During the years 1972 and 1973, the task devolved upon me to conduct several classes throughout Southern California dealing with the combined use of the Tarot cards and the symbolic philosophy of the Kabbalah. In the course of these sessions, I was impelled to compose twenty-two brief meditations, expressing the quintessence of what I conceived to be the principal spiritual experiences embodied in each of the twenty-two paths connecting the ten sephiroth on the Tree of Life, with special reference to the symbolic representations of the paths in the twenty-two cards of the Tarot Major Arcana.

As my work developed, interest grew both in the subject in general and in the texts of the meditations in particular. Numerous students came to regard the meditations as very helpful to their endeavors in the direction of experiencing the qualities of the paths and Tarot Arcana. Increasingly, the suggestion was brought forward that I make these meditation texts available to a larger public. It was suggested that I also present, at least in outline form, the philosophical and mystical rationale behind the practice of meditating with the aid of the Tarot and the Kabbalah. Flowing naturally from these various considerations, there emerged the present work, which is chiefly intended to serve as a handbook of Kabbalistic meditation on the Major Arcana of the Tarot; however, depending on the readers’ inclination, it may serve other, ancillary purposes as well. Since this treatise does not presuppose any previous background of reading and study within the fields of either the Kabbalah or the Tarot, it may be considered a primer of these subjects, in addition to being a guide to a specific practice of meditation. It is thus my hope that my efforts will furnish an appropriate introduction to a topic that is essentially inexhaustible and a veritable fountainhead of unending delights and wonders.

The system of meditation and of the mystical philosophy outlined in this small work is a symbolic one. Symbolic systems exist in order to make available to the aspirant the ciphers of the mystery. They are designed to place into the hands of the student a set of keys whereby the portals of the secret chambers may be unlocked. Whether and how the person desirous of the inner light may make use of the cipher, and in what manner he will apply the keys, is his own individual task, in which no teacher or author can assist him past a certain point. Like Moses of old, the symbols can only lead us to the very boundary of the Promised Land, where another leader, in this case our own desire for truth and light, must complete the task of the great conquest. This journey, sometimes called the Royal Road, must be trod by the reader himself: the present manual can at best serve only as an inducement, a hint, a finger pointing at the moon. Earthly books are pale reflections of the Book of Life, and all words are but inadequate substitutes for the Lost Word which must be found within ourselves. The Royal Road, which in ancient China was also called Tao, “the way,” has most aptly been characterized by Lao-tse, when he said:

The way that can be told
Is not the constant way;
The name that can be named
Is not the eternal name.