The Secret of the Tarot, How the Story of the Cathars was Concealed in the Tarot of Marseilles

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.

This is the only book of its kind -- good luck finding any other book which explains the origins of the Tarot as the story of the Anti-Cathar Crusade -- and I enjoyed it immensely primarily for that reason, and also because the author also communicates very well.I do have several requests of the author, however, should he ever check this comment board for his book here on Amazon:1) Have the main title on the top highlighted with one of the light colors he's already using in his cover's color palette -- personally I would recommend trying the light blue. Because as it is, you can't even see it, as the black of the font completely disappears into the dark burgundy-brown, and thereby needs something to visually separate it, which only a light color outlining the text will do.2) Publish a Spanish version of this book. I just posted a link to this book to the Facebook page for the famous film director and Tarotist Alejandro Jodorowsky -- whose ideas many Tarotists are interested in -- and one of the first questions I got from one of the followers of his page is "Is it in Spanish?" Because you have to realize that the Spanish-speaking world is very insular in many ways and many of its people only speak Spanish, not English -- so I imagine you're missing a good chunk of audience there. The same could also be said of French and Italian readers. If you play your cards (pun somewhat intended) right, this book could go international.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Floored me. Swiryn gives so many historical facts, I'm settling with that it happened. Loved it.

The motivations from which this book takes its orign and whuch are discussed in it, are really faibles and inconsistent....so I can say it's been nice to discover it as curiosity on the argument around another vision on tarot's deck's card...but any historical proofed base is reported here....

Totally the product of the author's imagination, absolutely no historical basis whatsoever. All very Dan Brown. The only book relating to the Marseille tarot that was so bad I chucked it in the bin.

I fund the reading interesting because I like history but the conclusion that the tarot is hiding the Cathars history very inconclusive. There is no historical evidence (that's why it's concealed, right) and the demonstration to link the cards to some events or characters is falling flat. Even the way it's described is not convincing, far from it.

Interesting