jema
I think your friend is reading the deck like the devil reads the bible and that you won't ever want to hear the comments of people who does not agree with you.
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Tarot of the Sephirot and Black Magic ??
I think your friend is reading the deck like the devil reads the bible and that you won't ever want to hear the comments of people who does not agree with you.
magpie9
There is a companion book to this deck, which goes into all the symbolism, etc., and what the deck creator had in mind. An online bookstore called something like "New Age bargain books" or "monderozzi books" usually has it in stock for very little. I have a copy, which I can't find at the moment. I suggest you get a copy and find the answers to you questions. There is nothing like actual knowledge to drive pointless fears away.I did make a point that was admittedly not what a scholar would say about how the images, the emperor in particular, look devilish or disturbing....and I am prepared to make an experiment and show the emperor of the sephirot to a number of people and ask instinctively what they think it represents ....that might be cheap, and it might not prove anything, but certainly it would prove that it triggers something in the Collective Unconscious.....
I'll see if I can find a link for that bookstore.
VGimlet
Perhaps if you are finding the deck this disturbing you should simply burn it, so it doesn't influence any innocents, and move on. (Joking a bit, but not completely.)
From what I remember, and it's been awhile since I looked at this deck, the Tarot of the Sepiroth is supposed to be a link between Tarot and Kaballah, illustrating the sepiroth (orbs) of the tree of life.
Some Christians and Jews feel the Kaballah is evil or leading down a negative path because it doesn't follow the doctrine of either religion.
The creator, Dan Staroff, has a Facebook page. Perhaps you or your friend could contact him through there and find out, straight from the source, as it were, if that was his intention.
There are quite a few folks who believe that the Christian concept of the Devil was co-opted from both the gods Pan and Dionysius, both of whom represented sex, drinking and music. Also the horned gods worshipped by various British/Celtic populations up through medieval times, along with goddesses.
However, the archetypical image of the red horned devil didn't come until later on in the Christian mythos.
From what I remember, and it's been awhile since I looked at this deck, the Tarot of the Sepiroth is supposed to be a link between Tarot and Kaballah, illustrating the sepiroth (orbs) of the tree of life.
Some Christians and Jews feel the Kaballah is evil or leading down a negative path because it doesn't follow the doctrine of either religion.
The creator, Dan Staroff, has a Facebook page. Perhaps you or your friend could contact him through there and find out, straight from the source, as it were, if that was his intention.
There are quite a few folks who believe that the Christian concept of the Devil was co-opted from both the gods Pan and Dionysius, both of whom represented sex, drinking and music. Also the horned gods worshipped by various British/Celtic populations up through medieval times, along with goddesses.
However, the archetypical image of the red horned devil didn't come until later on in the Christian mythos.
magpie9
Here is a link to that bookstore....I urge you to check it out. I have this deck, and see it very differently than you...I find the art mostly amusing. I have never done much with it, because I just can't work up any real interest in Kabbalah. It puts me to sleep. However, I think it is very important for you to get some actual fact about the deck since it is so disturbing to you, and your friend.
http://discountnewagebooks.com/products_byprice_1-1-1.html
Good luck to you, and I hope you will soon find yourself more comfortable about this deck, whether because you have actual knowledge about it, or have thrown it away.
http://discountnewagebooks.com/products_byprice_1-1-1.html
Good luck to you, and I hope you will soon find yourself more comfortable about this deck, whether because you have actual knowledge about it, or have thrown it away.
novenovembre
There is a companion book to this deck, which goes into all the symbolism, etc., and what the deck creator had in mind. An online bookstore called something like "New Age bargain books" or "monderozzi books" usually has it in stock for very little. I have a copy, which I can't find at the moment. I suggest you get a copy and find the answers to you questions. There is nothing like actual knowledge to drive pointless fears away.
I'll see if I can find a link for that bookstore.
Thank you so much for the info. And it is not about fear, just curiosity.
novenovembre
Perhaps if you are finding the deck this disturbing you should simply burn it, so it doesn't influence any innocents, and move on. (Joking a bit, but not completely.)
From what I remember, and it's been awhile since I looked at this deck, the Tarot of the Sepiroth is supposed to be a link between Tarot and Kaballah, illustrating the sepiroth (orbs) of the tree of life.
Some Christians and Jews feel the Kaballah is evil or leading down a negative path because it doesn't follow the doctrine of either religion.
The creator, Dan Staroff, has a Facebook page. Perhaps you or your friend could contact him through there and find out, straight from the source, as it were, if that was his intention.
There are quite a few folks who believe that the Christian concept of the Devil was co-opted from both the gods Pan and Dionysius, both of whom represented sex, drinking and music. Also the horned gods worshipped by various British/Celtic populations up through medieval times, along with goddesses.
