Everyone Interested in the Esoteric & Mystical

This book is resplendent in its legends, stories, mystical and esoteric ideas. Spanning, in some cases, more than a 1000 years, this is a reference book everyone who is at all interested in the esoteric, particularly alchemy and tarot, should read.
Alchemy and the tarot, however represent only a portion of what this text encompasses. The first half of the book is a sweeping stroke of psychological and esoteric topics: numerology, the Emerald tablet, the Knights Templar, Rusicrucians, the Renaissance, the body humors, Jungian psychology and alchemy. As you might imagine, this is an intellectually heroic undertaking. Even if you do not have Robert’s Alchemical Tarot, you will find this book useful.

Tarot Card’s Meanings & Alchemy Perfectly Aligned

Until reading this book, I didn’t fully comprehend how relevant alchemy was to understanding the tarot card’s meanings. For example, many early Tarotists were also alchemists and their knowledge of alchemy influenced the meaning they assigned to many of the trump cards.
Robert explains why alchemy and tarot are so appropriately aligned,
“In this alchemical journey, the Fool acts as the alchemist, and proceeds through the trumps toward his goal. He begins with the Materia Prima, represented by the Magician, splits him into his four physical elements, the four cardinal rulers, the High Priestess to the Pope, and recombines the elements in the lesser conjunction, the Lovers. The product of this union, the Chariot, is subjected to a series of chemical processes, represented by the trumps in the second section. These processes culminate with his death, the Death trump. The soul of the product is also separated, in the Tower, purified, in the Star, and recombined in a greater conjunction, the Moon and the Sun. Now, the dead matter can be resurrected, in Judgement, and the elements can take their places at the four corners of the World trump, framing the beautiful nude in the centre, who is the Anima Mundi, the Quinta Essentia, and the essence of the Philosopher’s Stone.”

Robert’s Writing on Esoteric & Psychological Topics

I had to ask why Robert felt compelled to reinvent the wheel, explaining concepts which are available extensively elsewhere. It seemed a waste of time and resources to delve into many of the topics in the depth he does when other whole texts are dedicated to the topic. For the reader of this book who isn’t versed at all in these topics, his work may provide just the right sized information bites they’ll ever need.
I give this book a must have for the tarotist who is serious about delving deeper into these broad esoteric and psychological topics and their connection to the early development of the tarot.