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Two Esoteric Tarots
Two Esoteric Tarots is the record of a fascinating conversation between Peter Mark Adams and Christophe Poncet, convened and with a foreword by César Pedreros. They compare their journeys of discovery into two wildly contrasting tarot decks, the dark ritual landscape of the elite Sola-Busca tarocchi, as revealed in The Game of Saturn, and the luminous and popular Tarot de Marseille, the subject of the forthcoming Tarot of Marsilio.
Scholarly research has firmly maintained that the tarot had no spiritual, esoteric or divinatory dimension before the mid-eighteenth century. However, working independently, Peter Mark Adams and Christophe Poncet have shattered that consensus with their original research, providing abundant evidence that pushes back the date of an esoteric tradition – concealed in plain sight – by almost three centuries.
Readers of The Game of Saturn will find Peter Mark Adams’s most recent thinking here, as he decodes the ritual grammar of a performative theurgy which encompasses the grotesque, the abject and the antinomian in service of a draconian deity and Renaissance statecraft.
Parallel to this, Christophe Poncet discovered Platonic philosophy embedded in the imagery and construction of the Tarot de Marseille. A revelation which propelled him into a profound investigation, unearthing connections between the Florentine aristocracy, the Medici family, Marsilio Ficino, Botticelli, and the heretical philosophical underpinnings of the Italian Renaissance.
When brought into dialogue, Adams and Poncet’s insights converge, to illuminate and fundamentally change our understanding of the tarot, and the submerged currents of the Renaissance, both dark and light, which formed Western esotericism.
A benchmark text for students of the tarot, symbolism, theurgy and performative ritual from the two of the leading researchers into the hidden legacy of the tarot.
Scholarly research has firmly maintained that the tarot had no spiritual, esoteric or divinatory dimension before the mid-eighteenth century. However, working independently, Peter Mark Adams and Christophe Poncet have shattered that consensus with their original research, providing abundant evidence that pushes back the date of an esoteric tradition – concealed in plain sight – by almost three centuries.
Readers of The Game of Saturn will find Peter Mark Adams’s most recent thinking here, as he decodes the ritual grammar of a performative theurgy which encompasses the grotesque, the abject and the antinomian in service of a draconian deity and Renaissance statecraft.
Parallel to this, Christophe Poncet discovered Platonic philosophy embedded in the imagery and construction of the Tarot de Marseille. A revelation which propelled him into a profound investigation, unearthing connections between the Florentine aristocracy, the Medici family, Marsilio Ficino, Botticelli, and the heretical philosophical underpinnings of the Italian Renaissance.
When brought into dialogue, Adams and Poncet’s insights converge, to illuminate and fundamentally change our understanding of the tarot, and the submerged currents of the Renaissance, both dark and light, which formed Western esotericism.
A benchmark text for students of the tarot, symbolism, theurgy and performative ritual from the two of the leading researchers into the hidden legacy of the tarot.
142 pages, Kindle Edition
Published December 5, 2023
7 people are currently reading
49 people want to read
About the author
Peter Mark Adams
12 books48 followersPeter Mark Adams is an author, poet and essayist specialising in the ethnography of ritual, sacred landscapes, esotericism, consciousness and healing.
Peter’s non-fiction has been published by Inner Traditions and Scarlet Imprint; his literary prose and poetry regularly appears in Corbel Stone Press’ literary journal, ‘Reliquiae: Journal of Landscape, Nature & Mythology’.
“I have always had an acute sensitivity to subtle energies & fields; a sense of distinct and powerful presences; of events about to unfold and of the changes in atmosphere that accompany prescience & synchronicities. I grew up in East Africa. In my early teens I took to the roads, walking alone, hitch hiking & sleeping rough, to walk the ancient pathways & visit the ancient sites of England.
As a Philosophy BA Hons. student I specialised in formal logic, the philosophy of science and the theory of meaning; in parallel and since graduating I have continued to make an extensive study of literature, art and modernism.”
