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The Hermetic Tarot
U.S. Games Systems has proudly reissued the Hermetic Tarot deck in recognition of its historical and artistic importance. The details and symbols in each card reveal many of the esoteric workings of the Secret Order of the Golden Dawn, which flourished around the turn of the century.
Godfrey Dowson’s subtle black and white designs emphasize the Golden Dawn’s astrological attributes with further sephirotic, angelic, geomantic, numerical, and kabbalistic elements. All 78 cards feature an exquisite level of detail that highlights the powerful symbolism.
The 70-page instruction booklet includes an introduction by Stuart R. Kaplan and card meaning written by Godfrey Dowson and Stuart R. Kaplan. The booklet also gives instructions for the classic ten-card Celtic Cross layout and presents a chart of the elemental and astrological symbols, and a diagram of the ten spheres and 22 Hebrew Letters of the of the 22 Paths of the Tree of Life.
Godfrey Dowson’s subtle black and white designs emphasize the Golden Dawn’s astrological attributes with further sephirotic, angelic, geomantic, numerical, and kabbalistic elements. All 78 cards feature an exquisite level of detail that highlights the powerful symbolism.
The 70-page instruction booklet includes an introduction by Stuart R. Kaplan and card meaning written by Godfrey Dowson and Stuart R. Kaplan. The booklet also gives instructions for the classic ten-card Celtic Cross layout and presents a chart of the elemental and astrological symbols, and a diagram of the ten spheres and 22 Hebrew Letters of the of the 22 Paths of the Tree of Life.
- GenresTarotOccultDivination
70 pages, Cards
First published January 1, 2006
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
December 2, 2018
The art on the cards is complex, detailed, consistent and symbolically very interesting, despite being crippled in the realm of aesthetics, symmetry and proportion. The accompanying guidebook is physically flimsy yet is also densely packed with useful information. I'm slowly working my way through studying this deck to get to know it, and taking breaks every few cards due to information overload. This is definitely a good anchorpoint for directing further study of the symbolic systems it utilizes. I look forward to developing my understanding enough to get full use out of this deck.
September 28, 2020
There are many in-depth reviews of this historically important deck, so I'll keep it short and say the card stock is sturdy and the LWB is probably the most comprehensive I've seen.
The old black and white art style is not at all what I normally go for, so I was worried I'd feel uncomfortable because it seems so dense and rigid. But much to my surprised, I've actually had no issues reading completely by intuition -- and some of my readings were so accurate, my jaw dropped. The extra layers of symbolism just serve to enhance what you already get intuitively if you happen to know their meanings.
It's highly recommended to get The Qabalistic Tarot by Robert Wang if you're like me and are going into this with extremely limited knowledge of Western Qabalah. Book T by MacGregor Mathers is another helpful book which can be viewed for free at http://www.tarot.org.il/Library/Mathe...
Very happy to not only have this important piece of Tarot history in my collection, but it's been a pleasure to read with.
The old black and white art style is not at all what I normally go for, so I was worried I'd feel uncomfortable because it seems so dense and rigid. But much to my surprised, I've actually had no issues reading completely by intuition -- and some of my readings were so accurate, my jaw dropped. The extra layers of symbolism just serve to enhance what you already get intuitively if you happen to know their meanings.
It's highly recommended to get The Qabalistic Tarot by Robert Wang if you're like me and are going into this with extremely limited knowledge of Western Qabalah. Book T by MacGregor Mathers is another helpful book which can be viewed for free at http://www.tarot.org.il/Library/Mathe...
Very happy to not only have this important piece of Tarot history in my collection, but it's been a pleasure to read with.
July 15, 2020
https://youtu.be/sDEAko7MlBk
Watch the above link for a walkthrough of this deck.
Watch the above link for a walkthrough of this deck.
December 1, 2019
Well I’ll never really finish as these are the cards I am learning my tarot journey with and it is totally fascinating, intriguing, inspiring, insightful and intuitive.
So much detail and symbolism. Am enthralled.
So much detail and symbolism. Am enthralled.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews