Journey into the rich history of tarot cards and uncover the intertwined cultural influences, traditions, religions, spiritualities, and the social upheaval that shaped the tarot as we know it today.

The Cultural Roots of Tarot examines its long history from a sociocultural, cross-continental, multilingual, and intergenerational perspective. By tracing the cultural origins of those who had a hand in the cards' creation, this comprehensive exploration reveals how the Minor and Major Arcanas reached Italy separately--nearly a century apart--through diverse cultural landscapes spanning China, Persia, Egypt, the Roma people, the caliphates of the Levant and North Africa, Spain, France, and Italy. This is not just the story of tarot but also all the actual people and places in history that made it possible.

Author Sanyu Estelle Nagenda traces the cards' cultural history back to as early as 800 CE, when the people who would become the Romani began leaving India, pairing this research with new translations of archival texts from the cultures that contributed to the movement and evolution of tarot cards.

The Cultural Roots of Tarot offers an accessible examination of tarot's multicultural origins and migration, making it a unique contribution to both historical and esoteric literature.