The collection of symbolic images that composes the Tarot deck has exercised a singular fascination on the minds and hearts of innumerable people over several centuries. Many have undoubtedly been attracted to the cards for their use in divination, known in its debased form as fortune-telling. The late “Hollywood Prophet” of television fame, Criswell, combined platitude with truth when he said: “We are all interested in the future, for that is where you and I will spend the rest of our lives!” In past ages, as well as using the Tarot, enthusiasts of divination frequently also resorted to casting the bones, divining by entrails, and deciphering the flight of birds—along with gazing into crystals and bowls of water. But today, it is mainly the Tarot, astrology, and the I Ching that are most usually employed for that purpose.

In addition to its ever-popular use as an instrument of divination, the Tarot deck also serves as a symbolic system of self-knowledge, self-integration, self-transformation, and self-transcendence. J. E. Cirlot, the noted authority on symbolism, writes regarding the work of depth psychologist C. G. Jung:

Present-day psychology has confirmed . . . that the Tarot cards comprise an image (comparable to that encountered in dreams) of the path of initiation. At the same time Jung’s view, coinciding with the secular, intuitive approach to the Tarot enigmas, recognized the portrayal of two different, but complimentary struggles in the life of man: (a) the struggle against others . . . and (b) [the struggle] against himself . . . involving individuation.*

* Juan-Eduardo Cirlot, Dictionary of Symbols, trans. Jack Sage (New York: Philosophical Library, 1962), 310.

The psychic resonance that the Tarot images tend to induce seems to be in no way diminished by rational considerations; and, indeed, the meaning of the Tarot is not discovered by discursive reasoning. Like all spiritually significant objects and practices, the Tarot poses a kind of riddle without apparent solution. It is thus that we are forced to rely on a certain gnosis—that is, our own inner knowing—in order to apprehend the meaning. We might use this insight for purposes either of our external lives (Jung’s “the struggle against others”) or of our spiritual growth (“the struggle with ourselves”).

This book is devoted primarily to the way in which the twenty-two greater trump cards or Major Arcana of the Tarot serve as symbols for a particular method of meditation, the object of which is similar to what Jung calls “individuation,” by which he means the life-long work of self-realization. In Kabbalistic language, the method is known as “path work.” Meditation along the ways of the paths of the Kabbalistic Tree of Life is a practice that was first brought into public view by the fabled Order of the Golden Dawn, of which W. B. Yeats, S. L. MacGregor Mathers, W. W. Westcott, and A. E. Waite were some of the members. The late Dr. F. Israel Regardie, the last authentic representative of the original Golden Dawn tradition, frequently commented favorably on the earlier form of this book, and numerous readers have reported remarkable expansions of consciousness when using the twenty-two meditations it presents. Thus I feel justified when sending forth this revised and updated version, and I hope it will become a relevant and useful tool for explorers of consciousness in the twenty-first century.

Nearly thirty years have elapsed since the book’s original publication, then entitled The Royal Road. Since that time, I have acquired modest fame as an interpreter of the Gnostic tradition to contemporary people. Accordingly, I need to address some questions that may be posed, such as: In what way do Tarot cards, with their various uses, relate to Gnosticism? Are they not part of the paraphernalia of the so-called New Age and hence unrelated to the lofty, transcendental concerns of Gnostics? The answer is simpler than expected: since gnosis has to do with intuitively perceived inner knowing, Gnostics welcome all means that stimulate such knowing—including the Tarot. Nor is divination per se foreign to Gnostic concerns. Throughout history, Gnostics have availed themselves of the synchronicities that occur in our earthly lives.

In conclusion, I wish to call attention to the audio CD included with this new edition. It is to be hoped that my reading of the meditation texts may simplify the practices recommended herein. Some might even welcome the voice they may have already heard in taped lectures or on the Gnostic website: www.gnosis.org. In any case, I want to wish all of my readers “Bon voyage” on this pilgrimage!