The Illustrated Key to the Tarot by L. W. de Laurence - Preface

LibriVox recording of The Illustrated Key to the Tarot by L. W. de Laurence.
Read in English by Michelle Dyer; Michelle Dyer; Michelle Dyer; lightcrystal; lightcrystal; lightcrystal
L.W. de Laurence, an occult and spiritual author and publisher, not only provides a history of the Tarot for fortune-telling purposes, but writes "a harmony of the meanings which have been attached to the various cards." De Laurence also offers a simple method for divinatory work with the cards, as opposed to the "cumbrous and involved" handbooks of the day.
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Episode Transcript

(00:01):
Preface of the Illustrated Key to theTarot. This is a LibriVox recording.
All LibriVox recordings are in the publicdomain. For more information or to volunteer,
please visit LibriVox dot org. Recordingby Michel Dyer. The Illustrated Key

(00:21):
to the Tarot by L. W. De Lorentz preface. It seems rather
of necessity than predilection, in thesense of apologia, that I should put
on record, in the first place, a plain statement of my personal position,
as one who, for many yearsof literary life has been subject to

(00:43):
his spiritual and other limitations, anexponent of the higher mystic schools. It
will be thought that I am actingstrangely in concerning myself at this day with
what appears at first sight and simplya well known method of fortune telling.
Now, the opinions of some,even in the literary reviews, are of
no importance unless they happen to agreewith our own. But in order to

(01:06):
sanctify this doctrine, we must takecare that our opinions and the subjects out
of which they arise are concerned onlywith the highest Yet it is just this
which may seem doubtful in the presentinstance, not only to those whom I
respect within the proper measures of detachment, but to some of more real consequence,

(01:26):
Seeing that their dedications are mine.To these and to any I would
say that after the most illuminated freighter, Christian rosy Cross, had beheld the
chemical marriage in the secret Palace ofTransmutation, his story breaks off abruptly with
an intimation that he expected next morningto be doorkeeper. After the same manner,

(01:48):
it happens, more often than mightseem likely, that those who have
seen the occult powers of nature throughthe most clearest veils of the sacraments are
those who assume thereafter the humblest officeof all about the House of Wisdom,
by such simple devices. Are alsothe adepths and great masters in the secret
orders, distinguished from the cohort ofneophytes, as Servi Sevora master Eye.

(02:15):
So also, or in a waywhich is not entirely unlike, we meet
with the Tarot cards at the outermostgates, amidst the fritterings and debris of
the so called occult arts, aboutwhich no one in their senses has suffered
the smallest deception. And yet thesecards belong in themselves to another region,

(02:36):
For they contain a very high symbolismwhich is interpreted according to the laws of
grace, rather than by the pretextsand intuitions of that which passes for divination.
The fact that the wisdom of Godnature is foolishness with men does not
create a presumption that the foolishness ofthis world makes in any sense for divine

(02:57):
wisdom. So neither of the sin the ordinary classes, nor the pedagogues
in the seats of the mighty,will be quick to perceive the likelihood or
even the possibility of this proposition.The subject has been in the hands of
cartomancists as part of the stock andtrade of their industry. I do not
seek to persuade any one outside myown circles that this is of much or

(03:21):
of no consequence. But on thehistorical and interpretive sides, it has not
fared better. It has been therein the hands of exponents who have brought
it into utter contempt. For thosepeople who possess philosophical insight or faculties for
the appreciation of evidence, it istime that it should be rescued. And

(03:42):
this I propose to undertake once andfor all that I may have done with
the side issues which distract from theterm. As poetry is the most beautiful
expression of the things that are ofall most beautiful, so is symbolism the
most Catholic express and concealment of thingsthat are most profound in the sanctuary,

(04:03):
and that have not been declared outsideit with the same fullness by means of
the spoken word. The justification ofthe rule of silence is no part of
my present concern. But I haveput on record elsewhere, and quite recently,
what it is possible to say onthis subject. The little treatise which

(04:24):
follows is divided into three parts,in the first of which I have dealt
with the antiquities of the subject,and a few things that arise from and
connect therewith. It should be understoodthat it is not put forward as a
contribution to the history of playing cards, about which I know and care nothing.
It is a consideration dedicated and addressedto a certain school of occultism,

(04:48):
more especially in France, as tothe source and center of all the phantasmagoria
which has entered into expression during thelast fifty years under the pretense of considering
tarot cards historically. In the secondpart. I have dealt with the symbolism
according to some of its higher aspects, and this also serves to introduce the

(05:11):
complete and rectified Taro, which isavailable separately in the form of colored cards,
the designs of which are added tothis present text in black and white.
They have been prepared under my supervisionin respect of the attributions and meanings
by a lady who has high claimsas an artist. Regarding the divinatory part

(05:33):
by which my thesis is terminated,I consider it personally as a fact in
the history of the tarot. Assuch, I have drawn from all published
sources a harmony of the meanings whichhave been attached to the various cards,
and I have given prominence to onemethod of working that has not been published
previously, having the merit of simplicity, while it is also of universal application.

(05:59):
It may be held to replace thecumbrous and involved systems of the larger
hand books. End of preface.