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 Hermetic dream Oct 07, 2009
I liked the book but have reservations. The writer includes reincarnation as a part of his belief system which is not in keeping with Catholic teachings. So I would caution Christian readers on this point since it is not part of the teachings of the church. I am amazed that the monks and a Cardinal in the forward did not pick up on that. Other then that I love the book and what the author has to say on the symbols used in Tarot cards and his discussions on grace and works. You can find this in the card the lover.
5 of 5 found the following review helpful:
 Letters to an unknown friend Jan 25, 2009
After a couple of years as a young pilgrim walking the deserts and climbing the mountains of the southwestern US a quarter of a century ago, I was given a copy (nr. 13!) of the typed manuscript that later on became this book. It became my university. I could not possibly have found a better mentor in the spiritual sciences than my friend who wrote these letters to me from, as he puts it, beyond the grave. Coming from beyond the grave he can inspire (in a literal sense) without violating Sacred Law by threatening my spiritual integrity (almost impossible to do while still in the flesh) - and inspire he did. Still does. These inspirations is what these letters are all about. They go way beyond the literal content. But remember: this is intentionally a series of letters, not an acutal book, even though circumstances makes it appear as such. One may read and criticise any book worth ones while. Reading a series of letters is quite another business. One does not read letters adressed to someone else - this is universal bad manners! In fact, one does not even discuss their content, except perhaps with another adressee. Such is the nature of letters. '
These letters are certainly not for anyone. They are not even for anyone interested in their topic. So, how do you know if you're one of those individuals for whom these letters were written? You just do. You know it long before having finished the first letter.
Being a series of personal letters to an unknown recipient, their author makes himself as vulnerable as he is knowledgeable. Nothing is easier than ridiculing, or finding apparent faults with, intimate esotericism of this kind. Committing these thoughts to print is in itself a courageous deed, not less so because they are posthumously and anonymously published. This strange and suspicious trick - anonymosity and posthumosity (?) - are in cases such as this one NOT to be taken as cowardice (see how easy it would be to ridicule such an author!) but as a morally responsible measure if indeed the content of these letter meditations is to be published at all.
The letters are a means to establish a fertile dialogue between not only the reader and the author, but between the reader and the Tradition itself. In fact, such an establishing of an initial contact is in itself a form of initiation. It initiates a dialogue.
Having a dialogue, you're completely free to agree, disagree or suspend your judgement to a time when you know more. Thus every earnest re-read of these letters will be a new first read, a new way to approach the dialogue with the Tradition. Eventually, this is one way to become part of this tradition oneself.
So, what can I say, ultimately?? I suppose I can just bow in gratitude for having met this great mentor in spirit through these letters! Thank you!
4 of 4 found the following review helpful:
Reverberates with Soul Jun 17, 2008
Having read literally thousands of books on various paths of spirituality, few have touched me like this one. Every page, almost every line, glows with a new pearl of wisdom and insight. The book explores with greater clarity than any I have found the genuine heart of Hermeticism; the threefold braid of mysticism, gnosis, and magic; the center where meditation and contemplation meet; the "art of becoming". While the Anonymous Author speaks of his content as addressing itself to Christian Hermeticism, I would qualify it only as Authentic Hermeticism. The amazing scholar who penned this tome was so learned that he weaves in the great spiritual traditions from around the world and throughout time. Each chapter is written as a gentle letter to an "Unknown Friend" (that would be you), and the feeling when reading is of having an exquisitely gentle and brilliant man of God, a truly radiant Sage, share with you the secrets from the aeons that he has gleaned, just before he leaves this earth. I expected a good if not great read when I got this book. I was not prepared for what I actually received: a Holy gift that has opened countless doors for me. This is not merely a book. It is a teaching in the highest sense; a journey into The Mysteries. If you are the author's next Unknown Friend, this book may very well touch the core of you and change everything.
1 of 1 found the following review helpful:
Meditations on the Tarot Sep 10, 2007
A wonderfully scholarly tome, one that provides hours of reverie and insight into the the spiritual nature of the the Tarot. It is recommended as a vital additions to one's Tarot library.
4 of 48 found the following review helpful:
 kinda interesting...ish Mar 09, 2007
I'm not sure how I came across this book a few years ago - I guess I was intrigued to hear what a catholic monk had to say about the encoded remnants of alexandrian wisdom his murderous forebears had done their level best to eradicate ... in the name of jesus. I have many books on the tarot rangeing fom the ridiculous to the sublime. At the top end are Crowley's Thoth and Wirth's Tarot Of The Magicians: at the bottom are the likes of this. After year's of christian brainwashing as a child and adolescent I thought I would give this good old, bad old religion one last backward glance to see if it had any merit at all - and bought the book.
I am glad I did. Having studied the works of Jung for many years I now understand more clearly - after wading through this tome - the nature of psychosis and the sickness that christianity is. If you really want to stretch your mind and rid yourself of illusion you could do worse than read Stephen Wolinsky's Nirvana Sutras and Advaita-Vedanta. I kid you not.
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