“Golden Dawn Tarot” by Robert Wang

This is the classic Golden Dawn tarot, although there have been many other decks created to be styled after Golden Dawn ceremonial magickal traditions.  Robert Wang created this deck under the direction of Dr. Israel Regardie.  A lot of the symbolism is recognizably traditional, however, there is a lot which takes its meanings from Hebrew Qabbalah and other eastern writings.

The colors used are soft and the artwork somewhat primitive in nature, although not offensively so.  Mild nudity appears in the cards but nothing inappropriate.  The cards themselves are larger in size than standard, and are al ittle more difficult to shuffle, although men and women with larger hands might actually find this size more comfortable.

The suits used are the traditional Wands, Cups, Swords, and Pentacles, although court cards have changed to become King, Queen, Prince and Princess.  Crowley also used these court card applications, since he had his original training in the Golden Dawn.  Therefore these changes will not be unfamiliar.

In fact, even the Rider-Waite deck, considered to be the standard by which most other decks are measured, was influenced by the Golden Dawn, as A. E. Waite was a Golden Dawn initiate himself.  It is interesting to compare other decks with this one and see how much similarity there is.

I would recommend this deck to anyone who is a student of the Golden Dawn (obviously) but it is also an important and helpful tool in anyone who uses the traditional decks and wishes to advance their studies into the deeper meanings of the cards.