Product Details
The Hermetic Tarot

The Hermetic Tarot
By Godfrey Dawson

List Price: $18.00
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Product Description

Back in print by popular demand.... This deck is one of the few that easily reveals the planetary influences at work in a matter. 78 cards in the black & white deck.


Product Details

  • Amazon Sales Rank: #98671 in Books
  • Brand: U.S. Games Systems
  • Published on: 1979-01-01
  • Original language: English
  • Number of items: 1
  • Binding: Cards
  • 78 pages

Customer Reviews

Are you kidding me?1
The re-printing of this beautiful Tarot deck is utter rubbish. The amazingly intricate drawings of Godfrey Dowson have been blurred and pixilated to an embarrassing degree. Also, the cards themselves were cut irregularly, so no two cards were even uniformly shaped. Seriously, I could go down to Kinkos and make better replications of these cards! In this day and age of technology there is no excuse for blurry pixilation and irregularly cut cards. If you think that you are getting the inspiring original printing of these cards, you will be sadly mistaken.

I've contacted U.S. Games Systems and they have ignored me. I tried to warn customers on their site but they didn't post my review. If I were to speculate, I would think that they are trying to retain the inflated value of the original printing by releasing a disgustingly low quality representation in their latest re-printing at the expense of you, the customer. Buyer beware.

Update: I have posted two pictures which capture the quality issues I mention; one of the poorly clipped corner and one of flagrant pixelation. If someone could post a similar picture of VIII, Fortitude, I would be grateful.

Hermetic Tarot is great for those interested in Golden Dawn5
This deck reminds me of Crowley's. Its black and white drawings are crammed with so much symbolism, it can be overwealming at first. But it all becomes very clear with experience. I use this deck for meditative purposes. The little booklet is a bit sparse on interpretive meanings, check out Wang's book on the Golden Dawn deck.

Most wanted deck... 5
Many years ago, I was given a reading with this deck. I was frightened and amazed by what I saw. Sheer Magic in its purest form. This is THE occult tarot deck. More so than the Crowley-Thoth. I thought someday I would like a copy of this precious artifact. I guess I waited too long as it is now out of print. What a shame when the folks at U.S. Games have multiple renditions of the Rider-Waite deck for sale, among others that do not hold any interest to me.

Maybe it is because of the black and white presentation. It could simply be too scary for many! It is no less dark than others on the current market. I really wish someone else would pick up rights to this masterwork and get it back in publication. Or better yet, how about U.S. Games doing so. They are great at what they do. Except holding back this classic and others.

I finally purchased my copy of this deck from the publisher and love it. The LWB presents nothing new here. The deck itself is not ideal for beginners, 12 and older would do best. Astrologically, this system soars! It is also fun to see these images up close. Its possibly the most detailed tarot ever created.