Meditations on the Tarot: a Journey into Christian Hermeticism

773 Pages·2005·4.56 MB·English

by  Anonymous

MEDITATIONS ON THE TAROT
Meditations
on the
TAROT
A Journey into Christian Hermeticism
Anonymous
R P
TRANSLATED BY OBERT OWELL
JEREMY P. TARCHER/PENGUIN
Published by the Penguin Group Penguin Group (USA) LLC
375 Hudson Street
New York, New York 10014
USA Canada UK Ireland Australia New Zealand India South Africa * China penguin.com
A Penguin Random House Company Originally published in French in 1980 by Aubier Montaigne.
Originally published in English in 1985 by Amity House.
First Jeremy P. Tarcher edition 2002.
Copyright © 1985 by Martin Kriele English translation of text and afterword © 1985, 2002 by Robert
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Meditations on the tarot: a journey into Christian
hermeticism / Anonymous; translated by Robert Powell.
p. cm.
Originally published: 1985.
Included bibliographical references.
ISBN: 978-1-101-65785-0
1. Tarot. 2. Hermeticism. 3. Powell, Robert, date.
BF1879.T2 M48 2002 2001059016
133.3′2424—dc21
This edition is dedicated to
Our Lady of Chartres
CONTENTS
Foreword
Letter I: The Magician
Letter II: The High Priestess
Letter III: The Empress
Letter IV: The Emperor
Letter V: The Pope
Letter VI: The Lover
Letter VII: The Chariot
Letter VIII: Justice
Letter IX: The Hermit
Letter X: The Wheel of Fortune
Letter XI: Force
Letter XII: The Hanged Man
Letter XIII: Death
Letter XIV: Temperance
Letter XV: The Devil
Letter XVI: The Tower of Destruction
Letter XVII: The Star
Letter XVIII: The Moon
Letter XIX: The Sun
Letter XX: The Judgement
Letter XXI: The Fool
Letter XXII: The World
Afterword
Index
Foreword
These meditations on the Major Arcana of the Tarot are Letters addressed to the
Unknown Friend. The addressee in this instance is anyone who will read all of
them and who thereby acquires definite knowledge, through the experience of
meditative reading, about Christian Hermeticism. He will know also that the
author of these Letters has said more about himself in these Letters than he
would have been able to in any other way. No matter what other source he might
have, he will know the author better through the Letters themselves.
These Letters were written in French because in France—since the
eighteenth century until the present time—there exists a literature on the Tarot, a
phenomenon which is found nowhere else. On the other hand, there existed in
France—and it still persists—a continuous tradition of Hermeticism, in which is
united a spirit of free research with one of respect for the tradition. The purpose
of these Letters therefore will be to “incarnate” into this tradition, i.e. to become
an organic part of it, and in this way to contribute support to it.
As these Letters are intended only to serve, to sustain, and to support the
Hermetic tradition—from its first appearance in the epoch of Hermes
Trismegistus, lost in the remoteness of antiquity and become legendary—they
are a definite manifestation of this millennium-old current of thought, effort, and
revelation. Their aim is not only to revive the tradition but also, and above all, to
immerse the reader (or rather the Unknown Friend) in this current—be it
temporarily or for ever. For this reason the numerous citations of ancient and
modern authors which you will find in these Letters are not due to literary
considerations, nor to a display of erudition. They are evocations of the masters
of the tradition, in order that they may be present with their impulses of
aspiration and their light of thought in the current of meditative thought which
these Letters on the twenty-two Major Arcana of the Tarot represent. For these
are in essence twenty-two spiritual exercises, by means of which you, dear
Unknown Friend, will immerse yourself in the current of the living tradition, and
thus enter into the community of spirits who have served it and who are still
serving it.
And the citations in question only serve the aim of a “relief setting” for this
community. For the links in the chain of the tradition are not thoughts and efforts
alone; they are above all living beings who were thinking these thoughts and
willing these efforts. The essence of the tradition is not a doctrine, but rather a
community of spirits from age to age.
There remains nothing more to say in this introduction to the Letter-
Meditations on the Tarot, because all other questions concerning them will find a
response in the Letters themselves.
Your friend greets you, dear Unknown Friend,
from beyond the grave.
Meditation on the
First Major Arcanum of the Tarot
THE MAGICIAN
LE BATELEUR
Spiritus ubi vult spirat: et vocem
ejus audis, sed nescis unde veniat,
aut quo vadat: sic est omnis,
qui natus est ex spiritu.
(John iii, 8)
The wind blows where, it wills, and
you hear the sound of it, but you do
not know whence it comes or whither
it goes; so it is with every one
who is born of the Spirit.
(John iii, 8)
Into this happy night
In secret, seen of none,
Nor saw I aught,
Without other light or guide,
Save that which in my heart did burn.
(St. John of the Cross)*