the Greeks: "This book was claimed to have been written by the lord of writing, justice, and magic himself, the ancient Egyptian god Thoth; and for that reason it was called The Book of Thoth. The Book of Thoth contained the essence of all that was magical, mysterious, and forbidden; and it contained the foundation of the ancient pagan religions."

Aleister Crowley referred to his own version of the Tarot deck by the same title, The Book of Thoth. Allegedly, the Tarot evolved (in disguised form) from the Book of Thoth, as a means to protect its occult wisdom.
No one denies the Tarot has consistently been associated with occultism throughout history--divination, magic and numerous other occult arts--from astrology* and Kabalism to numerology and alchemy.
Also, the fact that some individuals have an innate psychic sensitivity to the cards also underscores their occult potential. Le Mieux observes that "a gifted reader builds up a kind of rapport with the energies in his or her Tarot set," and theologian Dr. John Warwick Montgomery recalls in his analysis of the occult, "It is most interesting to observe the reactions of a sensitive person when he first examines these cards. Instead of the indifference which accompanies contact with ordinary playing cards (not due just to their familiarity, but to their banality), there is generally a deep absorption and hushed interest. The cards seem to "grab" their user.

Not surprisingly, for a Tarot deck to work, the same respect and reverence necessary to the I Ching and runes is required. Again, we have the sense that we are dealing with a living being, not a mere deck of cards.
In his best-seller Joy's Way spiritist/physician W. Brugh Joy describes his own fascination with the Tarot as well as its occult potential:

The Tarot is an excellent teacher, because as the user advances in expanded awareness it reflects this expansion. . . .The Tarot is one of the best tools I know both for rapid insight into personal motives, time and space relationships. . .for reconditioning emotional responses, augmenting the intuitive faculty, restructuring personal belief systems and beginning access to more universal levels of awareness. . . .I have used the Tarot at the close of personal consultations, asking it to reveal to my outer mind any dynamics, overlooked in the session, that might be important. To my amazement, it often turns up a critical dynamic that has been totally unseen till then.

The occult nature of the Tarot is also the reason for its power. David Le Mieux discusses this potency, including the "card's" ability to develop psychic powers in their user. Like the I Ching and runes, Tarot cards work:

Reading with Tarot cards does indeed work. Few people with any real experience or knowledge of the subject will deny that. . . .I have found that Tarot readings are much more accurate and powerful than those based on astrology or other forms of occult prediction. But one of the big questions is, How? How do Tarot symbols help us reexamine the past and predict the future? Why do the cards seem to increase psychic powers? . . .Many occultists have speculated on the power of the Tarot. Tarots were created to be powerful. . .Tarots work like magic because they are, by their very nature, magical. They are part of primitive "picture magic," or iconography. Later, these magic pictures were raised up and placed in the sky in the form of astrological symbols. Tarot cards also contain astrological symbolism in its perfect ancient order--a whole realm of man's unconscious experience and memory. . . .The Tarot is a tour de force in ancient numerology--probably the most perfect numerological system ever devised. And stil later, the Hebrew cabalists claimed that the sacred alphabet contained the secrets of the universe.

Writing in Astral Doorways, occultist J. H. Brennan points out that the Trumps (the 22 cards with symbolic pictures) "can have a very stimulating effect on the intuition" by nature of their symbolism (386:44; cf., Intuition*). He also observes that the trumps, in connection with visualization* and imagination, may actually be used as a method for entering the "astral" domain, "In itself, the Tarot is a remarkable system for esoteric study. And in themselves the cards can be used as Astral Doorways. The technique to use is even more simple than that of the Elemental Doorways" (386:48; cf., 1496:121).
The occult nature of the Tarot is the principal reason why the Church has consistently opposed its use, as even Tarot promoters admit:  Turn the page