Thomas Keating loved it. So did Basil Pennington and Bede Griffiths. In our time, Cynthia Bourgeault and Therese Schroeder-Sheker have praised it — enthusiastically. So why, pray tell, are these leaders of the contemplative community endorsing a book with a title like Meditations on the Tarot?
Written in the 1960s and published only after the death of its author in 1973, Meditations on the Tarot is a unique book that explores the contemplative imagination — how our God-given powers of intelligence, intuition, insight and wisdom can support us in an ever-deepening life of prayer, meditation, and contemplation. The author combines classical teachings of Christian mysticism with innovative and at times startling insights from science, philosophy, other religious and spiritual traditions, and — most distinctively — the western esoteric / “Hermetic” tradition, including ideas and concepts inspired by the 22 “Major Arcana” images from the Tarot, an old Italian card game that most people know as a divination tool.
But Meditations on the Tarot is not a book about fortune-telling. Like Carl G. Jung and others, the author of this book is interested in the Tarot primarily for its archetypal imagery. Each image is presented as a tool for meditation — for interior reflection and intuition, to enable the reader to foster ever-deepening openness to prayer, meditation, contemplation, and the recognition that we are all created in the image and likeness of God — of Divine Love.
Join me for a Deep Dive into Meditations on the Tarot
This book, filled with rich imagery, literary and spiritual allusions, and profound philosophy and theology, requires prayerful reading, similar to the ancient monastic practice of lectio divina. For this reason, I have chosen Meditations on the Tarot as the focus of my new initiative, “the Contemplative Study of Mystical Writings.”
The idea behind “Contemplative Study” is that this book is best explored slowly — over months — with an emphasis not just on reading or mastering the information presented in it, but with a more prayerful, meditation, open-hearted approach — almost like a “retreat in everyday life,” to borrow the image St. Ignatius used to describe the nine-month long practice of his Spiritual Exercises.
So like the Spiritual Exercises of Saint Ignatius, Meditations on the Tarot offers its readers profound invitations to deeper prayer and meditation. When you enroll in this program, you will receive the following resources to help you in your spiritual journey:
- Monthly Zoom Meetings with me and other readers (recorded if you cannot make the actual event)
- Twelve Videos introducing you to key themes and concepts in Meditations on the Tarot
- Downloadable PDFs with commentary, selected quotes, and instructions for spiritual exercises
- Community discussion board where you can interact with the group to reflect on the book’s wisdom
You can enroll in this program at any time, and complete your journey through Meditations on the Tarot at your own pace. However, if you want to participate in the live Zoom calls, enroll now — the first two Zoom calls will take place on February 10 and March 10, with following meetings occurring once a month through December 2022.
The course content (PDFs, videos and community discussion board) will be available beginning in late January 2022. New content will be made available approximately every two weeks, with the complete course available by December 2022. Students can continue to access the course after that time, so if you want to move slowly through this contemplative study program, you can.
Similar online courses to this one often cost $400, $800 or even more! But in the spirit of St. Benedict (who encouraged his monks to sell their goods at discounted prices), this course is available for a one-time payment of $299 — or, if you join my Patreon Membership Site at the $20/month (“Visionaries”) level, you get full access to this course as one of your membership rewards (Patreon memberships renew monthly but can be cancelled at any time).
Dive deep into this fascinating and mysterious book of contemplative spirituality — enroll in this course today!
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