Meditations might not be your go-to if you’re figuring out everyday stuff, like deciding on a new job or dealing with a tough relationship. Think of it more like a into different worlds, less like practical advice for daily life.
Had a weird experience after reading Letter IV on The Emperor. Did a reading for a CEO client and instead of my usual authority figure stuff, I started channeling Tomberg’s spiritual authority concepts. We ended up talking about inner sovereignty. The reading was dead on. Caught both of us off guard.
I remember learning about pleasure in Tarot readings. It’s right there at the foundation, you know? Those early cups cards, especially the Ace, show that pure satisfaction we all need before moving on to deeper stuff. Pretty cool how pleasure keeps us grounded before the cards take us through their other lessons.
You keep discovering new things each time you read it, and I notice stuff I completely missed before. The meanings connect in ways I didn’t expect. Anyone else find that taking breaks to think about it helps?
Actually, there’s a common misunderstanding that Tomberg’s work requires traditional or Christian-themed decks to be effective. While he does reference the Marseilles structure, the archetypal patterns he explores transcend any particular artistic style.
Modern abstract decks can actually illuminate different facets of his meditations precisely because they strip away some of the expected religious imagery. When you use something like the Wild Unknown or even more minimalist decks, you’re almost forced to engage with the pure archetypal energy rather than getting caught up in whether the imagery ‘matches’ his Catholic mysticism.
That mixing is precisely what makes it so powerful though! Where else do you find Aquinas and alchemical principles dancing together in the same paragraph? The synthesis creates something entirely new. It’s why I love it. Not just Christian OR hermetic, a third thing that somehow makes both traditions clearer
I get why people find the philosophy heavy, but Tomberg’s meditations have been helpful for my readings. After sitting with the mystical stuff for a while, it starts showing up in spreads. Like with The Lovers, seeing it as conscious choice vs unconscious union changes how you read relationship spreads. Once the concepts click, they become useful tools.
Picked it up a the same time as my Threads of Tarot deck and I don’t know if it’s just strange coincidence or not but… there’s a lot of overlap in ideas.
Anyone who’s gotten deeper into the book, did any of the letters actually help with reading intuitively? Or is it all just philosophical stuff?
That CEO reading sounds cool. Did they actually buy into the spiritual authority stuff? I’m curious if they were hoping for more typical business advice instead.
The philosophical depth does eventually seep into your intuitive practice… but not in the way you might expect.
Rather than giving you new techniques, it’s more like it rewires how you perceive the archetypes themselves. When I work with The High Priestess now, I don’t just see ‘intuition and hidden knowledge’… I feel those deeper hermetic currents Tomberg describes, that living connection between conscious and unconscious realms. It takes time, though, and I worry that some readers give up before experiencing what it’s really about.
The letters on The Hermit and The Star particularly transformed how I read - not through new methods, but through a richer understanding of what these energies actually represent in the human soul. Please be patient with yourself if it feels too abstract at first. The intuitive benefits come, but they arrive quietly, like dawn rather than lightning.