However, the archetypical image of the red horned devil didn't come until later on in the Christian mythos.
This is very interesting, thank you....I knew about Pan and Dionysius, and I think it would be interesting to ask the creator of the deck what he knows or thinks of these symbols...and I know some Jews and Christians believe the Cabbalah is evil, I never agreed with that....
novenovembre
Perhaps if you are finding the deck this disturbing you should simply burn it, so it doesn't influence any innocents, and move on. (Joking a bit, but not completely.)
From what I remember, and it's been awhile since I looked at this deck, the Tarot of the Sepiroth is supposed to be a link between Tarot and Kaballah, illustrating the sepiroth (orbs) of the tree of life.
Some Christians and Jews feel the Kaballah is evil or leading down a negative path because it doesn't follow the doctrine of either religion.
The creator, Dan Staroff, has a Facebook page. Perhaps you or your friend could contact him through there and find out, straight from the source, as it were, if that was his intention.
There are quite a few folks who believe that the Christian concept of the Devil was co-opted from both the gods Pan and Dionysius, both of whom represented sex, drinking and music. Also the horned gods worshipped by various British/Celtic populations up through medieval times, along with goddesses.
However, the archetypical image of the red horned devil didn't come until later on in the Christian mythos.
PS And, despite what some posters keep suggesting, I am not superstitious, not scared, and although I do not use that deck simply because I don't like it and never have, I do not think that owning it represents a problem of any kind....!
novenovembre
Here is a link to that bookstore....I urge you to check it out. I have this deck, and see it very differently than you...I find the art mostly amusing. I have never done much with it, because I just can't work up any real interest in Kabbalah. It puts me to sleep. However, I think it is very important for you to get some actual fact about the deck since it is so disturbing to you, and your friend.
http://discountnewagebooks.com/products_byprice_1-1-1.html
Good luck to you, and I hope you will soon find yourself more comfortable about this deck, whether because you have actual knowledge about it, or have thrown it away.
Thanks again !....
novenovembre
It might be worth mentioning that when many traditions interlock, some things that might mean something according to one don't mean the same things according to another. I study the Golden Dawn, and none of the points mentioned have any connection, as far as I know, with anything that could be construed as black magic. That doesn't mean the same symbols can't mean something else in another tradition. Both the clockwise and counterclockwise swastika has been used by many cultures; its direction does not automatically make it "black," nor does the inverted pentagram denote such a thing.
Still, I can't imagine a Kabbalistic Tarot dealing in black magic; I at least see nothing of the sort in it. However, many peoples' definition of black magic may change. The Abramelin ritual is seen by popular media as a black magic ritual, but that isn't its essence. Instead of playing broken telephone, this person's sources would answer this question better than anything.
On the inverted petagram being a black symbol there is quite a lot of literature. My friend confirmed with a message that the book " Tarot and Cabbalah" by the author I mentioned before, Samael Aun Weor, talks about the symbols of the major arcana as they should be, and the inverted pentagram as a black symbol. Eliphas Levi-surely much more authoritative-, in " Dogma et Rituel De La Haute Magie", which was translated by Waite himself, explains how tarot symbolism should be, stresses that it should be pure and precise, and in particular, on the Wheel, he said that there should be two figures, Hermanubis, the creature on the right which goes up, and Baphomet, the descending snake. These two figures in this position show the direction of the wheel.
More literature to come.
senescal
Black magic to me includes all rituals carried out for evil purposes, for selfish reasons, and by evoking demons or evil spirits, often with a link to Satanism or satanic practices. And yes, black magic to me is also anything that tries to interfere with other people's free will and/or to control them. That includes what is also called red magic, (love bindings, if you can call that love).And nobody can convince me that those are "neutral" things, "like electricity". When you bind to you someone because you want him/her for yourself, there's nothing "neutral" about that; even less when you curse someone.
The Emperor in that deck to me -and not just to me-looks like the devil, with or without the horns.
I see. Those things are frowned upon by both Crowley and the Golden Dawn tradition. The focus for them is to apply magic in such a way that you are able to achieve a spiritual evolution of sorts or "achieve your true will". Someone else already posted a quote by Crowley on that matter.
About Samael Aun Weor, I'm not sure but it might have something to do with his views. I haven't read a lot by him because it's not my cup of tea, but his views are very popular in Brazil and seem, to me, very dogmatic. Anything that strays from their path is quickly labeled black magic (which is pretty much a curse word) and its said to have horrible karmic consequences, whatever that is. I've even suffered some social reprisal by members of his Gnostic Church for studying Crowley's writings on qabalah ("black magic!"). I might try to read whatever SAW has to say on qabalah and tarot soon, I'm curious right now.
