The cards in occult tarot decks are associated with the principles of Qabalah. The base of these decks is the Rider Waite Smith deck, one of the first occult tarot decks, where suit cards are completely illustrated. Originally published in 1909, the Rider Wait deck was constructed by the instructions of a Christian mystic and occultist, Arthur Waite. Since then, there have been many other occult tarot decks.
The following occult tarot decks have deeper esoteric meanings, and were often created by groups for magical use.
- Abysmal Tarot – A new and alternative art tarot with satanic theme, there are 333 copies of the deck. The fun part is that 22 of the decks have an extra card, the
- Alchemical Tarot – One of the occult tarot decks inspired by alchemy, the deck is full with symbolism and is drawn with intention to remind to comic books.
- Aleister Crowley Thoth Tarot – A deck very different than others, just because of the simple fact it contains 80 cards. There are three versions of the Magus card in this deck.
- BOTA Tarot – A classic imitation, one can even say clone deck of the Rider Waite. The difference is that BOTA tarot deck is printed in black and white. It is the user’s task to color the cards.
- Babylonian tarot – Based on cosmology and legends, Babylonian is another of those occult tarot decks with more than 78 cards. The deck includes extra Major Arcana card, the Genesis, and an extra court cart for the suits.
- Book of Kaos Tarot – Several images from pagan and tribal scenes are used in this pen and ink tarot deck.
- Cards of Alchemy – Another alchemy-based deck, this one contains 50 cards and is designed for personal development.
- Dion Fortune Tarot – Inspired by the Qabalah teachings of Dion Fortune, the images in this deck are variations of several styles, including Marseilles style, illustrated elements and meditation photographs.
- Egipcios Kior Tarot – This deck contains traditional looking Egyptian artwork, combined with Hebrew letters, the Tree of Life and many other esoteric symbols.
- Etteilla Tarotcard – One of the occult tarot decks that draw inspiration from the early occult history. Another change in the deck is that the cards in Major Arcana are reordered.
- Golden Dawn Enochian Skrying Tarot – This is an innovative, non-traditional tarot deck. The deck actually has two decks in it, and the 89 cards in it are designed for magical work.
- Golden Dawn Magical Tarot – This deck uses colors and symbols as adhered by the Order of The Golden Dawn. The suits in the Minor Arcana are repetitive, while the Major Arcana cards are excellently drawn with very vibrant scenes.
