Grail Guides

 Meditations on the Tarot Study Guide

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About Meditations on the Tarot

The book  is divided into 22 Chapters, called “Letters”, Each chapter centers around a card from the Major Arcana of the Tarot of Marseilles.  Each card is  an “arcanum,”  defined as “… that which it is necessary to ‘know’ in order to be fruitful in a given domain of spiritual life. … a ‘ferment’ or ‘enzyme’ whose presence stimulates the spiritual and psychic life of man.”

The Unknown Author writes that they “are neither allegories nor secrets … [but] authentic symbols … [which] conceal and reveal their sense at one and the same time according to the depth of meditation.”  The symbolism of the cards is taken as a springboard for discussing and describing various aspects of Christian spiritual life and growth.

A Journey Into Christian Hermeticism

Dear Unknown Friend

These meditations on the Major Arcana of the Tarot are Letters addressed to the Unknown Friend.  The addressee in this instance is anyone who will read all of them and who thereby acquires definite knowledge, through the experience of meditative reading, about Christian Hermeticism.

Purpose of Letters

These Letters are written in French because in France-since the eighteenth century until the present time…  there existed in France — and it still persists — a continuous tradition of Hermeticism, in which is united a spirit of free research with one of respect for the tradition.  The purpose of these Letters therefore will be to “incarnate” into this tradition, i.e. to become an organic part of it, and in this way to contribute support to it.

Hermetic Stream

As these Letters are intended only to serve, to sustain, and to support the Hermetic tradition –from its first appearance in the epoch of Hermes Trismegistus, lost in the remoteness of antiquity and become legendary- they are a definite manifestation of this millennial-old current of thought, effort, and revelation.  Their aim is not only to revive the tradition in the twentieth century but also, and above all, to immerse the reader (or rather the Unknown Friend) in this current — be it temporarily or for ever.

Spiritual Exercises

For this reason the numerous citations of ancient and modern authors which you will find in these Letters are not due to literary considerations, nor to a display of erudition.  They are evocations of the masters of the tradition, in order that they may be present with their impulses of aspiration and their light of thought in the current of meditative thought which these Letters on the twenty-two Major Arcana of the Tarot represent.  For these are in essence twenty-two spiritual exercises, by means of which you, dear Unknown Friend, will immerse yourself in the current of the living tradition, and thus enter into the community of spirits who have served it and who are still serving it.

Meditations Study Guide

Entering The Stream Of The Mysteries

“One is free if one works with symbols rather than predetermined concepts – with symbols that are multifaceted – or, at least, if one considers the concepts themselves as symbols and works with them correspondingly…Symbols do not enslave. They “ask” and “say” exactly as much as the person in question wants and is capable of receiving. They leave the human being completely free,  And this is also the most important reason why those who speak of the supersensible from experience do so in symbols. They want to communicate with people in such a way that human beings not only remain free, but become even more  free (and more creative)…It is a matter of a quiet mystery without any pretensions, which wants neither to dominate nor to instruct, but exercises inwardly – in a way that draws upon the stream of the mysteries – an enlivening, spiritualizing, healing influence in an indirect way. “

Author of the Meditations, July 30, 1956

About the Study Guide

The 2 volume Meditation on the Tarot Study Guide is neither an interpretation nor an interpolation. The Study Guides are created  with the original words written by our Anonymous Author. The Study Guides are a distillation – a précis – comprised predominantly of the exact text of the Unknown Author.

These Grail Guides contain all principal ideas of the text. The purpose in preparing this material is to provide to the Anonymous Author’s Dear Unknown Friends a clear and comprehensive map. It is a map to traverse the terrain of Mysticism, Gnosis, Magic. These disciplines are the markers along the path of a Journey into Christian Hermeticism. 

In this manner the reader may better concentrate on the prayer, meditation and contemplation which attends the practice of the exercises associated with each Arcanum. The information and content are clearly organized with paragraph headings while incorporating the addition of tables, charts and bullet text. It is prepared to assist in understanding and thereby enter more fully into the richness and depth of the book.

