The Secret of the Tarot: How the Story of the Cathars Was Concealed in the Tarot of Marseilles Paperback – November 24, 2010

It is a bit academic and the author is taking license in his interpretation of the cards but he does defend his position very well with the historical information. The book is is very insightful. I found it a great read.

I give this book four stars because it is a really enjoyable and worthwhile read for any student of medieval history and/or the Tarot. And I am taking the trouble to write this review because yet again I am amazed and delighted at the remarkable power of the Tarot to weather the onslaught of fantastic rubbish that is written about it - from De Gebelin, Eliphas Levi, Papus, Waite, Crowley and the rest, to the current deluge of fantasy ... a collection of thousands of books of speculation and daydreams .. to which we can add this one.There is no verifiable evidence that the Tarot has any connection to the Cathars, which is not surprising since the Catholic Inquisition put so much effort into destroying all trace of them. Although the author did his homework on the period he does not produce a single tangible piece of evidence to support his theory - can one even call such a work scholarship? This book is made up entirely of inference, guesswork, and speculation. It's fascinating and enjoyable read, I must admit. But there is no evidence presented here that the Tarot is connected to the Cathars any more than there is evidence elsewhere, in books less well researched, that the Tarot is connected to the ancient Egyptians, vampires, Atlantis, or aliens from Alpha Centauri.Having said that, the author's speculations ARE coherent, and as I mentioned before, it is a really good read, and a decent history of the Cathars of southern France in the Middle Ages.But then, what if the author's inferred speculations really are correct? No doubt the elusive and oceanic Tarot will never say for sure. So what's the harm in playing along? Could it be that the dog at the heels of The Fool is really a Dominican hounding him?If you choose to, you will certainly find some fascinating new perspectives on the cards of the Major Arcana. So I actually recommend this book highly to any serious student of the cards, if only as a curiosity.

I bought this to see if it matched up to my grandfathers stories of my grandmothers ancestors flight from persecution. I gives all that and more with detailed input from the cards. My grandfather stated, "Where best to hide your religion but in a game of cards and children's stories, and within the enemies church!" Thus, I became a collector of Tarot, myths and children's stories and walking and seeing the symbolic details within the christian churches trims, floor patterns, and windows. I love this books confirmation.

Learned so much from reading this book. Fascinating how christians (pope) turns against christians that criticized Papal corruption. Disgusting behaviour by Catholic Vatican monarchy.

What I love about the tarot is that it is a metaphor for everything. In this case Mr Swiryn makes a compelling (if unprovable) argument that the tarot of Marseilles acts as a secret history of the cathars and the cathar crusades.

As it was expected! I will buy more items from this company.

I expected greater insight, but found none. It was an interesting theory but the book does little to support it.

When A.E. Waite wrote in his Pictorial Key to the Tarot that the Cathars hadn't been sufficiently explored as the originators of the Tarot, I'm not sure, in context, he was being serious. If there was irony, the author of this book missed it. It is a highly tendentious account of the Cathars versus the Rest of Christianity and offers no evidence they had anything to do with the Tarot. Anything that can support an interpretation in favor of the Cathars is seized upon, while anything to the contrary is a "blind," because once can never be too careful, you know. No doubt the Tarot de Marseille has much curious imagery, and maybe some of it relates in some fashion to the Cathars. In the end, all this book offers is some entertaining speculation without a scintilla of evidence.