Summary
Summary of The Illustrated Key to the Tarot: The Veil of Divination
The Illustrated Key to the Tarot: The Veil of Divination at a glance
Summary: 8 min to read
- Reading time
- About 2 h 15 min1 h 45 min fast, 2 h 40 min slow
- Length
- 32,100 words
- Library level
- Challenging long sentences, a rich vocabulary
Reading time at 238 words a minute (fast 300, slow 200). How long the classics take to read · Updated
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Key ideas
Key idea 1
Symbols come before predictions
De Laurence begins by separating the Tarot from its familiar use in fortune-telling. For him, its true language is symbolism. Each emblem works like a letter in an alphabet: understand its inner meaning, and combinations of pictures can express something beyond the reach of ordinary speech.
He includes methods of divination, but treats them as part of the cards' history rather than their purpose. The first question is not what a card predicts, but what its picture says.
Key idea 2
The deck has two distinct bodies
Before interpreting the pictures, De Laurence gives each card a place.
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Key idea 3
History begins where evidence begins
De Laurence turns from the deck's structure to the records behind it.
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Key idea 4
The Egyptian origin remains a legend
Court de Gebelin saw the cards and declared them the remains of an Egyptian book.
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Key idea 5
Universal pictures carry the soul's doctrine
Rejecting the Egyptian story does not mean rejecting the cards' spiritual meaning.
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Key idea 6
Hidden meanings meet their outward forms
The opening Trumps place visible power beside concealed meaning.
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Key idea 7
The soul passes through contrasting states
The later Trumps deepen the movement between outward appearance and inner meaning.
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Key idea 8
Divination uses pictures to prompt insight
For the Lesser Arcana, De Laurence offers a more practical approach.
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Key idea 9
Criticism and reverence work together
De Laurence's approach joins two voices.
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Go deeper: the whole of The Illustrated Key to the Tarot: The Veil of Divination
About 2 h 20 min to read.Start freeWho it’s for
You will enjoy this book if you love symbols, the lore of the Tarot, or a witty critic taking apart old legends with evidence.
What this book is
What if a deck of fortune-tellers' cards hides a ladder of pictures that tells the story of the soul? That is the claim of The Illustrated Key to the Tarot, a treatise by L. W. De Laurence on the seventy-eight cards of the Tarot.
The author sets himself two tasks. He wants to clear away the invented history around the cards, and he wants to explain the twenty-two Trumps Major in the language of symbol. You meet a sharp, sarcastic guide, and you get the meanings of each card and simple methods for a reading.
In this summary
- 1Symbols come before predictionsFree
- 2The deck has two distinct bodies
- 3History begins where evidence begins
- 4The Egyptian origin remains a legend
- 5Universal pictures carry the soul's doctrine
- 6Hidden meanings meet their outward forms
- 7The soul passes through contrasting states
- 8Divination uses pictures to prompt insight
- 9Criticism and reverence work together
Read the Tarot as a language of symbols
The author opens with a plain statement. He has spent years writing about the higher mystic schools, and he knows some readers will find it odd that he now turns to what looks like fortune-telling. His answer is that the cards belong to another realm. In his words, the true Tarot is symbolism, and it speaks no other language.
He compares the cards to an alphabet. Once you know the inner meaning of each emblem, the emblems combine in endless ways, and every combination says something. Symbol hides the deepest things better than speech can, just as poetry is the finest way to speak of fine things.
The book has three parts. The first deals with history. The second explains the Trumps Major, with a corrected set of colored cards drawn by Pamela Colman Smith. The third gathers the meanings that card readers give, and the methods for a reading.
He does not ask you to believe in fortune-telling. He calls the divinatory section a fact in the history of the Tarot, not its purpose. So ask what a picture says before you ask what it predicts.
Read the Tarot as a language of symbols before you use it as an oracle.
That’s 1 of 9 key points.
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Check yourself
What does De Laurence regard as the Tarot's true language?
Right. “In his words, the true Tarot is symbolism, and it speaks no other language.”Not quite. “In his words, the true Tarot is symbolism, and it speaks no other language.”
What is De Laurence's central objection to claims of an ancient Tarot origin?
Right. “The documents begin in the fourteenth century, so claims of earlier origins need proof.”Not quite. “The documents begin in the fourteenth century, so claims of earlier origins need proof.”
How does De Laurence understand the relationship between the Trumps and fortune-telling?
Right. “His own view is that the Trumps were adapted for divination and not made for it.”Not quite. “His own view is that the Trumps were adapted for divination and not made for it.”
Go deeper: the whole of The Illustrated Key to the Tarot: The Veil of Divination
About 2 h 20 min to read.Start freePaperback, hardcover and large print, printed for you at cost, are on their way.Email me when it is printed
About this edition
Every format is free to start, and print and large print are at cost.
- LengthAbout 32,100 words
- Reading timeAbout 2 h 15 min
- FormatseBook, large-print eBook, audiobook, 15-minute summary
- LanguagesEnglish and 13 other languages
Questions about The Illustrated Key to the Tarot: The Veil of Divination
What is The Illustrated Key to the Tarot about?
It is a treatise on the seventy-eight Tarot cards in three parts. It covers their history, the symbolism of the twenty-two Trumps Major, and the meanings and layouts used by card readers, with a critical look at earlier writers.
Do the Tarot cards really come from ancient Egypt?
The author says no. He shows that the Egyptian origin came from Court de Gebelin's guesses in the eighteenth century, and that the cards have no recorded history before the fourteenth century.
What is the difference between the Major and Minor Arcana?
The Major Arcana are the twenty-two Trumps, from the Magician to the World, which carry the book's symbolism. The Minor Arcana are the fifty-six cards of Wands, Cups, Swords and Pentacles, with ten numbered cards and four court cards each.
Is this book a guide to fortune-telling?
It gives card meanings and three reading methods, including a ten-card layout with a Significator. The author treats these as part of the cards' history and stresses that the deeper value of the Trumps lies in symbolism.
What is the main message of the book?
The Tarot should be read as a language of symbols that speaks of the soul's road, and its claims of ancient origin should be tested against evidence. Fortune-telling is a later use of the cards.
Cite this edition
De Laurence, L. W. The Illustrated Key to the Tarot: The Veil of Divination. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-illustrated-key-to-the-tarot-the-veil-of-divination.
De Laurence, L. W. (2026). The illustrated key to the tarot: The veil of divination. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-illustrated-key-to-the-tarot-the-veil-of-divination
De Laurence, L. W. The Illustrated Key to the Tarot: The Veil of Divination. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-illustrated-key-to-the-tarot-the-veil-of-divination.
@book{delaurence2026illustrated,
author = {De Laurence, L. W.},
title = {The Illustrated Key to the Tarot: The Veil of Divination},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-illustrated-key-to-the-tarot-the-veil-of-divination}
}
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