FOREWORD by Carl Llewellyn Weschcke, 7th Past Grandmaster Aurum Solis
What’s a “Foreword” for?
As they say, that’s a good question but there is no established answer. A Foreword can accomplish anything the writer wants, but the one general criterion is that it is normally written by someone other than the author.
I have my own ideas of what a Foreword should do. It should quickly and concisely forewarn the reader about what is really important in the book that follows, and especially anything that is radical, revolutionary or innovative.
I warn you that what you are going to read about the Tarot will – or should if you are wide awake! – completely change your thinking about Tarot and your use of the Tarot deck. Most people don’t like change and few people are really wide awake. Most of us – I’m including myself – are not always truly awake and rarely do we welcome change even when pretending that we do. We want our comfort, we prefer consistency, and we honor tradition while yearning for simpler times of the Good Olde Days.
Real “revolutions” are evolutionary, and when involved with esoteric and spiritual concepts their essential function is to wake us up, expand our consciousness, and open doors we didn’t see were there all the time.
The difference between revolution and evolution is the one happens to you and the other requires you to take the “next step” to accomplish the change in your reality. Evolution builds upon the past, but the change in your reality is transformative and even the past looks different from your new perspective and place of understanding.
How old is the Tarot?
Historically it is both a few hundred years old and several thousand because its hidden power has slowly opened our doors of perception to its esoteric function and purpose. Our author tells us that the Tarot was created to invoke specific invisible forces that generate energies present both within us and at universal levels. Each card represents a state of consciousness and a particular energy which can be invoked and used in ritual and divination as keys to the most ancient archetypes.
“Tarot induces an action of the subtle planes which is capable of affecting our invisible bodies and then reverberating into the physical level in our daily lives.”
He further writes that the “Tarot was conceived to transmit a secret initiatic inheritance by channeling specific invisible powers and stimulating energies inside of us that are extent in the entire universe” and that “its construction is based on an occult structure that makes each Arcanum a genuine Talisman which is able, merely by its presence, to generate those effects to which it corresponds.”
However, he does warn the reader that most versions of the Tarot are not completely effective in connecting us with these full powers, and explains why and reveals the answer to the problem.
What you already see is that this Divine Tarot is a long ways from “the devil’s picture book,” or the simple art form of the Italian Renaissance. We don’t have the “fortune telling” decks so entertaining in Victorian times and we have much more than even promised by the modern magickal orders.
The Tarot is a system, not a “thing,” and as such it stands alone and unaided to fulfill it purpose of providing an inner experience of contacting the Divine powers and incorporating them into your own psyche, fostering your psychic development and empowerment. You will then be able to use these powers even in solving personal life problems by taking action on the invisible planes.
Understanding of the secret origins of Tarot symbolism, the reader is directly involved with the nearly alchemical process of transformation that is itself the secret of Initiation.
The sacred language of the Theurgic tradition was not Hebrew, but Greek. Yes Hebrew was and is prominent not only in Qabalistic studies and magical practices, but it is with the Theurgic tradition that we find the authentic theoretical and practical uses of the Tarot keys as well as their original correspondences. And that Theurgic tradition is continued to this day in the Ogdoadic Tradition of the Aurum Solis.
It is within that ancient tradition, reaching back to the origins of the Tarot, that we correct the errors to be found in the Waite and other modern decks, the we find the original correspondences of the sacred Greek letters, see the original Qabalistic correspondences to the sacred Hebrew letters, perceive the archetypal relationships with the Greek Divinities and rediscover the sacred names corresponding to these Divine Powers.
Building upon these Revolutionary/Evolutionary foundations, the book takes the reader well beyond the limitations of ordinary Tarot practices of divination and even of talismanic and ritual magick. Through these uses and active meditation we are in astral and mental contact with the invisible living Spirit or Angel of the Tarot that has existed now for thousands of years.
It is with the system of the Tarot, and interaction with the Angel that the Divine Tarot becomes a complete initiatory experience. We are not limited to just the physical reality but Tarot enables a true link and a reciprocal exchange between the physical and the non-physuical, between our mind and the spiritual world. Through our subtle bodies the Taort system makes it possible to enter directly into a relationship with different levels of reality. Thought Forms are created of astral substance and then function to connect us with other entities and energies that empower our further evolutionary growth and development.
Seeing the Tarot as a genuine symbolic summary of the Divine Powers at work throughout the Cosmos we enter into new relations and responsibilities as conscious co-creators, knowing that every thought and action has consequences beyond our personal sphere. Even our divination becomes more than interpretation but open an interactive channel to influence the outcome of the reading.
We can go further, using the Tarot Cards as astral doorways to travel out-of-body, experience new realities, and to become more than we are!