The Study Guides are designed to point the reader towards the essential goal of practicing the twenty-two spiritual exercises corresponding with each of the twenty-two Letter-Meditations.

In the words of Anonymous, “by means of which you, dear Unknown Friend, will immerse yourself in the current of the living tradition, and thus enter into the community of spirits who have served it and who are still serving it.”

Study Guide Format & Features

Format

  • The Meditations Grail Guide price includes mailing in the USA
  • The Study Guide may be download as electronic file in PDF format

2 Volumes

  • Volume I: Arcana I – XII
  • Volume II: Arcana XIII – XXII
  • Consisting of 22 Synopses that correspond with the 22 Letter-Meditations

Marseilles Tarot

  • Each Letter-Meditation introduced with an image from the Marseilles Tarot
  • Pages 8.5″ by 11″
  • Coil bound to open flat to facilitate reading
  • Total of 440 pages

Features

  • Plastic Covers on front and back
  • 22 colored Arcana corresponding to the Major Arcana of the Marseilles Tarot
  • Sequentially numbered tabs for each synopsis of the Letter-Meditation
  • Table of Contents

Sample Pages

  • Opposite are examples of pages taken from the text of the Meditations Grail Guide
  • The pages include: Letter-Meditation 1 The Magician, Letter-Meditation XVII The Star and letter-Meditation XVIII The Moon

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That Which It Is Necessary to Know

Each card is taken as an “arcanum,” which the author defines in part in Letter I: The Magician as “… that which it is necessary to ‘know’ in order to be fruitful in a given domain of spiritual life. … a ‘ferment’ or an ‘enzyme’ whose presence stimulates the spiritual and the psychic life of man.”

He writes that they “are neither allegories nor secrets …

[but] authentic symbols … [which] conceal and reveal their sense at one and the same time according to the depth of meditation.”

Mysticism

“For silence is the sign of real contact with the spiritual world and this contact, in turn, always engenders the influx of forces.   This is the foundation of all mysticism, all gnosis, all magic and all practical esotericism in general.”

LETTER-MEDITATION I: The Magician

Gnosis

“The essence of pure gnosis is reflected mysticism.  Gnosis signifies that that which takes place in mysticism has become higher knowledge.  That is, gnosis is mysticism which has become  conscious of itself.  It is mystical experience transformed into higher knowledge.”

Letter-Meditation II: The High Priestess

Magic

“Joséphin Péladan defined magic as “the art of sublimation of man”; no other formula is superior to his   This is exactly the emblem — or aim — of magic, if one understands by “sublimation of man’ that of human nature. “

Letter-Meditation III: The Empress

Hermeticism

“Hermeticism, the Hermetic tradition, is in the first place and above all a certain degree of depth, a certain niveau of consciousness.     And it is the practice of spiritual exercises which safeguards this.” Letter-Meditation IV: The Emperor

The kingdom of heaven is within - Luke 17:20

For this then is the journey that we make – to find a divinity within;
and if that be not found it matters not else what we may find.

Testimonials to Meditations on the Tarot

Review for Religious

Meditations on the Tarot…destined to become a Twentieth-Century Classic in spirituality

Spiritual Life Magazine

Despite its title, this remarkable book is no mere study in occultism but a profound Christian Meditation.

Thomas Keating, O.C.S.O.

…the greatest contribution to date toward the rediscovery and renewal of the Christian contemplative tradition.

Richard W. Knof

This book begs not only to be studied cover to cover, but also to be savored, meditated upon and assimilated into one’s life.

Stratford Caldicott

…breakthrough realization that, in Christianity, the esoteric and the exoteric cannot be separated, because the spirituyal worls is essentialy moral.

Theophane Boyd

…where could you find the kind of guidance that is manifest in every chapter of this book?

Basil Pennington, O.C.S.O.

