Meditations on the Tarot

Meditations on the Tarot

Meditations on the Tarot: A Journey into Christian Hermeticism is a book published posthumuously and anonymously in 1985. It was originally written in French and translated into English by Robert A. Powell of the Sophia Foundation.

The author is known, but because of his request to remain anonymous, the link to the author is made through a redirecting page. The Afterword states that "The author wished to remain anonymous in order to allow the work to speak for itself, to avoid the interposition of any kind of personal element between the work and the reader--reasons that we respect."[1]

The author is clearly a Roman Catholic, although the ideas expressed are often not commonly associated with Catholic dogma.

The body of the work is divided into 22 Chapters, called "Letters", with a Foreword by the author and an Afterword by Hans Urs von Balthasar, a Swiss theologian nominated to be a Cardinal. Each chapter is centered around a card from the Major Arcana of the Tarot of Marseilles.

Each card is taken as an "arcanum," which the author defines in part in Letter I: The Magician as "... that which it is necessary to 'know' in order to be fruitful in a given domain of spiritual life. ... a 'ferment' or an 'enzyme' whose presence stimulates the spiritual and the psychic life of man." He writes that they "are neither allegories nor secrets ... [but] authentic symbols ... [which] conceal and reveal their sense at one and the same time according to the depth of meditation." The symbolism of the cards is taken as a springboard for discussing and describing various aspects of Christian spiritual life and growth.

Sources cited in the work are many; the most common one is the Bible, followed by an array of saints, theologians, mystics, philosophers, occultists, and other writers, notably including Henri Bergson, Buddha, Goethe, Jung, Kant, Eliphas Lévi, Nietzsche, Fabre d'Olivet, Origen, Papus, Joséphin Péladan, Philip of Lyons, Plato, St. Albertus Magnus, St. Anthony the Great, St. Augustine, St. Bonaventura, St. Dionysius the Areopagite, St. Francis of Assisi, St. John of the Cross, St. Theresa of Ávila, St. Thomas Aquinas, Louis-Claude de Saint-Martin, Saint-Yves d'Alveydre, Dr. Rudolf Steiner, Fr. Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, Hermes Trismegistus, and Oswald Wirth (major entries taken in alphabetical order from the index).

References

  1. ^ Anonymous (1985). Meditations on the Tarot: A Journey into Christian Hermeticism. New York: Jeremy P. Tarcher / Putnam. ISBN 1-58542-161-8. 

External links


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Поможем сделать НИР

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Tarot of Marseilles — Tarot de Marseilles The Hermit or L Hermite Major Arcana from the early 18th century Tarot of Jean Dodal Style of Card : Tarot Origin: Marseille Designer: Anonymous; traditional Purpose: Recreation and Divination Structure: 22 Trumps or …   Wikipedia

  • B.O.T.A. tarot deck — The B.O.T.A. Tarot was created by Paul Foster Case, founder of B.O.T.A. and artist Jessie Burns Parke. Though the B.O.T.A. Tarot for the most part closely resembles the Rider Waite deck [ White, Douglass A. Thoth and the Tarot, pp. 13 14] , Paul… …   Wikipedia

  • Tarot divinatoire — Pour les articles homonymes, voir tarot (homonymie). La Papesse, arcane majeur du Tarot Visconti Le tarot divinatoire ou taromancie est l application de la cartomancie aux cartes du …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Influences and interpretations of The Matrix — Quote box width=20% align=right quote=The Matrix is arguably the ultimate cyberpunk artifact. source=William Gibson, 2003 01 28 [ [http://www.williamgibsonbooks.com/archive/2003 01 28 archive.asp#90244012 THE MATRIX: FAIR COP ] , The William… …   Wikipedia

  • Valentin Tomberg — Valentin Arnoldevitch Tomberg (February 27, 1900 February 24, 1973) was a Russian Christian mystic, polyglot scholar and hermetic magician. Life Valentin Tomberg was born on March 11, 1900 (February 27 in the Old Russian Julian calendar) in St.… …   Wikipedia

  • Cain and Abel — This article is about the first and second sons of Adam and Eve. For other uses, see Cain and Abel (disambiguation). Abel , Cain , and My Brother s Keeper redirect here. For other uses, see Abel (disambiguation), Cain (disambiguation), and My… …   Wikipedia

  • Stephan A. Hoeller — Stephan A. Hoeller, (1931 ) is a writer, scholar and religious leader. Born in Budapest, Hungary he received a Ph.D. in philosophy with a minor in the philosophy of religion from the University of Innsbruck in… …   Wikipedia

  • Стефан Хеллер — Стефан А. Хеллер, (Stephan A. Hoeller, 1931  ) философ, писатель, исследователь гностицизма и алхимии, Епископ Гностической католической церкви (Ecclesia Gnostica Catholica), масон. Содержание 1 Биография 2 Научная деятельность …   Википедия

  • Хёллер, Стефан — Стефан А. Хёллер (Stephan A. Hoeller) родился 27 ноября 1931 г.[1] [2] философ, писатель, исследователь гностицизма и алхимии, Епископ Гностической католической церкви (Ecclesia Gnostica Catholica). Содержание 1 Биография 2 Научная деятельность …   Википедия

  • Hermeticism — This article is about the magical and religious movement stemming from the teachings attributed to Hermes Trismegistus. For other uses of the term Hermetic , see Hermetic (disambiguation). Part of a series of articles on Hermeticism Hermetic… …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
… Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”