Greg Stanton said:
For example, he uses their elemental attributions of the suits -- and never once questions it. He simply says something along the lines of "Why not? Makes sense to me.". At least a discussion of why a weapon forged in fire is attributed to air, or why Sticks (excuse me, Wands) is attributed to an element that consumes it, would have made this section more interesting. Unfortunately, Jodorowsky is neither a scholar or an intellectual; he's an artist, and he's simply not equipped to deal with problems such as these.
Greg:
Thank you for this very informative, honest, and really dispassionate review. Many will profit from it. I have been reading at my copy of
The Way of Tarot for a couple of days now and I can corroborate your statements and conclusions.
However, Mr. Jodorowsky unequivocally states on page 47 that :
The four suits of the Tarot are not the four elements of alchemy or other systems (Sword/air, Cup/water, Pentacles/earth, and Wand/fire) . . .
For the next page or so he goes to some lengths to discern
correspondences which coincidentally support the following GD standard : Sword/air, Cup/water, Pentacles/earth, and Wand/fire. A perfect confirmation of your observation of his ability to make a statement and then simply contradict himself in the same paragraph.
This is not a work of Tarot History, it is a work of Tarot Myth. Mr. Jodorowsky seems to be doing what many of his predecessors have done : pick up a deck of cards, redesign them, and tell a pretty story that warms his heart and fills his purse. In this he is a very well realized Magician.
As a companion book for his deck of cards,
The Way of Tarot may be monster. It certainly can give a reader insight into how the creator of a particular deck actually approaches the structure of the cards. His method may gel with the images he created or restored. In this he is no different from the creator of any other deck of Tarot Cards.
As a Librarian, I don't think that I could really recommend it, but if one could pick it up at Half-Price books for 5 dollars it might be worth it.
Again, thank you for a well crafted review. I'm glad to hear that you have posted it on Amazon and hope that you post it here, too.
If you have further thought regarding his numerology for the pips, I'd be grateful if you were to share them.
CED