Product Description

The Jungian Tarot Deck is a visual companion to Robert Wang's book, The Jungian Tarot and Its Archetypal Imagery, an authoritative introduction to Jungian Psychology.

The Jungian Tarot Deck was developed in consultation with international Jungian scholars and analysts, and may be used for meditation or for divination following any traditional system. Each of the twenty-two trumps represents one of the "archetypes of the collective unconscious" described by Jung and includes a unique mandala, a circular form which the psychologist found to be profoundly useful in the process he called "individuation" and which the Western mystery tradition has termed "enlightenment."

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #89512 in Books
• Published on: 2001-01
• Binding: Cards
• 80 pages

From the Publisher
Unavailable for almost a decade, Marcus Aurelius Press is pleased to announce the reissue of this important work by art historian and author, Dr. Robert Wang.

The Jungian Tarot Deck, first published in 1988, is intended to be a visual introduction to Jungian philosophy. The key is the archetypal image encountered through creative visualization or, as Jung called it, "active imagination."

It is a process which may, theoretically, lead to discovery of a true Inner Self. Such creative visualization is at the heart of all mystical and religious systems, from those of the ancient world, to the spiritual exercises of Ignatius Loyola, to Hermeticism and Rosicrucianism, to Alchemy, and to the remarkably creative occult exercises of the nineteenth century.

One of the main purposes of this work is to demonstrate parallels between Jungian philosophy and Hermetic Kabbalah, a system which has been essential to Western mysticism since the Italian Renaissance which Wang explored in depth in Qabbalistic Tarot.

Wang considers Jung's ideas about regressions from the personal into the collective to be commensurate with the Kabbalistic method of working backwards from the lowest level of the Tree of Life (the material condition), through the upper levels which symbolize not only the enlightened Self, but a condition of nonbeing which transcends all consciousness, personal or collective.

From the Author
It is my hope that viewing the tarot images in psychological terms may serve to amplify our understanding of a whole class of literature previously considered "mystical."

As an art historian my amateur incursion into comparative religion is very tentative and my sources are general. I should also admit that as a historian I have a specific bias. History is, to me, something secure against which religious, mythological, and psychological ideologies must be measured, and it bothers me to find so many discussions of the history of tarot predicated upon irresponsible speculation when the historical tracks of the cards are so clear.

I have no doubt that the tarot originated in fourteenth-century Italy. Of course interpretation of the tarot in serious psychological terms would have seemed laughable, if not absolutely bizarre to its originators, who developed the cards as a game.

It was not until the late nineteenth century that tarot was systematically related to Astrology, to Kabbalah, and to Alchemy. And it was the twentieth century which added an overlay of modern psychological theory

Customer Reviews

A serious deck
I have been interested in and studied what has been called by Dion Fortune the 'Western Esoteric Tradition' and have been fascinated by the tarot. I am currently training as a Jungian analyst and I was looking for a pack that combines the two. For a long time I could not find one and then I was given one as a gift. I was very happy to receive it and see that one exist.

This pack is drawn by a serious student of the occult and of history (I recommend his books to widen your understanding of the roots of this tradition). In conjunction with his own interest in Jungian psychology, Mr. Wang has gone to the trouble of collaborating with Jungian analysts trained at the C. J. Jung Institutes of Zurich and New York. The result is an amazing deck that I am still exploring and will continue to explore for a long time. Mr. Wang has kept the traditional number of cards and figures for the Major Arcana. For the minor arcana he has used the colors of the sephiroth of the Tree of Life in the four worlds in the tradition of the Golden Dawn which makes them a useful reference for students.

There is a principle (which some people may not be aware of) that the minor cards are purposely without image because they represent subjective experiences whereas the major cards represent objective forces (Paul Case also felt this, and would not use pictorial minor cards for his BOTA deck). In Jungian terms one could see it as indicative of a shift from the personal to the collective unconscious.

It is well to keep clear in our minds the difference between archetypal imagery and the archetypes themselves that have no image. An archetypal image is not a role model but am image in the individual's personal unconsious associated with a particular complex surrounding an unknowable archetype. We can only represent an archetype by a personal image and everyone's representation will be different.

Mr. Wang has designed a deck within the historical constraints of the Tarot and he has done this without deviating while at the same time imbuing it with new life in the light of this era's psychological discoveries. Thank you Mr. Wang!

An excellent qabalistic deck with an eastern twist!
I really enjoy the symbolism of this deck. Robert Wang provides a unique interpretation of the entire deck. Each Major Arcana has a unique chakra incorporated in it. Chakras are visual tools for meditation, most popular in Eastern philosophy, that were used by Jung. The cards are simple compared to the symbolism of other decks (ex- Thoth). I have to disagree with Deb28 when she says the Minor Arcana are "so unimaginatively rendered." There are very simple, uniform symbols for each suit but there is also a sphere on each card representing the sepirah in the corresponding color scale that the card represents. The colors and symbolism is subtle, but with a good knowledge of qabalah and/or tarot, this deck can be very powerful. It works well for readings, study, or meditation. This is a great deck but I wouldn't recommend it for beginners.

Beautiful major arcana, minor arcana unimaginatively done
My major complaint about this tarot deck: the minor arcana are so unimaginatively rendered. The suit cards merely show the appropriate number of cups, wands, swords, or pentacles. And so the minor arcana cards fail to carry any visual indication of their individual meanings.
The book's explication of the major arcana is informative but feels more heady and less earthy and rooted than Sallie Nichol's excellent book, Jung and Tarot: An Archetypal Journey. I prefer her book to Wang's: hers is more comprehensive, visual, written more creatively with a more curious, personal tone. Yet Wan'gs book is packed with wonderful mythological information. Unfortunately, Wang sources his work more in Jung's original and now outdated formulation of the anima/animus concept than in more recent and less sexist theories such as Gareth Hill's work with Masculine and Feminine. It would also help break through the too-often gender-stereotypical exploration of archetypes to give female examples of "male" archetypes, such as the Hermit/Wise Old Man. Wang fails to take this opportunity to expand our consciousness and inner experience of the archetypes. Then again, insofar as the Magician is viewed as androgynous, containing both anima and animus, it seems another lost opportunity in expanding social consciousness and widening social application of myth not to connect such a figure with the Native AMerican Two-Spirit archetype, which represents a very significant mythological role of gay and lesbian individuals. Yet A strong point: Wang does bring Buddhism into the exploration of the Major Arcana: a nice addition of the East to an originally Western symbolic system.