July Book Recommendation

[Desecrated]

Tarot the open reading and The golden chain of homer.

I know this is a bit late, but I had a really hard time finding a great book for you this month. But I did find 2 good books.

Tarot - The open Reading - Yoav Ben-dov

In 2011 Yoav Ben-dov restored and published the CBD Tarot De Marseilles that made a huge impact on the tarot community. This book isn't necessary tied to that deck, and can be used for all TDm decks. But it's a great study even for us that are more familiar with the rider-smith.

The open reading method comes from partly from Jodorowsky and partly from Yoav. It's not complicated and if you've been reading tarot for some time, you'll get the hang of it pretty quickly.
But the core of it; is that each individual card is not as important as the combination of cards. So Lovers by themselves doesn't necessary mean the same as lovers next to 13.

But this book goes deep. It really dives into the finer details and examines every part of the deck. It's not beginners material but that is also the reason why I would recommend it.

More info can be found on his webpage:
http://www.cbdtarot.com/

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The golden chain of homer

Finding good copies of old texts can be a lot of work. Finding scholarly translation of these works are even harder. So when I heard that RAMS had made their own translation of the golden chain I was immediately interested.

I'm sure you can find older version of this title for free online, but what I'm referring to here is the one Gregory .S Hamilton and Philip .N Wheeler have published. The work was started by Hans Nintzel, who was the found of 'Restorers of Alchemical Manuscript Society' (RAMS).

Now, I have a confession to make: Alchemy has never really been my thing. I'm not saying that it is bad, but I've always found it hard to get past the exterior layers of it.

This edition on the other hand has been so carefully made that even somebody like me can understand it and get into the deeper layers, and trust me, The Golden Chain is so much more then just a textbook about old superstitious and failed chemistry.
This book is originally from 1723, but it stands of the shoulders of giants. It relies heavily upon Aristotle and his philosophy about nature. And it also draws from The Turba Philosophorum. This is not "chemistry for dumb people", this is a serious religious and philosophical piece of work. It's an attempt to understand God, by understanding the nature he has created.

And even if you are a hardcore atheist, this book can still be useful for what we see on the outside, can also be found on the inside.

https://www.amazon.com/Golden-Chain-Hom ... 1475944217