It is a simple spread that draws on three cards only, which will keep reading with the Hermetic Tarot under control, as the deck is black and white and detail-intensive. Rather than ask whether a promotion will be given at work, if the seeker asks about the greater karmic threads interwoven into her career and professional development, the Hermetic Tarot will prove to be profoundly empowering.Ī reading spread that takes well to the Hermetic Tarot is the Triquetra Spread. Thus, if the love inquiry is more focused on what greater forces are at play in a seeker’s love life, the Hermetic Tarot can answer that better than the standard decks. While I found the deck dysfunctional when reading mundane inquiries about the prospects of a romantic relationship or whether a promotion will be given at work, the Hermetic Tarot can be consulted when a seeker needs to channel or tap into greater universal life forces for personal empowerment. Overall, the Hermetic Tarot combines the many practical symbolic elements of the RWS and the haute esoteric nature of the Thoth for the creation of one incredible deck that every serious tarot practitioner will want in his or her arsenal. Practitioners who use the Thoth will be right at home with the Hermetic Tarot. Moreover, some imagery in the Hermetic Tarot are reminiscent of the Thoth, such as Key 12, The Hanged Man, Four of Cups, or Ten of Wands, among others. The essences of the cards as denoted by the titles are almost transferrable onto the RWS. Note the card titles assigned to each card in the Hermetic deck. At the end of this deck review are correspondence tables that compare the RWS with the Hermetic Tarot. The anatomy of the Hermetic Tarot is the same as the Rider-Waite-Smith (RWS) (e.g., VIII is Strength and XI is Justice or their equivalents) and there is substantial crossover of subscribed card meanings to render the Hermetic Tarot user-friendly for anyone familiar with the RWS. That being said, the little white booklet that accompanies the Hermetic Tarot provides the meanings of the cards in the “ill-dignified” position, as reversals are called in the booklet, which suggests that the deck is nevertheless intended for reading with reversals. As they are non-reversible, it may not be an ideal deck for reading with reversals. The backs of the cards are illustrated with the Hermetic Rose and hexagrams. For practitioners who adopt interpretive methods reliant on elemental dignities and affinities, that is a godsend. The Knight of Swords, for example, represents Fire (for the Knight) on Air (for the suit of Swords). In the court cards, the alchemical symbol corresponding with the classical element that the card itself represents appears on the top left and the symbol for the element corresponding with the suit appears on the top right. In the Major Arcana, the Key’s corresponding Hebrew letter appears on the top left corner. Corresponding alchemical symbols for the four elements and astrological symbols are embedded into each card to denote the attributions. Godfrey Dowson draws heavily from elemental dignities and affinities, Western astrology as interpreted by the Golden Dawn, and the Qabalah. It can be integrated into personal rituals, meditations, and ceremonies and in fact is probably far better suited for such work than, say, the Marseille, Rider-Waite-Smith, or even the Thoth decks. As a Golden Dawn study deck, the card images are fundamentally focused on alchemical and astrological references such as the decans in the Minor Arcana, with the deck outfitted for theurgy. The tone of the deck and Dowson’s artwork invokes the full spectrum of powers within the tarot practitioner for spiritual divinatory work. The Hermetic Tarot by Godfrey Dowson is a masterpiece.
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