tarot architects

I suggest checking out Paul Huson's recent book "Mystical Origins of Tarot: from Ancient Roots to Modern Usage" (Destiny Boks ISBN 0-89281-190-0). Huson delves into the historical sources for the images on the cards, and how the divinatory meanings evolved from these images.

Here's an earlier thread on this book:
http://www.tarotforum.net/showthread.php?t=28868

Hey mzoltarp,

I'm not exacty sure the scope of your interest, so I'll just jump in with some recs. Let me know if this isn't what you're looking for.

For a substantive short overview, the first third of Cynthia Giles' The Tarot: History, Mystery and Lore is a terrific starting point that references MANY of the books and history available and might focus your research.

For a look at the men and women themselves, you might consider the Golden Dawn Scrapbook: Rise and Fall of a Magical Order by R. A. Gilbert which I just started. It seems to lean to the gossipy but is a helluva read.

For info about the emergence of divination traditions look at History of the Occult Tarot: 1870-1970 by Dummett & Decker, but as noted above they are pretty hostile to the idea of divinatory Tarot. You could also check out Huson's Mystical Origin's of the Tarot for a friendlier take. That said, Art and Arcana by Decker was written as a companion book for the Medieval Scapini deck, is much cheaper than these other titles, and is also packed with interesting research and info.

You can find most of Waite's, Crowley's, Papus', and Mathers Tarot writings as public domain downloads on the web. Check out:
http://www.hermetic.com/gdlibrary/
http://www.private.org.il/GD/
http://www.sacred-texts.com/index.htm

Digging deeper into history and theory...

If you're interested in Pre-GD Tarot history and tradition, before it's esotericized publicly (oxymoron?) in the 18th Century start with Wicked Pack of Cards by Dummett, Decker & DePaulis.

For some pre-GD theory, I HIGHLY recommend picking up a copy of O'Neill's Tarot Symbolism, long out of print and recently reissued by the Association for Tarot Studies... There's a terrific review on their site that will make it clear why this book is so sought after. If you order it, mention Aeclectic:
http://association.tarotstudies.org/symbolism.html

You can also check out some of ONeill's articles on the Tarot available online at:
http://www.tarot.com/about-tarot/library/boneill/

Two harder to find titles are Mystical Tower of the Tarot by John Blakely which connects Tarot to the Sufi tradition. And Stephen Franklin's Origins of the Tarot Deck, which posits a very complicated connection to "the Astronomical Substructure of Game and Divining Boards."

And if you have several hours to spend, you should surf over to http://trionfi.com/ which has an amazing collection of scanned decks, primary texts about the Tarot and its history as well as articles, etc.

Hope this helps


Scion

Thank you Scion for that wealth of information. I will investigate it. Much appreaicted.

To quote myself:
"I know there have to be many books on Crowley, Case, Rider, Waite etc. i.e. the old school architects of tarot and the old schools themselves i.e. GD etc."

To those of you who were perplexed as to what I was looking for the above quote would suggest biographies.

Hey

Had time to dig a little more. For straight bios, you might check out:
(Great Tarotists of Yesteryear... a fantastic overview)
http://www.villarevak.org/bio/cont.html
Also stuff at:
http://www.golden-dawn.org/biomathers.html
http://home.earthlink.net/~xristos/GoldenDawn/bio.htm

For some nuts and bolts Tarot "Architecture" look at Jim Revak's Article "THE INFLUENCE OF ETTEILLA & HIS SCHOOL ON MATHERS & WAITE"
http://www.villarevak.org/emw/emw_1.htm

You might also look at Magicians of the Golden Dawn by Ellic Howe. One of the definitive histories of the organization.
Also, The Sword of Wisdom: MacGregor Mathers & the Golden Dawn by Ithell Colquhoun

For individuals:

Crowley:
The Magick of Aleister Crowley: A Handbook of the Rituals of Thelema by Lon Milo Duquette (Duquette is an hilarious writer AND a scrupulous historian. Fantastic.)
Perdurabo: The Life of Aleister Crowley by Richard Kaczynski (Phenomenal comprehensive bio)
The Illustrated Beast by Sandy Robertson (A scrapbook of Crowleyana, photos, excerpts, and critical writing)
and http://www.villarevak.org/bio/crowley_1.html

Waite:
A.E. Waite, Magician of Many Parts by R.A. Gilbert

Levi:
Éliphas Lévi and the French Occult Revival by Christopher McIntosh
Also http://www.villarevak.org/bio/levi_1.html

Yeats:
Yeats, The Tarot And The Golden Dawn by Kathleen Raine

Hope some of these work for you...

Scion

Scion, you rule

Don't forget the ladies!

I haven't actually read it, but I have heard good things about Women of the Golden Dawn by Mary K. Greer.

Thank you!


You're right; I completely forget that book. I own it, because so many people had recommended it, but haven't read it.

You just bumpped it up the to-be-read pile. Thanks rachelcat.

A more complete collection of Yeats from Kathleen Raine

Yeats the Initiate might be easier to to buy and for a similar price to the earlier mention of Yeats, The Tarot and the Golden Dawn--this book contains the full essay and pictures, along with other interesting bits.

I recommend it because also I learned about "The Vision" and it gave me better understanding of Yeats participation in this area of the archives:

http://www.yeatsvision.com/GD.html

One of my favorite illustrators, Edmund Dulac, illustrated a wheel picture that had the four suits of the tarot in an emblem for his friend Yeats. That was a rich pivot point for me...it is in the Yeats and Initiate book.

Best wishes on your research.

Oh, by the way, the personal tarot deck choice of of Yeats shown in both Mary Greer's Women of the Golden Dawn and Kathleen Raine's book is known today as the Dotti Tarocco. It is available in a large card kit with Italian cartomancy book as the I Tarocchi di Laura Tuan from De Vecchi with the aged feel or a small pocket version with cleaned up cards through Il Meneghello...alidastore.com or tarotgarden.com should have it...sometimes when I read Yeats poetry, I take out these decks...the lovely green robes and clothing on many of the figures remind me of lovely Irish themes...

Happy reading!

Cerulean

Sorry....

"And Stephen Franklin's Origins of the Tarot Deck, which posits a very complicated connection to "the Astronomical Substructure of Game and Divining Boards."

Well, just let me say that I wasn't trying to be complicated... It's just that Pythagoras was a rather complex character who saw things in geometrical terms, the way all Greek mathematicians of his age did. If there's anything you'd like me to try to simplify, let me know.

Steve Franklin

Origins of the Tarot Deck Posted Online

I have posted the complete text of my Origins of the Tarot Deck, in pdf form, here: http://neros.lordbalto.com/AppendixC.htm. This is Appendix C of my online work, A Cyclical History of the World.

Enjoy.