It is such a collection of wisdom…It is without doubt the most extraordinary work I have ever read.

Hans Urs von Balthasar

A thinking, praying Christian of unmistakable purity…By way of the Major Arcana the author seeks to lead meditatively into the deeper, all-embracing wisdom of the Catholic Mystery.

Study Guide Pricing

 The Meditations Study Guide is available in either digital or printed versions.

CONTACT EMAIL: jhipsley@igc.org

ELECTRONIC (PDF) STUDY GUIDE

$49

CONTACT TO PLACE AN ORDER

PRINTED STUDY GUIDE

$130

 

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GRAIL STUDY GUIDE

Meditations on the Tarot

Resources for the study of Christian Hermeticism

Grail Guides

Valentin Tomberg (1900-1973) is the contemporary inspiration of the stream of Christian Hermeticism. 

He has remained relatively unknown outside the small circle of his spiritual friends.  

His legacy to humanity includes his esoteric course on the Lord’s Prayer (and Our Mother Prayer) Course.

He is the author of 2 jurisprudential thses translated and published by Grail Guides:

  • Degeneration and Regeneration of Jurisprudence
  • Foundation of International Law as Humanity’s Law’

The Meditations on the Tarot is a revival of the ancient Gnosis which may be defined as that knowledge of the nature of Man and his place in the Universe.

This transcends the mere appearance of things as presented to the senses and intellect. Gnosis contacts Reality in the region of pure Truth.

The  Grail Study Guides developed by John Hipsley are intended to provide a resources for students in their Journey into the Ancient Gnosis of Christian Hermecitism.

These include .

  • Meditations on the Tarot Study Guide
  • Lord’s Prayer Course Study Guide

‘Knowledge can be an inspiration for the heart and a lantern for the mind. It complements but is no substitute for personal experience.  Concentration, meditation, and contemplation together help to transform the knowledge  acquired from the reading of great writing into spiritual know-how.

Hermeticism relies upon symbols to convey its truths.  Symbols are signposts along the path to be taken. They are also enzymes necessary for a personal inward journey.

The Grail Study Guides are maps providing a path for our ‘Journey into Christian Hermeticism’ to which a Dear Unknown Friend and Unknown Author invites us. 

Contact 

9 + 12 =

Grail Guides Publications

The Lord's Prayer Course (and Our Mother) Study Guide

The Lord’s Prayer by Valentin Tomberg; and translated into English by Robert Powell

Degeneration and Regeneration of Jurisprudence

Law thesis by Valentin Tomberg; translated from German into English by Gabriel Jabouri

Foundation of International Law as Humanity's Law

Law thesis by Valentin Tomberg; translated from German into English by Gabriel Jabouri

Publisher

John D. Hipsley

Grail Guides, Publisher

Since 1989 John has been a student of the Meditations teaching and presenting publicly. John is an advisory board member of the Sophia Foundation; and was present at its founding on New Year’s Eve, 1994. John organized the Annual Christian Hermetic Meetings convened for Dr. Robert Powell.

Education

Graduate in Law and Commerce (B.Com./LLb) from the University of New South Wales, Sydney Australia

Judge's Associate

John was the Judge’s Associate (Law-clerk) to the Chairman of the Australian Law Reform Commission the Hon. Mr. Justice Michael Kirby

Barrister & Lecturer in Law

  • Formerly a barrister of the Supreme Court of New South Wales
  • Associate lecturer-in-law teaching Criminal Process at the University of Technology in Sydney.

Consultant

Includes working as a consultant for: Visa International, United Way and National Hispanic University

Patent Author

Co-Inventor of  US Patent “Method, dual-device and system for secure financial transactions“; [Patent: # 8,453,223] filed May 28, 2013

Social Entrepreneur

Co-founder of the social enterprise CauseFunders, Inc. which is a turnkey and sustainable nonprofit fundraising program branded “DonorRewards” www.DonorRewards.org

Video Producer

Shakespeare’s Cue