The Qabalistic Tarot: A Textbook of Mystical Philosophy Hardcover – January 1, 2004

With this book, Robert Wang provides us with a very complete presentation of the Qabalah and the Tarot. Unless you are already completely familiar with these subjects you will learn a great deal about both. Mr. Wang achieves this by focusing on the symbolism of four different decks and explaining the historical context and intentions of the people responsible for each deck. This book has the feel of a textbook in the sense that all the commentary is well referenced and it is clear when Mr. Wang is injecting his own views. He gives a fair shake to each of the four variants of Tarot decks and does a good job at pointing out the differences and also provides the context for why the differences exist. To be clear, this book deals with what I would call the Hermetic Qabalah as has evolved via the contribution of many sources such as Eliphas Levi and members of The Golden Dawn, as opposed to the Kabbalah that has evolved within a more purely Jewish context. The beginning of the book has a section that discusses this distinction. Anyway, all the Qabalistic concepts in this book are very traditional in the sense that they are widely agreed upon throughout the occult community. This book is unique in that the focus is first on the symbolism, and then the concepts of each card and path are extracted from there. I think this helps to emphasize that any written explanation will never be fully adequate to express these higher level concepts. There are many Qabalistic and Tarot books that attempt to explain the paths through poetry, or meditative writing, which is fine, but to me these always come across as someone's personal experience rather than a universal experience. For me, this is a great occult book because Mr. Wang provides his own well developed understanding of the complete system without pushing the reader too hard to accept any specific doctrine. In this way, the book becomes a tool to use to stitch together your own understanding, or it can be used in parallel with the instruction of a specific order. Great job!

If I were to take a shot at summing this book up for those who've read much of the circuit already, it's reminiscent of a much more condensed version of Gareth Knight's A Practical Guide To Qabalistic Symbolism. The main difference is that rather than diving off quite as much into path working he gets more into the meanings and values of the particular planes in relationship to the pips for the ten sephira and also, as advertised, compares both these and the major trump to some of the better known late 19th and early 20th century decks in addition to the 18th century Marsailles; four decks shown pictorially with the BOTA deck referenced often making a fifth under analysis.What I found particularly helpful also was the information that he placed right before the talk on the major trump - ie. the description of the different ways that the ToL can be assessed in its qualities and dynamics. It might also be my most likely recommended starting book for someone who is coming it at the Hermetic Qabalah from the tarot side and wants to know more about the association.I'd offer this book as a critical addition to anyone's shelf who is attempting to really get their heads around the Golden Dawn system. As no book out there can really be exhaustively comprehensive I would prize this one just on how concise it is and how much great information it's able to condense at under 300 pages.

This book is absolutely a Gold mine of esoteric spiritual knowledge. Every body that wants to study the Hermetic Qabalah in combination with the Tarot cards cannot go round this book. I bought the first version of this book in 1989. Due to intensive use it started falling apart so I decided to buy this second edition in hardcover. How ever what's really disappointing of this second edition is the poor quality of the pictures of the Tarot cards used in this book. It looks like cheap photo copy material. The first edition had much nicer and better quality pictures of the Tarot cards in it. Paper quality looks good, but I don’t know if it starts to become yellow in the coming years. The first versions paper is still good after al these years. But my comment on the quality of the pictures is the only critical remark I can make about this gorgeous book. I’am Robert Wang deeply grateful for creating this book.

It is rare to come across an occult book that you would consider classifying as a masterpiece; however, this is one of them! Now, if you are looking for a book to help you set up a fortune-telling stand at your local renaissance fair, then this review does not apply. This is a book of spiritual technology. In the hands of those properly oriented and prepared, the contents of this book will help transport you further and deeper in your Quest. It really is summed up quite well by a quotation the author provided just ahead of his preface to the second edition:"Without the Tarot the magic of the ancients is a closed book, and it is impossible to penetrate any of the great mysteries of the Kabbalah." --- Eliphas LeviYou are ancient. This is your magic. This book can help you reclaim your own Divine Heritage.Much Love and Light to you in your own personal journey within...

The first thing I thought when I saw this book was "Man is this the same guy who did the GD Deck? I'm not sure I wanna read a whole book by him." But having read all the rave reviews on here I decided to give it a go. I'm glad I did, as the book is surprisingly deep.The book is basically about the Qabalah, and how the Tarot ties in to the Qabalah. Wang talks alot about the Qabalah, and then starts tying it in to the cards. He uses his own deck (unfortunately), Crowley's Thoth deck, the Rider-Waite deck, and the Marsailles deck to go through their meanings in relation to the Qabalistic Tree of Life. If you are studying High Magick, it's a great book to get because you are essentially killing many birds with one stone. You learn alot about Qabalah and Tarot, you learn about 4 specific Tarot decks at once, and you learn about Astrology among other things.

Beautiful condition and excellent edition. Very reasonably priced.

The book was advertised as second hand and in good condition so I had expected signs of wear but - much better condition than expected. Well done !!