Eliphas Levi - Master of Tarot

Alphonse Louis Constant is one of the great influences on tarot - Aleister Crowley believed he was a reincarnation of the Frenchman. Levie was born in 1810, destined to be a priest, but at some point he discovered occultism. It is not clear if he was pushed or jumped, but he left the Catholic Church. In a ten year spurt he wrote an impressive number of books that influenced western occultism in France and in England.

The Chariot in the Book of Thoth is inspired by Levi's design. The Fool card is associated with Baphomet, the supposed God of the Templars as described by Levi.

Bibliography

The Great Secret
The History of Magic
Kabbalistic Prayer and Book of Formation
The Key of the Mysteries
Letters to a Disciple
Magical Ritual of the Sanctum Regnum
Mysteries of the Kabbalah
The Paradoxes of the Highest Science
Science of Hermes
Transcendental Magic
Conjuration of the Four
Elements of Kabbalah
The Book of Splendors

A significant number of these books were translated by A.E. Waite and Aleister Crowley, who were of course members of the Golden Dawn.