Meditations on the Tarot:
A Journey Into Christian Hermeticism
by Anonymous
written in French by a Russian ex-patriot
living in London, 1967
(originally written in 2002 in light of the new release of the book)
As the Robert Powell 1985 translation of this book has
just been published for the third time, I thought it timely
to write this brief review which cannot, in my opinion,
do the book justice. As Powell writes in his own review,
the book 'is truly a magnum opus'.
I have the 1993 edition published by Element Books, which
has no introduction, nor afterword nor index - unlike,
from what I have been told, the newly released (Penguin-Putnam)
Tarcher 2002 publication. Still, the manuscript I have
has 658 pages of solid, clear and wide-ranging text.
The book is divided into twenty-two letters from the
Unknown Author (UA) to his readers ('UA' is an appellation
becoming increasingly common when referring to its author,
and reminiscent of the Martinist 'Unknown Philosopher').
Such 'letter' style is not unusual, and is found in some
classic Russian and mediaeval Christian texts - for example The
Cloud of Unknowing (Penguin Classics).
The UA clearly comes from a Christian perspective, but
not one which would be expected from the exoteric church
– though I have been informed that the current Pope has
a copy of the German translation of the work!
Each letter truly is an exegesis of one of the trumps, with the final letter making implications for the
minor. Though the author clearly refers to the
Marseille deck in the text,
he also states (p 260)
The twenty-two Cards of the Major Arcana of the Tarot
being an organism, a complete whole, it is not a question
of diverse and disparate origins of particular Cards,
but rather of the degrees of their evolution or transformation.
For the Tarot, also, is not a wheel, a closed
circle, but rather a spiral, i.e. it evolves
through tradition and ... reincarnation
Reading the book is certainly a journey - not because
it takes the reader along well traveled paths (which it
does, being firmly grounded in tradition) - but
because the reader is lead far and wide to a very diverse
and broad range of other authors - some well known, such
as Drs Steiner or Jung, others not as well, such as Dr
Carton or Prof. Mebes.
The classics are also extremely well interweaved, and
relevant quotes from such important esoteric, spiritual
and hermetic texts as the Kore Kosmu, the Bible,
the Zohar, the Vishvasara Tantra, the Hermetica (amongst
others), as well as quotes from Wirth, Origen, Papus, St
Teresa, St John of the Cross, as well as those previously
mentioned (Steiner et al.) are carefully selected
and artfully placed.
Of Tarot's history, the UA states (ibid.)
The authors who saw in the Tarot the 'Sacred Book of
Thoth' (Thoth = Hermes Trismegistus) were both right
and wrong at the same time. They were right in so far
as they traced back the history of the essence of
the Tarot to antiquity, notably to ancient Egypt. And
they were wrong in so far as they believed that the Tarot
had been inherited from ancient Egypt, i.e.
that it had been transmitted from generation
to generation subject to minor iconographic changes.
Further details of the book are also available at www.medtarot.freeserve.co.uk
This book, when not long out of print, fetched up
to $200 on the second-hand market — such is its desirability. For all
serious Tarot enthusiasts, and for all aspirants walking
the Occidental Spiritual paths, I would recommend it without
reservation.
This work ranks amongst the classics of mysticism, gnosis
and magic – the three pathways into Hermeticism. In my
opinion, it is the most masterful book which utilises the
trumps of the Tarot as tools to enter spiritual dimensions.
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