Egyptian Tarot Berti/Gonard

Abrac

I'm thinking about getting the companion book to the Egyptian Tarot by Lo Scarabeo. Does anyone know if it's very informative? I already know quite a bit about the history of the occult tarots and I probably won't want it if it's just a rehashing of the same old material. I have the Visconti Tarots companion by Berti and Gonard and found Berti to have some fresh insights into that deck and was wondering if the same might be true of the Egyptian Tarot book.
 

rwcarter

Hi abrac,

We have the set, but I haven't really looked through it in any detail. I can give you some basic idea of the contents of the book though.
  • It's 157 numbered pages.
  • There's a 4 page chronological history of tarot.
  • The introduction is 14 pages.
  • Then there are sections titled The Arcana of Destiny and The Pyramid Ceremony.
  • The Majors are then discussed in a section called The Major Arcana and The Magician's Doctrine. Each card has a B&W image of the card from this deck and the corresponding card from the Pitois Tarots (?). (The Brotherhood of Light Tarot cards appear to derive from the same source.) For each Major, they discuss the letter and number associations for the card (e.g., The Pyramid (Tower) is numbered 70) in addition to describing the imagery in the cards and giving Positive and Negative interpretations of the cards.
  • There appears to be some association between the pips and the Rosicrucian Circle. The pips, in addition to number or rank and suit, also have a title associated with them and are also given Positive and Negative meanings.
  • Then there are sections on The Mysteries of the Horoscope (including a section on the Onomantic Horoscope) and The Art of Cartomancy (basically, spreads).

HTH,
Rodney
 

Abrac

Thanks for all that info Rodney. It sounds like it should be pretty good. Pitois is Paul Christian so the reference to the Pitois Tarots should be the Brotherhood of Light Tarot. Out of curiosity, in the descriptions of the imagery does it say anything about the hieroglyphics?
 

rwcarter

I compared a couple of the Brotherhood of Light cards to the images in the book. They're close, but they're not exact.

As for the hieroglyphics, I don't see anything on quick glance through the book.

Rodney
 

Abrac

Rodney I acquired a copy of the book today and I see what you're saying now. I was confusing Paul Christian with C.C. Zain. The descriptions are straight from Christian's Historie de la Magie, and the images that accompany Alasia's are from Wegener's, on which hers is based. Honestly, the book doesn't really give much insight into The Egyptian Tarot itself. I would like to have seen a little more explanation of the cards which deviate from the Wegener and possibly an interpretation of the hieroglyphics. But Berti's style is interesting and there are enough good tidbits scattered throughout to make it a good read, imo.