Guide to Tarot of the Sephiroth (Paperback)

~ Dan Staroff (Author), Josephine Mori (Author), Jill Stockwell (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Review

Combines vision with knowledge...clear, powerful and richly communicative. -- R.J. Stewart

Tarot of the Sephiroth compares favourably with Lady Freida Harris' work on The Book of Thoth for Aleister Crowley. -- Gareth Knight

The book is one of the best I have seen... enhances my knowledge of the deck 1000% -- Tarot Asociation of the British Isles, July 2002

Product Description

The ancient wisdom of the Tree of Life is revealed to those who seeks its truth in the Guide to the Tarot of the Sephiroth. The Tarot-Qabalah connection is brought to life through a diagram of the spheres and paths that embody the mysteries of the universe and the creation process.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 287 pages
• Publisher: U.S. Games Systems (June 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1572813253
• ISBN-13: 978-1572813250
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.6 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.9 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,565,522 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great meditative tool, August 8, 2001

By	"kelshei" (Knoxville, Tennessee United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Tarot of the Sephiroth (Cards)

Because the minor arcana are not very rich in symbolism, I am not sure how affective a divinatory tool this would be. However, as someone studying the Qabalah, the major arcana cards are excellent meditative tools for pathworking. Great deck.

5 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Tarot & Qabala, February 6, 2007

By	Bonnie Cehovet (Shelton, WA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Tarot of the Sephiroth (Cards)

The "Tarot of the Sephiroth" was created with two premises in mind: to update the imagery for a new era, and to highlight the connection between the Tarot and the Qabala. It has served its purpose well!

In highlighting the connection between Tarot and the Qabala, Staroff made use of the Tree of Life imagery ... its spheres, paths, and associated colors. The color coding on the cards has been placed to make it easy to place the cards together in a way that, in the end, cards form a living Tree of Life.

The format of this deck is traditional: the Major Arcana carry traditional titles and numbering, the suits are titles Wands, Cups, Swords, and DIsks (Pentacles), and the Court Cards are entitled King, Queen, Prince, and Princess.

The art style is two-dimensional, with a very "futuristic" look to it. Some of the cards in the deck reflect an Egyptian theme. The cards themselves are 3" by 4 1/2", on good quality, sturdy card stock. The back of the cards shows a dark background color, with small, light colored "stars" covering it ... remniscent of the night sky. It would not be possible to tell if a card had been drawn in the upright or reversed position.

I found this to be an interesting deck, but one that would require at least a minimal background in the Qabala to be worked with to best effect. For those that wish to work with updated imagery, or who want to study/work with the Qabala, this deck is a good choice.

3 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars beautiful deck, August 11, 2001

By	Daniel Lyons (Socorro, NM United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Tarot of the Sephiroth (Cards)

This is my first tarot deck; I chose it in part for the strikingly beautiful artwork and in part because I am somewhat familiar with Kabalah (or Qabalah, as most new age/Pagan sources seem to spell it). Disks replaces Pentacles, Princess replacing Page, and Prince replacing Knight.

The Major Arcana are richly detailed, retaining much of the original symbolism of the Rider-Waite decks. Also, each Major Arcana card is drawn taking place over the appropriate path between Sephiroth, along with the appropriate Hebrew letter and astrological sign. The included book indicates that all 78 cards can be arranged in a Tree of Life, but I didn't get the feeling that would work or be very attractive to the eye if it were done as I've messed around with the deck.

Details on the Minor Arcana are somewhat sparse; usually a simple figure constructed with the number of the suit symbol, and the appropriate astrological sign somewhere. The circular border color is appropriate to the Sephiroth within Briah (as should be expected). Almost all of the Rider-Waite details are abandoned in the Minor Arcana, which will either suit you or not depending on whether you choose the Qabalistic interpretations or the traditional Tarotic interpretations.

The court cards can be arranged in such a way as to construct the lower four sephiroth, all the Princesses combining for Malkuth, for example. Otherwise, some people may be offended by the propensity of the artist to display breasts hanging out of clothes wherever possible (mainly Princesses and Major Arcana, the Queens given a sort of additional respect in additional clothing). At first I found it somewhat awkward, but it was easy to get used to.

I am finding that although it is a beautiful deck to work with and the cards are well-constructed and rich in their own sort of symbolism, it is rather difficult to learn from them. I'll be purchasing the Light and Contrast deck soon, which seems to deviate less from the accepted standard of interpretation (Rider-Waite symbolism). I think that most people these days have a strong reaction against the Rider-Waite deck as ugly and encouraging a strong negative reaction in people, but the symbolism does seem to be valid and standardized for the most part.