Tarot of Ceremonial Magick: A Pictorial Synthesis of Three Great Pillars of Magick

This is not another novelty Tarot deck. In fact, it recaptures the true magical tradition of the Tarot as few decks have ever done. I have to admit that it isn't as pretty as the Crowley/Harris Thoth Deck or the Cicero's Golden Dawn Ritual Tarot, but it has something more than either of these classics ... in your face Magick!The four Elemental Tablets of the Enochian system of John Dee adorn the Aces - with the Aces and Court Cards you can construct the powerful Enochian Tablet of Union. The Small Cards bear the names and sigils of all 72 Spirits of the Goetia, and the names of the 72 Qabalistic Angels of the Shemhamaphorash, and the degrees of the zodiac and days of the year sacred to these spirits. Want to project your astral body into the elemental worlds? The Aces and Court Cards display colored tattwa symbols used for that very purpose. DuQuette didn't just through this stuff on some cards and call it Tarot. All these magical correspondences, even the colors, are organized with anal retentive perfection in strict conformity to the most revered magical and qabalistic traditions concerning the Tarot.The accompanying book is filled with all the technical information necessary to actually begin practicing Qabalistic, Enochian, and Goetic magick. The first question I had to ask myself after reading it was..."Am I ready for this?"

There's a lot of information packed into this comparatively small book. One would expect a work covering merely the Qabala and the Goetia at the same time to be rather thick, but this--with astrological data and various Crowley-bits--is mysteriously not. Mercifully, not.M. Duquette's secret is conciseness. Conciseness, and an entirely reasonable assumption that if the reader would like to know more about one of the book's aspects, said reader will do herself a service and find a more specialized volume. As a specific example: the Tree of Life is explained simply enough that I properly understood it for the first time while reading M. Duquette, but if I want to know why there isn't another world between the second tier of three and us, I'd do better to either pull a Yentl or look elsewhere.The interpretations given the cards--the most vital aspect for me...I use it as a reference--are excellent. Straightforward, earnest, and completely free of the self-conscious waffling and preening seen in less confident guides. It's nice to see the elemental sympathies of the cards spelled out for once, too. While M. Duquette is a Golden Dawner, for those who are not it must be noted that he keeps the Crowley to a comfortable and non-evangelical level. Very gracious of him. Quatrains suitable for use as memory aids are provided with each card, taken from Crowley's writings. He's mentioned occasionally. And, as per usual, the relevant aspects of his philosophy are explained and the rest left to the acolyte to research.This book has plied me with enough confidence in my knowledge of the Tarot and the related occult sciences to begin art on my own deck. And isn't that nice? If you are a Tarotist, gentle reader, this book will show you faces of your familiar cards you likely have never seen. If you are a rank neophyte, like myself...well. You won't be for long.

I own the deck and book and I am pleased to say that Lon Milo DuQuette has both met and exceeded my already high expectations of his work. This deck has for me been a valuable tool and and a great teacher of different forms of magick. For an individual who wants to diversify his/her education this deck definately will help. The book that was written for it is also of great help and i would highly recommend it to you. All in all i give this deck a 10.

Reprinted with publisher's permission from MANTEIA, a magazine for the mantic arts No. 15, November 1995. Published by OUROBOROS, ROSKILDE, DENMARK Reviewer: K. Frank Jensen, Editor and PublisherLon Milo DuQuette's Tarot of Ceremonial Magick With this deck we are back to the genuine tarot tradition, back to what tarot was before the modern card reading craze began in the 1970s and the growing popularity turned tarot into a mass medium. Apart from also being a card game, tarot was for about one hundred years, beginning in the mid-19th century, essentially a tool for the practising ceremonial magician. DuQuette is one of these with great experience, and in this deck he has combined the various systems that the magician uses to obtain his goal: Self-mastery, illumination and spiritual liberation.This deck is a natural sequel to other genuine magick decks, like THE GOLDEN DAWN TAROT and Crowley's BOOK OF THOTH. DuQuette has added more symbolic references than the mentioned decks; apart from the Hebrew and astrological references, this deck also has references to the Enochian tablets, to the 72 spirits of Goetia and to the Angels of Shemhamphorash. The Astrological references are extended to also include the decanates. References to the Tattwas and the I-Ching hexagrams are also included.What more can you wish for?The tiny booklet gives only a short survey over these symbolic systems, but a more extended study can be found in a book by the same author: TAROT OF CEREMONIAL MAGICK (Weiser 1995).

"It is not my intention to lure you away from any tarot deck you may currently prefer, but to help you understand the incalculable power and significance of whatever deck you may be using."...Lon Milo DuQuette... The Tarot of Ceremonial Magick (U.S. Games) is not just another novelty tarot deck and the ground-breaking companion book by the same name is more than just a book about tarot cards. It's author and creator, Lon Milo DuQuette, is one of today's most knowledgeable and entertaining experts on the subject. His bold claim that the Tarot of Ceremonial Magick is the `key that unlocks the secrets of all tarot decks' is backed solid scholarship and decades of magical practice. Written in the relaxed, humorous style that has made his earlier works so popular, DuQuette demonstrates how the Hebrew Qabalah forms the foundation upon which the Western Hermetic arts (astrology, tarot, geomancy, and the various branches of ceremonial magick) are constructed. He goes on to reveal that the Tarot is a visual representation of qabalistic fundamentals and is the common denominator between the various Hermetic arts. "One could even say the tarot is the DNA of the Qabalah. Properly decoded it reveals not only the mysteries of the Qabalah but also that of all other Qabalah-based systems." To prove this DuQuette has ingeniously placed pertinent data and images relating to Astrology and the two most widely practiced varieties of Qabalah-based magick -- Enochian Evocation and Goetia -- on the cards themselves. His book provides remarkably detailed background information concerning these magical practices...a single-source book without equal. The Tarot of Ceremonial Magick is truly the key that unlocks the secret of all tarot decks. R.D. Potter