“My esoteric affiliations have been formed over the course of fifty years through a mixture of both Eastern and Western traditions including Shotokan Karate, Tai Chi, Vajrayana, Kabbalistic and Thelemic ritual. My partner and I have shared an energy healing practice for the last 20 years focusing on energy and meridian therapies, breathwork and meditation. I am an Associate Member of the European Society for the Study of Western Esotericism (ESSWE).”
Bibliography
Books
The Healing Field: Energy, Consciousness & Transformation. Inner Traditions (forthcoming 2020)
Mystai: Dancing out the Mysteries of Dionysos. Scarlet Imprint (2019)
A Guide to the Trumps and Court Cards of the Sola-Busca Tarocchi. Scarlet Imprint (2017)
The Game of Saturn: Decoding the Sola-Busca Tarocchi. Scarlet Imprint (2017)
Essays in Peer Reviewed Academic Journals
‘Ritual as Therapy: Steps towards an Ethnography of the Invisible.’ Paranthropology: The Journal of Anthropological Approaches to the Paranormal, Volume 5, No 3 (2014).
‘Healing Interventions Involving Deceased Persons’. The Journal of Exceptional Experiences and Psychology, Volume 1, No 2 (2013).
‘Lord of the Flies: The Phenomenology of a Possession’. Paranthropology: The Journal of Anthropological Approaches to the Paranormal, Volume 4, No 3 (2013).
Literary Prose, Poetry & Book Reviews
‘On the Fourth Kind of Madness: A Palimpsest of Plato’s Phaedrus 249c-250c’ by Peter Mark Adams. A Beautiful Resistance Journal, August 2020.
‘Star Axis, New Mexico / Reflections’ by Peter Mark Adams. Reliquiae: Journal of Landscape & Nature, Vol.8 No.1, 2020.
‘Gobekli Tepe, 10,000 BCE / A Reading’ by Peter Mark Adams. Reliquiae: Journal of Landscape, Nature & Mythology, Vol.7 No.2, 2019.
‘The ‘Knowing-Field: Morphic Resonance and Egregores’ by Peter Mark Adams. Watkins Mind Body & Spirit Magazine. October 2019.
‘The Mistress of the Labyrinth’ by Peter Mark Adams. Reliquiae: Journal of Landscape, Nature & Mythology, Vol.7 No.1, 2019.
‘An Almost-Gone Radiance’ by Autumn Richardson. Poetry review by Peter Mark Adams on ‘The Poetry Shed’ April, 2019.
‘The Crane Dance’ by Peter Mark Adams. Reliquiae: Journal of Landscape, Nature & Mythology, Vol.6 2018.
Presentations & Talks
‘Mystai: Dancing out the Mysteries of Dionysos’. Treadwell’s Bookshop, London, October 2019
‘Elite Illuminism & Saturnian Ritual in Renaissance Italy’. Dew of Heaven: Ritual Magic Conference, Museum of Witchcraft and Magic, Boscastle, May 2018
‘The Game of Saturn: the Sola-Busca Tarocchi’, Treadwell’s Bookshop, London, April 2017
‘Ritual as Therapy: Steps Towards an Ethnography of the Invisible’, International Ritual Studies Symposium, Sah University, Istanbul, May 2014
‘Altered States / Parallel Worlds’, Brain to Consciousness Conference, Istanbul, May 2011
TV & Online Digital Media Appearances
‘Magical Egypt’. Documentary Series 3. Expert contributor on
Peter’s non-fiction has been published by Inner Traditions and Scarlet Imprint; his literary prose and poetry regularly appears in Corbel Stone Press’ literary journal, ‘Reliquiae: Journal of Landscape, Nature & Mythology’.
“I have always had an acute sensitivity to subtle energies & fields; a sense of distinct and powerful presences; of events about to unfold and of the changes in atmosphere that accompany prescience & synchronicities. I grew up in East Africa. In my early teens I took to the roads, walking alone, hitch hiking & sleeping rough, to walk the ancient pathways & visit the ancient sites of England.
