upon the Tarot cards have definate Masonic interest. The Pythagorean numerologist will also find an important relationship exist between the numbers on the cards and the accompanying imagery.

The Qabbalist will be immediately impressed by the significant sequence of the cards, and the alchemists will discover certain emblems have meaning to the divine chemistry of transmutation and regeneration.

As the Greeks placed the letters of there alphabet - with their corresponding numbers - upon various parts of the body of their humanly represented Logos, so the Tarot cards have an analogy not only in parts and members of the universe but also in the division of the human body. they are in fact the key to the magical constitution of man.

The Tarot Cards must be considered as seperate and complete hieroglyphs, each representing a disinct principle, law, power, or element in Nature; in relation to each other, as one lays an effect on the other - as vowels and consonants of a philosophic alphabet. The laws governing all phenomena are represented by the symbols upon the Tarot cards, whose numerical values are equal to the numerical equivalents of the phenomena. As every structure consists of certain elemental parts, so the Tarot cards represent the components of the structure of philosophy. Irrespective to that of which science or philosophy the student is working with.

Two of the first authorities on the subject were, Court de Ge'belin and the bizarre Grand Etteila. Shared diverse opinions on the symbolism of Tarot, and radical variance but both were disredited by Levi, whose arrangement of the Tarot trumps was rejected in turn by Arthur Edward Waite and Paul Case as being an effort to mislead students.  The followers of Levi - are regarded by the 'Reformed Tarotists' as honest but benighted individuals who wandered in darkness, for lack of Pamela Coleman Smith's new deck of Tarot cards with revisions by Mr Waite.

Most writers on the Tarot have proceeded upon the hypothesis that the 22 major trump cards represent the 22 letters of hebrew alphabet. Assuming the Qabbalah to hold the solution to the mysteries of Tarot. Seekers have often ignored other possible lines of research. Discovering the  relationship between Tarot trumps to the Letters of the Hebrew Alphabet and to the Paths of Wisdom so far as not met with any great measure of success. The major trumps of the Tarot and the 22 letters of the Hebrew alphabet cannot be synchronized without first mixing the correct place of the unnumbered, or Zero, card - Le Mat, The Fool, The Juggler.

Levi - places the Fool between the 20th and 21st Tarots of the Major Arcana, assigning to it the hebrew letter (shin). On the other hand, both Court de Ge'belin and Paul Case place the unnumbered card before the first numbered card of the Major Trumps, for if the natural order of the numbers (according to either the Pythagorean or Qabbalistic system) be adhered to, the zero cardmust naturaly precede the number 1 card. Mr. Waite, who reedited the Tarot, expresses himself thus: "I am not to be included among those who are satisfied that there is a valid correspondence between Hebrew letters and Tarot Trump symbols."

The Real explanation may be that the major Tarots no longer are in the same sequence as when they formed the leaves of Hermes' sacred book, for the Egyptians - or even their Arabian successors - could have purposely confused the cards so that their secrets might be better be preserved, and the depths and mysteries of tarot would be a mystical and magical exploration. 

One to One Private Sitting with Psychic Clairvoyant Nicola Jayne