This has to be the most exquisitely designed black-and-white tarot deck I have ever seen.  It is also one of the most appealing Golden Dawn decks I have reviewed thus far.  The artwork is done in incredible detail, and while most of the black-and-white decks are meant for the reader to color in as he or she pleases, this deck would actually suffer for being colored in.  Recently allowed to go out of print, there are still copies to be had if you look around.

The Hermetic Tarot is an artistic recreation of the original tarot deck by Golden Dawn occultist MacGregor Mathers, whose deck vanished after his death and whose work was the key inspiration to all the personal tarot decks which were required of Golden Dawn members to create during the time period when the Order was at its peak.

The Major Arcana bear the trump titles across the top of the card, along with their number of placement in the deck and the Hebrew letter which corresponds to the card.  At the bottom of the card is another title, for example the Emperor, whose subtitle is "Son of the Morning."  There is no explanation in the little booklet as to how these subtitles were arrived at.

Also on each card are the astrological symbols and a
series of Hebrew letters which also have no explanation in the little booklet.  These carry over for the most part into the Minor Arcana, although there are a few cards that do not bear these marks.

Traditional suits of Wands, Cups, Swords and Pentacles are used in the deck, with typical court cards of Princess, Prince, Knight and Queen.  These are obviously influenced by the same work as Crowley's Thoth Tarot.  The Minor Arcana cards also have the subtitles on them, but they do not bear the one-word keywords that the Thoth tarot has.

The size of the deck is slightly smaller than standard, which makes it easy to handle and shuffle.  The little booklet provides very detailed descriptions of the imagery on each card, at the expense of the divinatory meanings, which probably are best gained through meditation.  I highly recommend this deck for those who enjoy working within the Golden Dawn system of divination and the Qabbalah.  It is probably not a beginner's deck.  The art is superb and would make an excellent addition to any tarot collection.

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Review Copyright 1998 by Gina M. Pace