Archetypes on the Tree of Life: The Tarot as Pathwork

by Madonna Compton

Symbolically examines the meaning and uses of the 22 paths of the Kabbalistic Tree of Life, based upon their correspondences with the Tarot trumps and Hebrew letters. The first half of the book is a scholarly approach to deciphering the archetypal symbols behind the etymology of the Hebrew letters, names and numbers. The second half is designed to enhance creativity and intuition through exercises.

Genres: Tarot

309 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1951

Reviews

[Heidi · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's kind of funny- I think my favorite part of this book wasn't actually the book at all but instead the brief introduction which was written by Hans Nintzel. Nintzel was a student of the western mysteries who describes himself as "living down the street from Israel Regardie." Mind blown right there.

Here's what Nintzel had to say that was so compelling:
As Qabalah evolved, it was discovered that, using this glyph or map called the Tree of Life, one could move around the geography of the consciousness, so to speak, contacting or balancing various personal energies by contemplating various aspects of the God energy using myths, legends, visions, and dreams, represented by the archetypes of the Tarot."pg 4

I have yet to see a more concise description of what pathworking is than that. Now why Nintzel didn't write his own book, I simply don't know. Being the librarian that I am, I did a bit of digging into his background and it seems that he was a prolific lecturer and a translator of alchemical texts, but didn't write his own. Disappointing. Here's a link that I found of works that he helped to bring to the US which were listed in his obituary: http://www.levity.com/alchemy/rams.html

As for Compton's 300 or so page contribution, I found myself to be disappointed. Archetypes on the Tree of Life is in the main, rather obscure Qabalistic/Kaballistic theory. It reads almost exactly like Regardie's Garden of Pomegranates or Fortune's The Mystical Qabalah. That's not to say that it doesn't have some gems of interest, but mostly it's slow going and not as accessible as the publisher (Llewellyn) promised it to be in the page where it described the goals of its Spiritual Perspectives Series.

Compton's most interesting point has nothing to do with traditional pathworking but is instead a hypothesis that she and her meditation partner have constructed about potential alternate paths across Daath. They've chosen a five pointed star to create the paths, but I would perhaps lean more towards a six pointed star, which still sort of works. The six pointed star is a combination of an upwards and downwards facing triangle, an ancient alchemical symbol for self actualization. Though, admittedly, the five pointed star has definite Tiphareth associations... and so the debate continues I suppose. :) Anyway, if you're interested in Compton's theory, turn to page 304 to save yourself some time digging through the other stuff.

If you enjoyed this book, may I recommend reading either of the two books I mentioned earlier: The Garden of Pomegranates by Israel Regardie or The Mystical Qabalah by Dion Fortune. If you want more examples of modern pathworking, see my blog: https://thelightcongress.wordpress.com/

[Moses Cirulis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Of the mystic books I've read, this one is one of my favourites.

In it, the pathways of the Jewish Kabbalist Tree of Life and the Hebrew letters and Tarot cards assigned to these pathways become a rich playground full of symbolic mysticism and archetypical analogies played across multiple cultures. In addition to this, guided meditations exist for each pathway represented in this book, giving you the chance to enjoy the rich pathways and archetypes of your own consciousness.

For best results, I recommend using this book with the Celestial Tarot by Kay Stevonton and Brian Clark. The archetypes and letters represented in this book are actually on those cards, and as a result this particular deck is incredible for pathwork.

[Gabriel Clarke · Rating 3 out of 5]

Or perhaps 7/10. Dense, full of information and a lot of useful ideas but very hard to get through, possibly by design. Possibly there's a reason why it's sat on my shelf for a very long time gathering dust (or maybe I'm just a very lazy Tarotist). Very much a Western Esoteric approach, equal parts Dion Fortune and GD. As the other Good Reads review mentions, the most intriguing bit is the discussion of additional paths. At a glance, these would partly resemble the arrangement of 22 paths in earlier medieval Kabbalah Trees. Go figure.