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身為一位從事文學生涯多年、且一直以來受制於心靈與其他限制，同時擔任高階神秘學校的指導者來說，我認為有必要先坦白陳述個人立場。這份書面的辯解不僅是出於個人喜好，而是有其必要性。
有些人可能會認為，我現今仍致力於表面上看來只是一種眾所周知的占卜方法，這樣做似乎很奇怪。現在，史密斯先生的觀點在文學評論中的重要性並不高，除非他們能夠與我們的觀點相契合，從而用來加強這個教義的神聖性。為了讓這種教義獲得神聖的認可，我們必須確保我們的觀點和所談論的主題與上帝相關
至目前為止，正是這一點可能會讓一些人感到疑惑，不僅是對我所尊敬的史密斯先生（以適當的客觀態度），而且對於一些更有實質影響力的人，因為他們的奉獻是我的。
註：雖然沒有確切資料，個人猜測史密斯先生是偉特塔羅的繪師Pamela colman Smith的祖父Cyrus P. Smith，他於1839 年至 1842 年擔任布魯克林市長，是一位美國的政治家，但這僅止於我個人推論。史密斯先生也有可能是Pamela colman Smith家族的其他尊長，或其他人。
註："seeing that their dedications are mine"，指的應是一些更具真實影響力的人的貢獻或奉獻，這些貢獻或奉獻與作者的立場或信念相同或一致，因此作者稱這些貢獻或奉獻是 "mine"。
對於這些人和任何人，我必須說，玫瑰十字會的傳奇創始人Frater Christian Rosy Cross，在演變的神祕宮殿（Secret Palace of Transmutation）中見證了化學婚姻後（Chemical Marriage），他的故事戛然而止，他暗示他期望第二天早上成為門衛。同樣地，通常會發生這樣的情況：那些透過聖禮中最清晰的神秘面紗看見了天國之王的人，更可能會承擔教堂中最謙卑的職務。
玫瑰十字會傳說創始人的資料請參照
註：演變的神秘宮殿（Secret Palace of Transmutation）指的可能是鍊金術中的概念，表示鍊金術中實現內在轉化和靈性進步的過程。
註：化學婚姻（Chemical Marriage）是一種象徵性的概念，代表著兩個對立的原素（例如男性和女性）在一起結合形成一個新的實體，並象徵著靈性上的結合和轉化。請參照
透過這樣簡單的方法，神秘秩序中的高等行家和大師就能從新手的一群中脫穎而出，成為「服侍神秘的僕人」。
同樣地，或者說不完全不像，在所謂的神秘藝術中的殘渣碎瓦之中，我們也會在最外圍的門口遇到塔羅牌，但沒有一個理智的人會被這些藝術所欺騙。然而，這些牌本身屬於另一個領域，因為它們包含非常高的象徵意義，這些意義是根據恩典之法解釋的，而不是根據所謂占卜的藉口和直覺解釋的。
註：恩典之法通常指的是上帝的恩典和仁慈，以及相應的信仰體系和道德規範。在這段中，指的應是基於上帝的恩典和道德的詮釋方法，而不是基於純粹的占卜與直覺。
上帝的智慧對人類來說可能會顯得愚蠢無知，但這並不代表世界的愚昧無知對神的智慧有任何貢獻。因此，普通學者和身處權力中心的教師都不太可能認同或察覺這個論點的可行性。
這些主題一直在占卜師手中，成為他們行業的必備工具。我不打算說服我的圈子以外的任何人，這對他們來說重要與否，但在歷史和詮釋方面，它的表現並不優秀。它一直被掌握在那些主張自己精通占卜的人手中。這些占卜師將其帶入了一個完全輕視具有哲學洞察力或欣賞證據能力的人的境地。
註：偉特這邊的意思應該是指同時期的占卜師精通占卜，因為這是他們的職業技能，然而那個時代的占卜師並不瞭解塔羅牌所用的象徵有任何的哲學涵義與更深的內在層次。
該是時候拯救它了，這是我打算一勞永逸地承擔的，這樣我就可以結束那些分散注意力的次要問題了。正如詩歌是對最美麗之物的最美麗表達，符號是對在聖殿中最深刻之物的最普遍的隱藏表達，而這些東西尚未以相同的豐富度通過口語表達被宣告於外。沉默規則的辯護並不是我目前關注的重點，但我已經在其他地方記錄下來，最近也談到了這個主題的可能討論。
以下這篇小論文分為三個部分：第一部分是關於這個主題的古物和一些相關的事情。需要理解的是，這並不是一篇關於紙牌歷史的貢獻，我對此一無所知也毫不在意。相反的，這是專門針對某一個神秘學派系，尤其是在法國，探討塔羅牌被認為是歷史性的幌子下進入表達的所有幻象的源頭和中心。
註：歷史性的幌子應該是偉特認為在法國的某些神祕學派中，他們誤以為塔羅牌有歷史上的重要性，而在這種誤解的幌子下，出現了各種幻想和錯誤的觀點。
在第二部分，我討論了一些更高層次的象徵意義，並藉此介紹完整且經過校正的塔羅牌，這些塔羅牌可以單獨以彩色卡片的形式使用，其設計以黑白形式添加到本文中。這些卡片是在我的監督下，由一位經驗豐富的女性藝術家根據分配和含義製作的。至於占卜部分，這是我的論文中的最後一部分，我個人認為它是塔羅牌歷史上的一個事實。因此，我整合了所有已發表的資料，融合各種牌的含義，並且突出了一種以前未發布的工作方法；這種方法的優點在於簡單性，而且也具有普遍性，可以代替複雜且繁瑣的大型手冊系統。
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Preface
IT seems rather of necessity than predilection in the sense of apologia that I should put on record in the first place a plain statement of my personal position, as one who for many years of literary life has been, subject to his spiritual and other limitations, an exponent of the higher mystic schools. It will be thought that I am acting strangely in concerning myself at this day with what appears at first sight and simply a well-known method of fortune-telling. Now, the opinions of Mr. Smith, even in the literary reviews, are of no importance unless they happen to agree with our own, but in order to sanctify this doctrine we must take care that our opinions, and the subjects out of which they arise, are concerned only with the highest. Yet it is just this which may seem doubtful, in the present instance, not only to Mr. Smith, whom I respect within the proper measures of detachment, but to some of more real consequence, seeing that their dedications are mine. To these and to any I would say that after the most illuminated Frater Christian Rosy Cross had beheld the Chemical Marriage in the Secret Palace of Transmutation, his story breaks off abruptly, with an intimation that he expected next morning to be door-keeper. After the same manner, it happens more often than might seem likely that those who have seen the King of Heaven through the most clearest veils of the sacraments are those who assume thereafter the humblest offices of all