The Moon: an illustration from Harper's magazine, 1864.

“My interest lies somewhere near a sense that words are like tarot cards, and that a poem manipulates unpredictable depths with its words. . . . I like the tarot because it works like poetry and because you don’t really have to ‘believe in’ anything. It’s there to be used. The symbols are remarkably durable and beautiful; they float out to encompass all kinds of meanings.” —Alice Notley (via Enrique Enriquez)

The fortune-teller: an illustration from Harper's magazine, 1859.

The Tower: from Walther Litzelmann's Artilleriebuch (1582).

The Emperor combines with Death in this illustration from Harper's magazine, 1857.

Reading a tea leaf: an illustration from Harper's magazine, 1901.

Strength: Orpheus with his lyre could subdue lions. An illustration from a 1906 issue of Scribner's.

Yes, or no? An illustration from Harper's magazine, 1874.

The Wheel: an illustration from Scribner's, 1900. The caption reads: "Dreamed of clipping about on a silently revolving wheel."

"This should be a lucky day to tell your fortune":
an illustration from a 1908 issue of Harper's magazine.

The Moon, a card from 1454, printed in Harper's New Monthly Magazine, 1862.

"Truth in the Fool's lodge": an illustration from Harper's magazine, 1900.

A wheel of fortune from the Book of Knighthood, 1460.