The Medieval Tarot
- Aug 4
- 5 min read
Museum of Tarot Note: The following article is reproduced from a historical publication for archival, educational, and research purposes. It is presented as part of our effort to preserve and make accessible primary-source material related to the history of esoteric, spiritual, scientific, and metaphysical inquiry.
The views, claims, terminology, and conclusions expressed in this article are those of the original author and publication. They do not necessarily reflect the views, interpretations, or endorsements of this website. Historical articles may contain outdated language, scientific assumptions, cultural references, or perspectives that should be understood within the context of their time.
This historical article is the introduction to L' Astrosophie's series on The Medieval Tarot as designed and illustrated by Francis Rolt-Wheeler and Christian Loring.
Original Source: “A nos Amis Lecteurs" by Francis Rolt-Wheeler, L' Astrosophie, July 1935.
To our dear readers:
The secrets of the Tarot, the mysteries of the Rose + Cross, the quest for the Holy Grail, and transmutation by the Philosopher's Stone are but four different aspects of the same thing: the discovery and exploration of the sublimities of the spiritual world. Of these four paths, Tarot has the immense advantage of being pictorial; but its pictorial and symbolic side has suffered the terrible disadvantage that the drawings expressing its marvelous symbolism are all so archaic, so grotesque, so poorly done, or so harsh in their coloring that it is regrettable, in providing symbolic and spiritual instruction in the Tarot, to be forced to let the student use cards that shock him and break his momentum.
Suddenly and quite unexpectedly, we were recently able to see a series of Tarot cards painted by Christian Loring (an exhibitor at the Salon d’Automne), with great fineness and distinction. The coloring is splendid and so subtle that it seemed almost impossible to render these Arcana in black and white. We have not given up hope that one day, a lover of beauty and spiritual thought - perhaps one or several of our readers - will reproduce this wonderful Tarot, thus leaving it as a legacy for future generations, or will help us to do so, on a practical basis.
It is the only beautiful series of Tarot Cards in existence, and one the world has been waiting for for centuries!
We are proud to be able to publish this new artistic version of the Tarot for the first time; L'Astrosophie will reproduce the entire set, Major and Minor Arcana, as frontispieces in the Review, every month.
Despite the increase in our expenses, we do not intend to raise the subscription price, which will remain the same, nor the price of the current issue, but the price of issues already published, starting from this July 1935 issue, will be five francs, after the month of publication, because we are forced to print a large run in advance, knowing that during the three years in which the Major and Minor Arcana of the Tarot will appear, many new subscribers will request the complete series.
It is rare, oh so rare! to find in the same person a painter endowed with such subtlety and charm, possessing impeccable drawing skills, as well as mastery of the harmonious nuances of color, and at the same time a serious and learned occultist. Readers of L'Astrosophie know well that we do not readily bestow the title of “occultist.” Christian Loring is very advanced in Kabbalah, and certain Great Mysteries are not unknown to him. We are very keen that our readers appreciate the paintings that are about to be published for their true artistic and occult value.
An interpretation of each Arcana will be given in the last two pages of our Review. We may perhaps be permitted to say that these two monthly pages will together form an initiatory study of the Tarot, much of whose teaching is unpublished, having previously been given only orally. These interpretations will be concise summaries of the much more detailed lessons of our comprehensive Course in Kabbalah, the program of which appears in our advertising pages. We advise our readers to keep their issues carefully and have them bound at the end of each volume, as the reproduction of the pictures and of the text of the Tarot is forbidden.
It would be unfair of us not to recognize the high merit of the work of other researchers in the same field.
Christian Loring drew inspiration, with some modifications, from the indications given for the Major Arcana by Oswald Wirth in his book: Le Tarot des Imagiers du Moyen Age, but, as a specialist in medieval art, he freed himself from the rigid or awkward style of primitive times.
A modern, complete Tarot, with all the Minor Arcana in pictorial form, was made by Miss Smith, under the direction of Mr. A.E. Waite, in England; it is entitled: A Pictorial Key to the Tarot; the details are richer in suggestions than they are pleasing from an artistic point of view, for Waite is the most eminent, the most learned, the most literary, and the most eclectic of twentieth-century occultists; unfortunately, the artist lacked the "sacred fire," and these cards emanate no spirituality. There is also a German Tarot, of Egyptian character, on cards of very small size, preferable for divinatory purposes; if the Major Arcana are not at all inspired, at least they are not intrusive, and the Minor Arcana follow the tradition of numbers and geometric symbols. But for those who seek to emphasize conjectural sciences on the highest levels, Le Tarot Médiéval will quickly become the focal point, and the vibrancy of divination is found there.
The most thoroughly and detailed Tarot cards, with their magical, Kabbalistic, and zodiacal correspondences (the Major Arcana alone), are undoubtedly those presented by “Enel” in his two books: Rota and Manuel de Kabbale Pratique, the basis being a Kabbalistic-Egyptian synthesis; the study of these two books is almost obligatory for the student who seeks to deepen his knowledge of the Tarot.
A recent work, based on the Tarot of Marseille, of great value for the mystery of numbers, is that of J. Maxwell: Le Tarot, Les Arcanes, La Divination; this book provides no illustrations, but it presents a very fine study of a dense symbolism. An effort to clarify the history of the Tarot was made by Bourgeat in his book Le Tarot, Aperçu Historique, but the author is not a Kabbalist. Those who know how to draw the higher truths from the works of Eliphas Lévi will certainly read his book: La Clef des Grands Mystères. Finally, so as not to fail to show our esteem for the great French popularizers, we mention the two books by Papus (Dr. Encausse): Le Tarot des Bohémiens, Le Tarot Divinatoire; and La Synthèse du Tarot, by Georges Muchery, the latter being of a decidedly cartomantic nature.
For those who read English, a truly important book on this subject has been written by Doctor Thierens: A General Key to the Tarot, and the astrological and theosophical treatment there is admirable; this book is marked by great independence of thought combined with a profound knowledge of the subject. The greatest esotericist of our time, Dion Fortune, is currently preparing a major work of great scope on: The Mystical Tarot.
This brief bibliography lists all the books that are necessary for a student of the Tarot, and it is striking to note that Le Tarot Médiéval by Christian Loring will, for all these systems, be the occult and artistic Tarot par excellence, because it was made by a soul in harmony with the Mysteries.
For the Full Series of Rolt-Wheeler's initiates-only teachings on The Tarot see our new online course
