The Tarot: The Quintessence of Hermetic Philosophy

The ultimate book in exploring the hidden depths of magic and the Western Esoteric TraditionIn his defining masterpiece, Mouni Sadhu offers the reader an encyclopaedic exploration of the Western esoteric tradition and magical philosophy with the major arcana of the Tarot as a guide.Each of the 101 lessons contained in this volume is packed with occult philosophy, symbolism, and hints for practice. (The practices themselves are elsewhere, in his books Concentration, Meditation, and Theurgy, which should be studied in that order along with this book.) Those students who want to get the most out of this volume should plan on devoting a week to each lesson, reading it several times and making sure that a thorough grasp of the important concepts has been gained. Two years devoted to this study will result in a thorough understanding of Hermetic occultismThe symbolism and correspondences found in The Tarot are not the ones most familiar in occult writings in the English-speaking world. They derive from the main European tradition of modern Hermeticism, which starts with Eliphas Lévi's groundbreaking Doctrine and Ritual of High Magic and proceeds through the works of Stanislaus de Guaita, Paul Christian, Papus (Gerard Encausse), and Oswald Wirth, among others, to Mouni Sadhu. Readers who are used to the current of Hermetic teaching set in motion by the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, which lies behind most occultism in the English-speaking world, may find themselves surprised by the very different approaches Mouni Sadhu presents here and elsewhere in his works. Read more