As a Philosophy BA Hons. student I specialised in formal logic, the philosophy of science and the theory of meaning; in parallel and since graduating I have continued to make an extensive study of literature, art and modernism.”
“My esoteric affiliations have been formed over the course of fifty years through a mixture of both Eastern and Western traditions including Shotokan Karate, Tai Chi, Vajrayana, Kabbalistic and Thelemic ritual. My partner and I have shared an energy healing practice for the last 20 years focusing on energy and meridian therapies, breathwork and meditation. I am an Associate Member of the European Society for the Study of Western Esotericism (ESSWE).”
Bibliography
Books
The Healing Field: Energy, Consciousness & Transformation. Inner Traditions (forthcoming 2020)
Mystai: Dancing out the Mysteries of Dionysos. Scarlet Imprint (2019)
A Guide to the Trumps and Court Cards of the Sola-Busca Tarocchi. Scarlet Imprint (2017)
The Game of Saturn: Decoding the Sola-Busca Tarocchi. Scarlet Imprint (2017)
Essays in Peer Reviewed Academic Journals
‘Ritual as Therapy: Steps towards an Ethnography of the Invisible.’ Paranthropology: The Journal of Anthropological Approaches to the Paranormal, Volume 5, No 3 (2014).
‘Healing Interventions Involving Deceased Persons’. The Journal of Exceptional Experiences and Psychology, Volume 1, No 2 (2013).
‘Lord of the Flies: The Phenomenology of a Possession’. Paranthropology: The Journal of Anthropological Approaches to the Paranormal, Volume 4, No 3 (2013).
Literary Prose, Poetry & Book Reviews
‘On the Fourth Kind of Madness: A Palimpsest of Plato’s Phaedrus 249c-250c’ by Peter Mark Adams. A Beautiful Resistance Journal, August 2020.
‘Star Axis, New Mexico / Reflections’ by Peter Mark Adams. Reliquiae: Journal of Landscape & Nature, Vol.8 No.1, 2020.
‘Gobekli Tepe, 10,000 BCE / A Reading’ by Peter Mark Adams. Reliquiae: Journal of Landscape, Nature & Mythology, Vol.7 No.2, 2019.
‘The ‘Knowing-Field: Morphic Resonance and Egregores’ by Peter Mark Adams. Watkins Mind Body & Spirit Magazine. October 2019.
‘The Mistress of the Labyrinth’ by Peter Mark Adams. Reliquiae: Journal of Landscape, Nature & Mythology, Vol.7 No.1, 2019.
‘An Almost-Gone Radiance’ by Autumn Richardson. Poetry review by Peter Mark Adams on ‘The Poetry Shed’ April, 2019.
‘The Crane Dance’ by Peter Mark Adams. Reliquiae: Journal of Landscape, Nature & Mythology, Vol.6 2018.
Presentations & Talks
‘Mystai: Dancing out the Mysteries of Dionysos’. Treadwell’s Bookshop, London, October 2019
‘Elite Illuminism & Saturnian Ritual in Renaissance Italy’. Dew of Heaven: Ritual Magic Conference, Museum of Witchcraft and Magic, Boscastle, May 2018
‘The Game of Saturn: the Sola-Busca Tarocchi’, Treadwell’s Bookshop, London, April 2017
‘Ritual as Therapy: Steps Towards an Ethnography of the Invisible’, International Ritual Studies Symposium, Sah University, Istanbul, May 2014
‘Altered States / Parallel Worlds’, Brain to Consciousness Conference, Istanbul, May 2011
TV & Online Digital Media Appearances
‘Magical Egypt’. Documentary Series 3. Expert contributor on
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
December 30, 2024
A perfect introduction to Scarlet Imprint’s tarot-related volumes, but it falls short as a standalone work -it's much too short. A fascinating conversation, but I’ve read longer blog posts.
Displaying 1 of 1 review