A new look at how the tarot developed in Europe as a divinatory tool 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, the antiquities of Ancient Egypt. Mining the Hermetic, alchemical, and Neoplatonic influences behind the evolution of the deck, author, Robert M. Place, provides an 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 3-card spread, Place's approach can be used by either the seasoned practitioner or the beginner.