The Way of Tarot (Alejandro Jodorowski)
Not my Cup of Tea
[My 2-star Amazon review of “The Way of Tarot: The Spiritual Reader in the Cards” by Alejandro Jodorowski.]
A member of my Facebook group -- Electrical-Hermetic Christianity -- suggested this book for me – and I was able to procure a free copy from ScribdDOTcom. Knowing of my interest in astrology (I’m a former professional astrologer), Kabbalah, and Tarot, he figured I might appreciate Jodororowski’s uncommon Tarotic takes. But I didn’t.
My vision of the Tarot differs drastically from Jodorowski’s, and I find little common ground between his interpretations of the cards and mine. To be frank, I find Jodorowski superficial – resorting to hyper-psychologized, hyper-sexualized, and “numerologized” analysis rather than the spiritual, astrological, and Sefirotic analysis that I specialize in. Jodorowski will impress some with his focus on the details of the cards – but I think he fails to “crack the code” of the cards, despite his decades of intense study and practice.
In agreement with fellow two-star reviewer George V. Garvin, I found the book overly long and boring, with few redeeming insights – and by the time I was half way through it, I quit on it.
In contrast with my distaste for Jodorowski’s book, I find Valentin Tomberg’s “Meditations on the Tarot” (see my five-star review) a felicitous and fascinating read, even though I hardly resonate with everything he writes. Unlike Jodorowski, Tomberg, understands the cards (of the Major Arcana) as ferments or enzymes in the true, or mystical, Eucharistic project.
[My 2-star Amazon review of “The Way of Tarot: The Spiritual Reader in the Cards” by Alejandro Jodorowski.]
A member of my Facebook group -- Electrical-Hermetic Christianity -- suggested this book for me – and I was able to procure a free copy from ScribdDOTcom. Knowing of my interest in astrology (I’m a former professional astrologer), Kabbalah, and Tarot, he figured I might appreciate Jodororowski’s uncommon Tarotic takes. But I didn’t.
My vision of the Tarot differs drastically from Jodorowski’s, and I find little common ground between his interpretations of the cards and mine. To be frank, I find Jodorowski superficial – resorting to hyper-psychologized, hyper-sexualized, and “numerologized” analysis rather than the spiritual, astrological, and Sefirotic analysis that I specialize in. Jodorowski will impress some with his focus on the details of the cards – but I think he fails to “crack the code” of the cards, despite his decades of intense study and practice.
In agreement with fellow two-star reviewer George V. Garvin, I found the book overly long and boring, with few redeeming insights – and by the time I was half way through it, I quit on it.
In contrast with my distaste for Jodorowski’s book, I find Valentin Tomberg’s “Meditations on the Tarot” (see my five-star review) a felicitous and fascinating read, even though I hardly resonate with everything he writes. Unlike Jodorowski, Tomberg, understands the cards (of the Major Arcana) as ferments or enzymes in the true, or mystical, Eucharistic project.