about the House of God. By such simple devices also are the Adepts and Great Masters in the secret orders distinguished from the cohort of Neophytes as servi servorum mysterii. So also, or in a way which is not entirely unlike, we meet with the Tarot cards at the outermost gates--amidst the fritterings and débris of the so-called occult arts, about which no one in their senses has suffered the smallest deception; and yet these cards belong in themselves to another region, for they contain a very high symbolism, which is interpreted according to the Laws of Grace rather than by the pretexts and intuitions of that which passes for divination. The fact that the wisdom of God is foolishness with men does not create a presumption that the foolishness of this world makes in any sense for Divine Wisdom; so neither the scholars in the ordinary classes nor the pedagogues in the seats of the mighty will be quick to perceive the likelihood or even the possibility of this proposition. The subject has been in the hands of cartomancists as part of the stock-in-trade of their industry; I do not seek to persuade any one outside my own circles that this is of much or of no consequence; but on the historical and interpretative sides it has not fared better; it has been there in the hands of exponents who have brought it into utter contempt for those people who possess philosophical insight or faculties for the appreciation of evidence. It is time that it should be rescued, and this I propose to undertake once and for all, that I may have done with the side issues which distract from the term. As poetry is the most beautiful expression of the things that are of all most beautiful, so is symbolism the most catholic expression in concealment of things that are most profound in the Sanctuary and that have not been declared outside it with the same fulness by means of the spoken word. The justification of the rule of silence is no part of my present concern, but I have put on record elsewhere, and quite recently, what it is possible to say on this subject.
The little treatise which follows is divided into three parts, in the first of which I have dealt with the antiquities of the subject and a few things that arise from and connect therewith. It should be understood that it is not put forward as a contribution to the history of playing cards, about which I know and care nothing; it is a consideration dedicated and addressed to a certain school of occultism, more especially in France, as to the source and centre of all the phantasmagoria which has entered into expression during the last fifty years under the pretence of considering Tarot cards historically. In the second part, I have dealt with the symbolism according to some of its higher aspects, and this also serves to introduce the complete and rectified Tarot, which is available separately, in the form of coloured cards, the designs of which are added to the present text in black and white. They have been prepared under my supervision--in respect of the attributions and meanings--by a lady who has high claims as an artist. Regarding the divinatory part, by which my thesis is terminated, I consider it personally as a fact in the history of the Tarot--as such, I have drawn, from all published sources, a harmony of the meanings which have been attached to the various cards, and I have given prominence to one method of working that has not been published previously; having the merit of simplicity, while it is also of universal application, it may be held to replace the cumbrous and involved systems of the larger hand-books.
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