PREFACE TO THE 2nd EDITION

This new edition has been refined as thoroughly as possible. We have published a new chapter on the Philosophical Tarot, which will serve as a prelude to a volume dedicated to this important subject. We have sought out and republished the works of Court de Gébelin on the Tarot, and we have noted the relationships between the Tarot and the admirable Archéomètre a system of synthesis between music, colors, and the Tarot created by Saint-Yves d'Alveydre of Saint-Yves.

Numerous unpublished engravings and new adaptations constitute the special character of this reissue.

We believe we must remind the reader, in closing, that any study of the Tarot, as well as any publication of its figures, must cover the 78 cards of this book. Systems that only study the 22 Major Arcana without applying the same principles to the Minor Arcana are pure fantasy. The creators of this admirable instrument relied on mathematical adaptations to guard against the fanciful and the imaginative.

Add together all the numbers from 1 to 12, and you will find the number 78, as Etteila understood so well. Number is the rule that will always avoid errors and deviations in interpretation.

June 13, 1911