The Qabalistic Tarot: A Textbook of Mystical Philosophy - Tapa dura

Hailed by reviewers as 'a masterpiece' and as 'the single most profound reference of its kind', The Qabalistic Tarot has become the standard in its field, a book essential to all students of Tarot symbolism. It is both a textbook and a sourcebook for the symbols of the Western Hermetic Qabalah, a corpus of mystical ideas which have, for centuries, exerted a powerful influence on the development of Western thought. Dr. Wang explains the Tarot as an externalization of a mystical system which has evolved from approximately the third century C.E. to our own time. He traces the development of Qabalistic ideas from the Neoplatonic through the Medieval, Renaissance, and Modern periods, systematically discussing each Sephira and Path on the Tree of Life. He uses the Tarot images as a point of visual reference, and provides a thorough explanation of the symbolic intricacies of the Paths. The Qabalistic Tarot is recommended as a comprehensive textbook for individual study or for the classroom. The first and only work based on the four major decks in use today, it is the ideal companion book for the Golden Dawn Tarot, the Thoth Tarot, the Rider-Waite Tarot, or the traditional Marseilles deck.

Robert Wang is a medievalist art historian/artist. He is the creator of the Golden Dawn Tarot Deck in collaboration with the late Israel Regardie and is the artist of the acclaimed Jungian Tarot Deck. His books include studies of Jungian archetypal imagery and of the historical development of such movements as Hermetic Qabalah and Rosicrucianism. Paintings by Robert Wang include the first complete illustrations for Grimms' Fairy Tales and The Short Stories of Edgar Allen Poe.