The Underground Stream: Esoteric Tarot Revealed (Paperback)

~ Christine Payne Towler (Author) "The work you are reading started in 1970 when I purchased a used deck of the 20th Century Tarot in a book shop in Salem,..." (more)
Key Phrases: numbered suit cards, crossed orb, crowned monkey, Golden Dawn, Minor Arcana, Fratres Lucis (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

In this thought provoking work Christine Payne-Towler weaves together strands of ancient knowledge and evolving magical traditions to illuminate the blind spots that inhibit our understanding of the origins of the Tarot. Drawing on her many years as a Tarot scholar and practitioner, she combines ancient astrology, Hebrew Kaballah, Alexandrian Hermeticism, Renaissance Magism, and a history of the European Secret Societies to present the esoteric structure underlying Tarot.

Profusely illustrated, with many images from the first two centuries of Tarot, this work allows one to see the Tarot as its originators saw it.

About the Author

Christine Payne-Towler has made a life long study of the imagery, history and practice of the Tarot, Astrology, Kabbahah, Alchemy, Hermeticism, and other traditional branches of the Western Mystery Schools. Starting in 1970 with the purchase of used Tarot deck in a Salem, Oregon bookshop, her interest in occult imagery has burgeoned into a book and deck collection that spans centuries and continents. Contemplation upon these images over time has led to an understanding of the older Classical and European traditions of Tarot which have been nearly eclisped by the modern trend for innovation and eclecticism. In the early 1990's Christine was initiated into a Templar lodge with Martinist affliations, allowing her to further investigate the traditions associated with the imagery and esoteric content of Tarot. Happily, the Secret Society movement is still alive and well, and continues to provide a framework within wich striving individuals can align themselves with the great work of human evolution going on in all places at all times. Christine was made a bishop of the Apostolic Succession in 1995, completing the cycle that was begun a quarter of a century earlier.

Product Details

• Paperback: 155 pages
• Publisher: Noreah Press (June 25, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 096730430X
• ISBN-13: 978-0967304304
• Product Dimensions: 10.6 x 8.2 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,250,081 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wish I could give this book 10 stars!, June 30, 2004

By	"wildflower23" (Howell, MI United States) - See all my reviews

This book represents the missing link in the available literature about Tarot. It answers so many nagging questions, that for me it was like finding the cheat sheet to an upcoming test. Bishop Payne-Towler has done all the tough, grueling leg work for us Tarot enthusiasts who are haunted by questions about what the Tarot truly is and is not. This book is very densely packed with information and insight. Although low in page numbers, you will not be disappointed with the smorgasboard of food for thought which the author presents.

This book is not geared toward interpretation of cards specifically for the sake of doing Tarot readings. This book is geared to give you an overall understanding of the absolute limits of what can be known about Tarot history and it's links to other sacred sciences. The natural result of your new understanding is that your interpretations will automatically open up, possibly quite dramatically (this happened for me). This book uncovers the mystery shrouding the links among Tarot and its sister sciences, such as Astrology, Hermeticism, and Kaballah in a way that no other work available today has even come close to. In fact, very few books and decks on the market today even address Tarot's relationship with it's sister sciences in any more than a cursory manner. And usually, when done so, even in passing, the Astrological and Kaballistic associations are completely off-base from the actual historical correspondences. Some readily available exceptions to this rule are: the Tavaglione tarots (Stairs of Gold), El Gran Tarot Esoterico (available at areyougame.com for 4.99), IBIS Tarot, Oswald Wirth Tarot, Cagliostro Tarot, and Tarot of the Ages.

The functional duty of Christine's labor of love is to give the upcoming generation of Tarot scholars, hobbyists, and professionals a cornerstone of digestible, encyclopedic, accurate Tarot history and sacred science correspondences from which to conduct our own further explorations into Tarot.

I found this book amazingly inspiring. Where other books on Tarot have left me hungry for "What it all REALLY means!?," and searching desperately for something more scholarly and academic, this book felt like being given a free, historical, panoramic synopsis of the answers I'd been seeking, which made it all suddenly click into place in a most exhilarating manner. My comfort level and trust of the structure, symbolism, ordering of the cards, and the purpose of Tarot as an overall system, has increased dramatically, now that I know these images are nestled deeply and inextricably into a cohesive, wide-ranging system encompassing several other sciences by which to cross-reference and research their true meanings.

Mouni Sadhu's _The Tarot_ (although somewhat inaccessible in some ways), and Oswald Wirth's _Tarot of the Magicians_, are two texts which have gone a long way for me in answering some of the deeper esoteric and eternal meanings of the Tarot within their proper correspondent contexts, after I had received schooling in that foundation from Christine Payne-Towler's book.

_The Underground Stream_ takes some mental work on the part of the reader because it is so wide in scope historically. This text does not give you "training" in the sacred sciences--that is something you will have to seek in other books. Again, what she *does* is formally and most properly introduce you to the whole family of sacred sciences through it's most illustrious and quite prodigal (in recent centuries) member, Tarot. This was the introduction I had been seeking for over a course of years. Unfortunately, none of the other authors I read could do this for me. After a cursory glance, in a short beginning chapter, at "Tarot History," they jump right into divination meanings. This is not to say there is not amazing work out there being done by some of these authors in the way of interpretations and creativity with Tarot---there certainly is. They are like the interior designers and Christine is a hard-hat contractor. We need them all.

This book does have some typographical errors. Also I could see some areas where she shared opinions about image interpretation that I might take in a different direction (and have, in my own work with Tarot). One can forgive the author however, because after all her superhuman research and work, it almost makes her seem human that she has some slight imperfections. One cannot help but respect her as an esteemed colleague and Master, despite these small issues. I owe a huge personal debt of gratitude to Christine Payne-Towler, as a Tarot reader. Chances are high you will feel some similar sentiment after you've read this book.

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great esoteric intr oduction!, August 6, 2000

By	Jan H. Stafl (Eugene, OR USA) - See all my reviews

This volume is an excellent introduction to the esoteric roots and correspondences of all the major decks, with information on the Kaballah, astrology,, numerology, and gnosticism. Yet it is an easy and enjoyable read. I highly recommend it to anyone interested in the archetypal symbolism and history of tarot cards, and their relationship to the Western mystery tradition.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Scholarly and Spiritual, August 24, 2007

By	K. L. Niyogi (Easton, PA United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This book is a gem. It's divided into article-like chapters which allows for reading at any point.
Of note is Christine Payne-Towler's magnificent references to the Bible. She sheds new meaning on many Old and New Testament passages through the lens of esotericism and gnosticism via the Tarot.
I think it would be of interest to a variety of people: those interested in Tarot History; those interested in esoteric symbolism; those interested in a Gnostic interpretation of the Bible; Qabalists; Taroist and scholars.