Etteilla’s Book of Thoth

The Book of Thoth aka. The grand Etteila (1804)

The Book of Thoth aka. The grand Etteila (1804)
According to Etteilla, the Tarot was created by a group of seventeen Magi under the direct guidance of Hermes Trismegistus. He wrote in 1783, that he calculated that the Tarot was 3,953 years old. Originally called ‘The Book of Thoth’, engraved on leaves of gold, the foils embellished the altar of a temple.
Papus in ‘The Divinatory Tarot’ associated the Major Arcana cards from Etteilla’s deck based on their Read more Etteilla’s Book of Thoth

The seventy-eight Tarot card and their attributions

Traditional Divinatory Tarot, Three of Wands

Traditional Divinatory Tarot

When it comes to the interpretation of the cards, most commonly, people prefer the so-called Waite method associated with the Rider-Waite-Smith deck and subsequently the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. Another highly popular method is the one associated with Aleister Crowley’s Thoth Tarot deck. However, few people are aware that both occultists were members of the Golden Dawn and the foundation of interpreting the cards originates in the work of famous French cartomancer Etteilla. Several other occultists, including Read more The seventy-eight Tarot card and their attributions

The traditional upright and reversed meaning of all the 78 Tarot cards in one video

Golden Hermetic aka Papus in a tin box


The Golden Hermetic and Fortune Telling Tarot deck aka Papus in a Tin Box is a traditional Tarot deck based on the teachings of Etteilla (Jean-Baptiste Alliette), Éliphas Lévi, S. L. MacGregor Mathers founder and head of the Hermetic Order of Golden Dawn (and mentor of Aleister Crowley), Paul Christian, Oswald Wirth, Papus (Gerard Encausse) and Arthur Edward Waite. Read more The traditional upright and reversed meaning of all the 78 Tarot cards in one video

Architecture: Etteilla’s Major Arcana

The Book of Thoth aka. The grand Etteila (1804)

The Book of Thoth aka. The grand Etteila (1804)

Tarot became quite popular – exoteric – in the last few hundreds of years, and we owe that to the French cartomancer and fortune teller Jean-Baptiste Alliette.
Jean-Baptiste was born to working-class parents in Paris in 1738 and worked as a seed merchant. Read more Architecture: Etteilla’s Major Arcana

The Etteilla Esoteric Tarot deck

The Etteilla Esoteric Tarot deck

“Etteilla” is the pseudonym of Jean-Baptiste Alliette (1738 – 12 December 1791). Etteilla is simply the reverse of his surname. He was the French occultist who was the first to popularise tarot divination to a wide audience back in 1785, and therefore the first professional tarot occultist known to history who made his living by card divination.
Aside from the birth certificate recording his birth in Paris in 1738, very little is known about Jean-Baptiste Alliette’s youth. His father was a maître rôtisseur, a caterer, and his mother was a seed merchant. He married Jeanne Vattier in 1763, a marriage that lasted half a decade, during which he worked as a seed merchant, before publishing his first book, Etteilla, ou manière de se récréer avec un jeu de cartes (“Etteilla, or a Way to Entertain Yourself With a Deck of Cards”) in 1770. Read more The Etteilla Esoteric Tarot deck

The Etteilla Tarot deck, The Book of Thoth

The Etteilla Tarot deck, The Book of Thoth

“Etteilla” is the pseudonym of Jean-Baptiste Alliette (1738 – 12 December 1791). Etteilla is simply the reverse of his surname. He was the French occultist who was the first to popularise tarot divination to a wide audience back in 1785, and therefore the first professional tarot occultist known to history who made his living by card divination.
Aside from the birth certificate recording his birth in Paris in 1738, very little is known about Jean-Baptiste Alliette’s youth. His father was a maître rôtisseur, a caterer, and his mother was a seed merchant. He married Jeanne Vattier in 1763, a marriage that lasted half a decade, during which he worked as a seed merchant, before publishing his first book, Etteilla, ou manière de se récréer avec un jeu de cartes (“Etteilla, or a Way to Entertain Yourself With a Deck of Cards”) in 1770. Read more The Etteilla Tarot deck, The Book of Thoth

The Grand Etteilla Tarot Deck

The Grand Etteilla Tarot Deck

“Etteilla” is the pseudonym of Jean-Baptiste Alliette (1738 – 12 December 1791). Etteilla is simply the reverse of his surname. He was the French occultist who was the first to popularise tarot divination to a wide audience back in 1785, and therefore the first professional tarot occultist known to history who made his living by card divination.
Aside from the birth certificate recording his birth in Paris in 1738, very little is known about Jean-Baptiste Alliette’s youth. His father was a maître rôtisseur, a caterer, and his mother was a seed merchant. He married Jeanne Vattier in 1763, a marriage that lasted half a decade, during which he worked as a seed merchant, before publishing his first book, Etteilla, ou manière de se récréer avec un jeu de cartes (“Etteilla, or a Way to Entertain Yourself With a Deck of Cards”) in 1770. Read more The Grand Etteilla Tarot Deck