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ashtarbookblog.blogspot.com/2018/08/dear-valentin-tomberg.html
This was written in 2013. Today, I would probably be less skeptical to this kind of material.
I posted a review of this curious book here at Amazon two years ago. At the time, I had
only read about 100 pages. By now, I suppose I have devoured another 100! "Meditations
on the Tarot" is a fascinating attempt to create a synthesis of Christianity, Hermeticism
and the cosmic evolutionism of Anthroposophy. Of course, some people would argue
that this is simply a home-coming for Hermeticism, which in its modern Western form
has been Christian or "Christian" from the Renaissance onwards. The "anonymous"
author of "Meditations", Valentin Tomberg, was an Anthroposophist who developed
differences with the orthodox line of Dornach and eventually joined the Catholic Church.
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Indeed, his book has an afterword by Hans Urs von Balthasar (!), an important Catholic
theologian and associate of then-cardinal Ratzinger. But while interested Catholics might
imagine that Tomberg's oeuvre was a clever way of converting occultists to Catholicism,
the opposite is more likely: the author was an occultist mole within the bosom of Mother
Church. Of course, it's possible that Tomberg didn't see any contradiction between
exoteric Catholicism and esoteric Hermeticism-evolutionism, but that would hardly be
the "official" position of the Vatican.
Indeed, this is the most annoying aspect of "Meditations on the Tarot". While the author
constantly calls on the reader to accept the authority of the Pope, the Church hierarchy
and the Jesuits, his *own* ideas are anything but traditionally Catholic, if the book is
read carefully. Tomberg believes in reincarnation, the Akashic chronicles, and has a
"spiritual" interpretation of the resurrection, similar to that of the Tibetan "rainbow
body". He does believe in a general resurrection, but only if the individual human wishes
to be resurrected. God can't force anyone to resurrect against his or her will. Tomberg is
also an Origenist universalist, and believes that even the Devil can be saved. When
discussing cosmic evolution, Tomberg references Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, but I
suspect the idea really comes from Rudolf Steiner. Sure, Tomberg constantly criticizes
black magic, nihilistic views on nirvana, and so on, but this isn't really Catholic either, but
a kind of "right hand path" Hermeticism.
So if Tomberg doesn't subject himself to the authority of the magisterium, why should
we? Indeed, it seems as if the main group of Tombergites, the Sophia Foundation, are
closer to Anthroposophy than Catholicism. They have republished Tomberg's
Anthroposophical writings in flashy new editions.
Perhaps the world would be a splendid place if Valentin Tomberg's sermonizing was
true, but this unknown friend remains unconvinced...
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