Tarot of the Holy Light: A Continental Esoteric Tarot

Tarot of the Holy Light: A Continental Esoteric Tarot

Here is the first of two volumes supporting the card deck Tarot of the Holy Light. This volume is the user’s manual for the pack, demonstrating the traditional assumptions built into the outline of the classical Tarots of continental Europe. Teachings from the ancient grimoires, the Seals of Solomon, the Sefer Yetzira, Paracelsus, Agrippa, and Jacob Boehme are collated with the root principles of astrological alchemy to demonstrate Tarot’s usefulness as an esoteric calculator for the Renaissance and thereafter. For the sake of newcomers to the field, historical explanations are condensed, offering a simplified overview of the intersecting esotericisms converging within the 78-card pack. Ten pages of occult illustrations and an appendix of esoteric graphs help the interested reader visualize the conceptual framework embedded in the cards. The bulk of the book comprises 78 illustrated essays illustrating how these technical underpinnings inform the divinatory meanings that practitioners have been relying on since at least the time of Etteilla (1790). These essays make it possible for even a true beginner to start reading the cards immediately. This book can also be used as an operative manual to support any pack of Tarot constructed in the Continental style, following the Marseille numbering of the Trumps.