Two Books by John Gilbert

[ecosophia]

I'm delighted to announce that two books by my late teacher John Gilbert, The Doors of Tarot and The Tree of Spirit, are in press and available for preorder. John himself was never willing to see his writings go through the publishing process, but with the help and encouragement of his widow, I assembled and edited these two volumes from his writings for a couple of defunct websites.

Here's the blurb for The Doors of Tarot:

"An accessible and practical introduction to Tarot divination.

"John Gilbert was an extraordinary tarot diviner and teacher, and this book draws on his knowledge and expertise to provide a clear and comprehensive outline of how to accurately and easily understand and read the cards.

"Beginning with an introduction on how tarot cards work, their symbology and divinatory meanings, this is the perfect starting point for anyone looking to understand these fascinating cards and glean a deeper understanding of the world.

"Gilbert also provides a selection of different tarot spreads, a discussion of tarot and astrology, as well as key tips on developing your intuition."

I would add to this that John specialized in a skill you'll rarely encounter in today's tarot circles: he was an expert at doing one-card readings. A client would ask him a question, he'd draw one card, and give them a clear, concise, and accurate answer. I've never known anyone who did that as well as he did, but some of his students came close, and he spends much of this book explaining just how to do it.

Interested?  You can preorder here in the United States and here anywhere else in the world.

Here's the blurb for The Tree of Spirit:

"A fascinating exploration of the symbolic foundations of the Western magical tradition.

"Using the Cabalistic Tree of Life and the tarot deck, this book takes the foundations of Western esoteric tradition as a basis and goes onward into the deep places of magical spirituality.

"Written by the influential American tarot teacher and occultist John Gilbert, it is enriched by insights drawn from modern Gnosticism, spiritual alchemy, neopagan nature worship, and ceremonial magic.

"This book offers a wise and practical path to awakening for the modern student of the mysteries."

Here I'll add that this gives a great deal of additional information on the version of the Tree of Life John used, which is also the version central to the initiations and practices of the Fellowship of the Hermetic Rose, which I posted here last year and which seems to be finding a good-sized audience among students of the Western mystery tradition. Both these books make good supplementary reading for the FHR coursework, as well as being good solid guides to their respective corners of occult tradition.

Interested?  You can preorder here in the United States and here anywhere else in the world.

Comments

[d_mekel]

Is the tarot book meant to work with the rider Waite deck?

It's great how you are honoring your teachers legacy.

[(Anonymous)]

Thank you, I very much look forward to reading both of these titles.
MILLICENTLY LURKING

[jprussell]

The Tarot and Tree of Life are likely not on my schedule for intensive study anytime soon, but with how highly you've spoken of them, I'm excited to add these to my library for when I do have the chance.

Cheers,
Jeff

WOW!

[agitated_seraph]

What excellent news! This is very exciting. Congratulations on these volumes!

[(Anonymous)]

FYI - John's bio in Bookshop looks to have some typos. It seems unlikely he was born in 1983.

[(Anonymous)]

I’m elated about the book on tarot divination. Definitely want some hand holding to get started and from what I garnered from your writings on Mr. Gilbert, I will be in capable hands. Thank you for making this happen!

[(Anonymous)]

Is the Tree of Spirit compatible with the CGD and/or The Litany of the Tree of Life?

[ecosophia]

The tarot book will work with any tarot deck, and with slight modifications, any non-tarot deck as well. John was especially fond of the Rider-Waite deck but he left the choice of decks entirely open to his students.

[ecosophia]

I know. There's a corrected bio in circulation but some booksellers are taking their merry sweet time noticing this.

[ecosophia]

You'll need to make some adjustments, but it's close.

[iprescott]

Hi JMG,

Thank you so much for arranging to have these published. For some reason, when you first mentioned that a book about John Gilbert's tarot teachings was going to come out, for some reason I felt I needed to have it. Now I find out that there are two being released, I am truly elated. I am definitely buying both of them.

Thank you for everything you do!

Ian
aka Cobalt Necrotic Skull

[thinking_turtle]

These look like interesting books! I've ordered a copy. I look forward to reading these, although it may be a while before I finish the Golden Section.

P.S. Unlike Founder's House, Aeon books has delivered everything I ordered so far!

[(Anonymous)]

I'm interested when you say "non-Tarot deck", I don't use the Tarot but the Ogham. I'm interested in one-card readings, I've started to use these myself with good results, and further tips on developing intuition are always welcome. Would this book still be useful in this context?

[ecosophia]

With some modifications, yes. I also use the Ogham quite a bit -- I got into it early in my Druid career, and usually use Colin and Beth Murray's Celtic Tree Oracle deck for readings -- and John's one-card method, with modifications, works well with that. (It helps if you've assigned the five aicme of the Ogham to the elements.)

[(Anonymous)]

Talking about synchronicity... Just yesterday, without having read this post, I stumbled in something like an extended inner monologue circling around Tarot. It's been a few years since I last touched the cards and I don't know how well Tarot will blend with Heathenry and Runes (do you have any direct or indirect experience with this?) - but I feel I searched for a book like this for some time, so I'm going to order it anyway. Maybe what you say about the one-card method and Ogham applies also to runes?

Cheers,
Nachtgurke

[jprussell]

At the back of Edred Thorsson's Futhark: A Handbook, there's a table of correspondences, which includes a correspondence between each Rune of the Elder Futhark and the Greater Arcana. On the Ogham side of things, Thorsson also has a book on it, but I haven't checked it out, and I don't know if he makes any connections between Ogham and either the Runes or the Tarot.

Based on JMG's comment above, I suspect the biggest sticking point might be not having traditional five-element associations for the Runes.

If you do end up working anything out here, I'd certainly be interested in hearing about it.

Cheers,
Jeff

[(Anonymous)]

You might want to know that Flowers/Thorsson's The Book of Ogham had another edition by Rune-Gild master Michael Kelly (books on paper at https://www.lulu.com/spotlight/manxbull , on Kindle at https://www.amazon.com/stores/Michael-Kelly/author/B0045FHLZI , Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/michaelkellyauthormagician ); there's also The Ogham Roads by him, about pathworking - both contain a table of correspondences appendix, but it's entirely inside references associated to Ogham.

While I'm not qualified to judge his work, I've been interested, and had thought about recommending Aegishjalmur (he wrote without the accent mark) to your list of books including runic magic; it was his Rune-Gild masterwork, the base idea is from his first book Apophis, but the "Draconian" (derived from the Temple of Set) ideas are framed in terms of Sigurdhr killing Fáfnir and gaining its power.

[(Anonymous)]

Hi Jeff,
you are a walking library for literature on Heathenry. Thank you for the suggestion, I think I'll add it to my to-read pile :-)

I think working on the relation of the Runes to the elements and also to other systems of divination could be very interesting. I already tried with Runes and Geomancy, but with very mixed results so far. Should I find time to work on this and gain any insights that might be worth sharing, I'll certainly do so.

Cheers,
Nachtgurke

[stcathalexandria]

Ordered the Tarot book and can't wait until it arrives in April! I love his writing style and look forward to his insights again.

can i read either one or do they have a sequel?

[(Anonymous)]

I can only buy one right now, should any be read first?

Re: can i read either one or do they have a sequel?

[ecosophia]

The Tarot book is the best place to start. Then you can go on to the Cabala book.

Re: can i read either one or do they have a sequel?

[(Anonymous)]

Tks !!!