santasser
Meaning a single authoritative scholarly work that is the standard historical go-to reference for tarot scholars. If there is not, let me know which books you think are otherwise the best.
Meaning a single authoritative scholarly work that is the standard historical go-to reference for tarot scholars. If there is not, let me know which books you think are otherwise the best.
I haven't read the book, but if it conjectures that there may be Kabbalistic influences in the Etteilla, that is not necessarily woo-woo but a natural consequence of Alliette's being exposed to Kabbalah in Freemasonry.Beware of the recent book by Decker (Esoteric tarot): without the restraining influence of Dummett, it's definitely woowoo.
I haven't read the book, but if it conjectures that there may be Kabbalistic influences in the Etteilla, that is not necessarily woo-woo but a natural consequence of Alliette's being exposed to Kabbalah in Freemasonry.
My bad! I somehow got the impression that Alliette's affiliation with Freemasonry was a given. Apparently the Payne-Towler movement has made some serious inroads into the internet.There is very little to indicate much Kabbalistic influence in Etteilla's tarot works, certainly none to show he made any connection for example between the trumps and Hebrew alphabet (despite the speculations of Christine Payne-Towler), nor much evidence that Etteilla was ever a Freemason (in fact he denies he was, and is scathing of them), and Decker's connections between Etteilla's keywords and Gitakilla's 'Gates of Light', which is perhaps Decker's most original suggestion, doesn't stand up to even the most casual examination - tis definitely woowoo.