Reddit mentions of The Qabalistic Tarot: A Textbook of Mystical Philosophy

Qabbalistic Tarot you fucking plebs.

http://www.amazon.com/The-Qabalistic-Tarot-Textbook-Philosophy/dp/0971559139

Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law.

> "…Chesed as raw everything…"

A typo? I'll bet you meant Kether.

You've probably noticed your peripheral vision grants you more functional eyesight in the dark, right? Understanding the Supernal Triad is a lot like that. You can't really approach it with the same tools you'd use to understand, say Hod or Netzach. It's pretty clear from your post that you understand this already! Realistically, everybody struggles with the Supernal Triad. Human beings aren't really equipped to deal with abstracts beyond the linguistic tricks we've developed. The other ready option is ascent into the numinous experience (dreams, ecstasis, divination, exhaustion, meditation, psychedelics, etc.) and the realm of the archetype.

It's useful to keep in mind that there are four Qabalistic worlds (Assiah, Yetzirah, Briah, and Atziluth) and four parts of the Soul (Nephesh, Ruach, Neshamah, and Chia) that correspond to the four letters of the Tetragrammaton (Yod, Heh, Vau, and Heh). My suggestion is that, if you're having trouble with conceptions that are increasingly higher up the tree, take some time to work up the paths.

A time-tested method in this regard is using Tarot to start our meditation upon Malkuth in Assiah (Ten of Disks) and the Princess of Disks. From there, we work our way up gradually. Robert Wang's Qabalistic Tarot is a great resource on path working.

Ultimately, everybody's tree is different in accordance with our Will and our experiences of the paths and the Sephirot will vary accordingly. So appeal to your higher self, study your correspondences, work diligently, record your experiences, and you will find what you're seeking.

93-

This is fantastic! The simple animations (especially if they are are not arbitrarily chosen but true to the original meaning, based on thorough examination of the cards) could be a genuinely important addition to the understanding of the tarot. The extra dimension that comes forth by combining traditional imagery with new technology, could have deep impact on the understanding/studying of the cards. The whole deck done this way, would in my opinion be a new milestone in the development of the living tradition of Qabalah and Tarot. I challenge you to get all cards done, however long it takes, either by yourself or by making this into a joint project and recruiting others. I would like to recommend the following book as your primary source of information: https://www.amazon.com/Qabalistic-Tarot-Textbook-Mystical-Philosophy/dp/0971559139 it's the only work i know of, that deals with the card symbolism and their occult connotations, that is of academic quality. I believe you can find a PDF of it online

I've been studying Tarot and western mysticism for over 2 decades. My recommendation is that you ignore all the fancy decks out there and pick up some version of the Rider-Waite. It isn't the prettiest, but it's the one that almost EVERY deck for the past 100 years has been based on. If you can read a Rider-Waite, then you can read anything. Someone suggested the Marseille deck (of which there were a few from the 18th c. onwards), but I wouldn't recommend starting out with an older style deck like that. Older decks (Marseille, JJ Swiss, Visconti-Sforza etc.) were designed for Game Play - NOT divination. They don't have handy titles or pictures on the minor arcana (number/suit/pip cards).

Some decks you might consider:

Standard Rider-Waite. Can't get any easier than this.

Quick and Easy Tarot. This one has the meanings printed right on the cards! Easy to learn from, and based on Rider-Waite.

Golden Dawn tarot. This one was my favorite for a while. The colors are nicer than Rider-Waite, but it's still a traditional deck, and all the cards have titles and additional symbolism (Astrological/Qabalistic) so they're easier to read and remember.

B.O.T.A. deck. This one comes in black-and-white. You're supposed to color your own cards! I've used the link that includes the book with coloring instructions/descriptions. You can buy the cards by themselves here. Following the traditional (Qabalistic) color scheme and coloring your own (with markers, colored pencils, or maybe watercolors) will help you learn and remember them better.

Regarding the influence of Qabalah on modern decks, it's VERY hard to find a modern deck without it. A.E. Waite was a member of the Golden Dawn (19th c. Hermetic order), and they're largely responsible for the popular appeal of modern Qabalah-influenced decks. They drew on several 18th-19th c. sources (Levi, Etteilla, Court de Gebelin etc.) and put it all together into the tarot we know and use today.

Some books that may be helpful:

Mystical Origins of the Tarot. This is a very good book that talks about the history of the cards, all the way back to the 14th c. Extremely insightful. You can read this on Scribd, btw.

Qabalistic Tarot. The best book on how modern tarot fits onto the Tree of Life, and how the symbolism describes states of consciousness and aspects of Qabalah. When you're ready to scratch below the surface and use your cards for meditation, this book will help you.

This may be a good book to help you get started. I haven't read it, but it gets good reviews.

Related-topic: if you enjoy playing cards, I highly recommend trying out the traditional Tarot games that make use of either modern French or German style decks (which look like modified normal playing cards with extra cards) or older decks such as the JJ Swiss, Marseille, or even Lo Scarabeo's Ancient Italian Deck. Tarot games are quite fun! You can't use a divination deck for them, though. European or Italian folk games such as Scopa and Briscola are also quite fun, and they make use of decks that are distant cousins to Tarot. This link will explain other tarot type games if you're interested.

Anyway, I hope that helps you make sense of the Tarot. Go with Rider-Waite to start, and take your time. There's a lot to learn!

Marcelo Motta - Commentary on the Book of the Law

Robert Wang - Qabalistic Tarot

Soror Nema - Maat Magick

Pascal Beverly Randolph - Seership: The Magic Mirror

Samael Aun Weor - Introduction to Gnosis

The Pictorial Key to the Tarot

The Qabalistic Tarot

Well, to that end, I highly recommend The Qabalistic Tarot by Robert Wang. It's dense and rigorous, but not at the expense of subtle insight. The author successfully cuts through New Age mumbo-jumbo and gets to the heart of what tarot is about.

The Hermetic Tarot deck appeals to me most. It's nearly overloaded with imagery, which allows me to get completely lost in the experience of a card. The ultimate goal is establishing unconscious intuition, of course, but a strong intellectual base can only help.

As for this comment:

>Unfortunately, I have yet to consciously connect to my higher self.

I think the whole concept of a "higher self" is a bit of a misnomer and potentially dangerous. The term keeps people searching for some threshold moment, a cut and dry experience of Enlightenment. Anyone who claims to have attained this state permanently is lying and probably selling you something. The truth is that you ARE your higher self just as you are.

I finished Waking Up: A Guide to Spirituality Without Religion by Sam Harris a few weeks ago and I highly recommend it. If you're not familiar, he's a vocal member of the "New Atheist" community and is extremely critical of religion/mysticism. But despite this, he has profound insight into the nature of consciousness and how mindfulness practice changes the mind. And of course, what is tarot if not a form of mindfulness meditation?

If that seems a little too atheistic for your taste, Thou Art That by Joseph Campbell is a fantastic introduction to mythological thinking, which is crucial to understanding tarot.

All and all, every aspect of your spiritual and intellectual life will enrich your experience of tarot, so explore liberally!

You can purchase a new one here - http://www.amazon.com/The-Qabalistic-Tarot-Textbook-Philosophy/dp/0971559139/