Samuel Liddell MacGregor Mathers

Samuel Liddell MacGregor Mathers was primarily known as one of the founders of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. This present work was first published in 1888. Mathers added the "MacGregor" surname as a claim to Highland Scottish heritage. He was a practising vegetarian, or according to some vegan, an outspoken anti-vivisectionist, and a non-smoker. Mathers was a polyglot; among the languages he had studied were English, French, Latin, Greek, Hebrew, Gaelic and Coptic, though he had a greater command of some languages than of others. This book is brief but has complete description of Tarot, the symbolism of each key, meanings of the cards, methods of divination, Tarot game play, and Occult significance of the Tarot cards. It will be appreciated by anyone interested in the study of the tarot.

The present work contains three principal books of the Zohar, the key to the Kabalistic system. The translation is principally taken from the Latin version of Knorr Von Rosenroth, but also collated with the original Chaldee and Hebrew text, and in many instances translated directly therefrom, especially whenever the Latin rendering seemed unreliable. -- From the Introduction: "The first questions which the non-qabalistical reader will probably ask are: What is the Qabalah? Who was its author? What are its sub-divisions? What are its general teachings? And why is a translation of it required at the present time? I will answer the last question first. At the present time a powerful wave of occult thought is spreading through society; thinking men are beginning to awake to the fact that "there are more things in heaven and earth than are dreamed of in their philosophy"; and, last but not least, it is now felt that the Bible, which has been probably more misconstrued than any other book ever written, contains numberless obscure and mysterious passages which are utterly unintelligible without some key wherewith to unlock their meaning. THAT KEY IS GIVEN IN THE QABALAH. Therefore this work should be of interest to every biblical and theological student. Let every Christian ask himself this question: "How can I think to understand the Old Testament if I be ignorant of the construction put upon it by that nation whose sacred book it formed; and if I know not the meaning of the Old Testament, how can I expect to understand the New?"-S. L. MacGregor Mathers.