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The Tree-of-Life Tarot Workbook: Kabbalistic Meditations on the Major Arcana by Joseph-Mark Cohen Copyright 2004 JMC Publishing all rights reserved ZipEditions@ Introduction by Joseph-Mark Cohen The Tree of Life Tarot Workbook has been in the works for many years. Initially it was conceived as part of a larger work entitled Shamanic Kabbalah. However, my students have suggested that this little workbook offers a user-friendly way to begin an experiential exploration of the Hebrew fire letters. It will also offer you entrance to the intricate personal/transpersonal realms of self-discovery that meditation upon the Tarot Arcana will catalyze. From the perspective of traditional kabbalistic studies, what you will find in the following pages is decidedly unorthodox! The cosmological meaning and direct power of the Hebrew Alphabet or autiot has always been perceived as a direct transmission from the higher worlds (the realm of atzilut and beriah in the kabbalistic terminology) more powerful and archetypal than the yetzirah realm that deals with nature of human desire, sexuality, and the memories, dreams and reflections that so fascinated the psychotherapist C. G. Jung. Even the making of a picture or an image was considered powerfully creative and potentially dangerous by traditional protocols. However the merkavah mystics from the Alexandria School in Egypt and the kabbalistic painters from the south of France would understand the approach that I am taking with this Workbook. The Tarot imagery has had a rich magnetic and fascinating appeal to people of all ages, cultures and spiritual persuasions. There are many symbolic rivers flowing into the sea of Tarot: astrological, alchemical, Gnostic, Christian mystical, shamanic, medieval, magical, and the goddess traditions are but a few of them. What you will find here in The Tree of Life Tarot Workbook is a speculative adventure into where the Hebrew letter mysticism and the Egyptian Mystery School tradit