The Jungian Tarot Robert Wang, 1988 The 78-cards of the The Jungian Tarot were painted by Robert Wang in 1988 and printed by AGMuller. Wang is also the artist of the Golden Dawn Tarot, published ten years earlier. His artistic style is clearly improved in this deck, with better renditions of the human form and more detail overall. Many of the paintings are quite beautiful, and there is a lot of symbolism in the Major Arcana. One detail that is unusual for any Tarot deck is that there are no titles or words anywhere on the cards – the images are meant to stand alone as pure expressions of the Jungian archetypes.

Also emphasizing this right-brain mode are the beautiful mandala patterns which appear at the bottom of each Trump. These are reminiscent of the glyphs which appear in the Knapp-Hall deck, and Wang describes their purpose in much the same way that Hall did. Wang writes that “The Mandala, a ‘magic circle’ used as an aid to contemplation in the East, is a more graphic way of suggesting the energies of the many archetypes connected to each card.” Along these same lines, Wang goes on to say that

The Jungian Tarot is a very flexible device which can be used with any system. There are no captions on the cards, either to distract in meditation, or to impose a specific sequential order. Readers are free to apply whatever interpretive programs they may consider appropriate. However, those who choose to accept “traditional” interpretations should be aware that these ideas are not only of recent origin, but are frequently quite arbitrary. Nineteenth century esoteric fraternities did develop creative, and still acceptable, attributions for the Major Arcana, but their often eccentric patterns of interpretation for the Minor Cards must be reconsidered.

This deck explores the connections between the archetypes of Tarot and Jungian psychology, adding up to some very new interpretations for both the Major and Minor arcana. For example, The Magician (shown at top-left) is named the Son, and The High Priestess (shown next to him) is named the Daughter. These two cards represent the Animus and Anima, the contrasexual components within Woman and Man respectively. Wang suggests that a woman may relate to The Magician as a symbol of her own inner masculinity and her quest for self-discovery. Men may feel a corollary relationship with The High Priestess, who represents for him archetypal femininity and the knowledge of the heart. The mask which she holds represents the persona which usually hides the inner self. The Empress represents the archetype of The Mother (shown above, third from left). The lake behind her alludes to her previous stage of virginity, while the cup she holds symbolizes the female generative organ. The sea-snake behind her represents the potentially destructive aspects of the Mother archetype. This shadow side is balanced by the dove of Venus at her feet. Other Major Arcana cards show additional aspects of the Mother, such as Justice, the Mother as Discipline, and Death, the Mother as Gateway. The Jungian Tarot includes Wang’s 140-page book, Tarot Psychology. Wang is also the author of the highly regarded book The Qabalistic Tarot: A Textbook of Mystical Philosophy. An interesting blend of Jungian and Qabalistic concepts can be seen in this deck, especially in the Minor Arcana which have been newly rethought by Wang. The book is highly recommendable on its own because of its perceptive application of qabalistic principles to Minor Arcana interpretations. Fortunately this book was reprinted in 1990 and 1992, so it is not as difficult to find as the complete 1988 book and deck set.

The Minor Arcana has a logical structure which assigns each Sephirah to its corresponding numeric card. These Sephirah manifest through each suit of Wands, Cups, Swords and Pentacles, which respectively correspond to the four qabalistic worlds of Atziluth, Briah, Yetzirah and Assiah. Therefore one sephirothic sphere is illustrated on each pip according to its corresponding qabalistic color. These 40 color attributions are those devised by the Order of the Golden Dawn. So the Ten of Pentacles (shown above) would signify Malkuth in Assiah depicted as a black sphere. The caveat to this system is that Wang (following the system of the Order of the Golden Dawn) has assigned the suit of Cups (Water) to the world of Briah, and the suit of Swords (Air) to the world of Yetzirah. These attributions are erroneous from a Jewish kabbalistic standpoint; they neither array the elements from finest to densest rarity (which would give Swords to Briah and Cups to Yetzirah), nor do they follow elemental symbolism found in the Sephir Yetzirah (which would likely give Cups to Atziluth, Wands to Briah, and Swords to Yetzirah).(1) Qabalistic astrology also plays a role in the interpretation of the Minor Arcana by assigning a planetary body to each pip card. These follow an updated but generally accepted system which assigns the recently discovered planets to the Sephirothic Tree. In order from one to ten, these planets are Pluto, Uranus, Neptune, Jupiter, Mars, Sun, Venus, Mercury, Moon and Saturn. The suits are then assigned a corresponding Cardinal sign, matching Wands with Aries, Cups with Cancer, Swords with Libra, and Pentacles with Capricorn. The Four of Swords (shown above) would therefore represent Jupiter in Libra. This combination of qabalistic, astrological and Jungian systems results in an innovative approach. Wang writes:

Certainly, there are a few surprises when the Minor Cards are attributed in this way. A good example is the Five of Wands, which has been called “Strife.” But when the Five of Wands is related to Mars in Aries, it is seen to be a card of tremendous creative energy, of originality and of courage. It is a card of independence, of success, of popularity, and of outgoing force which may be rapidly expended. As another example one may cite the Three of Swords earlier considered to be a card of pain and sorrow. But as Neptune in Libra, the positive house of Venus, it becomes a card of art, of poetry, of refinement. It is a card of love, of friendship, and of good fortune. It is the flowing Neptunian force expressed through thought (Air/Swords). These two cards, especially, are mentioned to underscore the fact that to relate the Tarot to the mainstream of Western esoteric thought requires that we discard some deeply-ingrained notions.

Wang’s book also outlines a 34-week course of study, consisting of 22 weeks of Self Discovery through the Major Arcana, 4 weeks of Personality Analysis through the court cards, and 8 weeks of Situational Analysis through the Minor Cards. The deck is beautifully printed by Urania Verlags AG and packaged with the book in a sturdy plastic case. These sets have unfortunately become very hard to find.

Review by Mark Filipas, 11/24/00

(1) See, among other sources, Aryeh Kaplan’s Sefer Yetzirah, pp.80–82 Images Copyright © 1988 Urania Verlags AG, Review Copyright © 2000 Mark Filipas