The Tarot of the Bohemians: The Most Ancient Book in the World- For the Exclusive Use of Initiates

Written by a physician, Gerard Encausse, under his occultist name Papus, this book is one of the three pillars of occult Tarotism. Antoine Court de Gebelin was the initiator of themovement, and Arthur E. Waite introduced fresh mystical interpretations and some healthy skepticism, but it was Papus who gave us the impressive compilation which might also be called the theological apparatus of Tarotism.

Further, as founder and leader of the spiritual-masonic Order of the Martinists, Papus also provided the Tarot with the large audience of initiates to which this book is chiefly addressed. The Order spread widely; it had lodges in Europe, North and South America, Africa and Asia. During World War II its French members successfully resisted the Gestapo's attempts to exterminate them. They even founded a new lodge, to which the oracular Tarot gave the name of Bethel.