tarot
Ancient Mysteries
Mystery school-rooted tarot referencing ancient esoteric traditions and initiation.
by Roger Calverley · Lotus Press · 1995
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The Canon's read
Tarot Canon's own assessment, written for this catalog.
Roger Calverley's 1995 deck through Lotus Press comes with the archive reviewer's most practical advice: buy the book with the deck, because the cards alone, while usable, keep their depths locked. That is not a flaw so much as a declaration of type. The Ancient Mysteries Tarot belongs to the initiatory school, its images referencing the mystery traditions, initiation, and the graded disclosure of esoteric teaching, and decks of that school have always been half of a two-volume set, image and instruction.
The pattern recurs across this catalog's curriculum decks, from B.O.T.A. to the Brotherhood of Light: where the deck is a syllabus, the text is not optional. Approached complete, it rewards the studious temperament it was built for. It suits readers drawn to the mystery-school current who accept homework, collectors of teaching decks, and students comparing how the initiatory tradition renders itself in images. Casual readers who skip manuals should believe the reviewer and choose a deck that explains itself.
From the archive
An excerpt from a review at the Aeclectic Tarot archive, in the original reviewer's voice.
The Ancient Mysteries Tarot is quite an interesting deck. I would advise purchasing the book and deck together, as the deck alone, while certainly usable, does little to take the reader to the depth of the cards. For the images...
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