W.B. Yeats' towers: A View on Yeats' Poems "The Tower" and "TheBlack Tower" Through the Tarot and the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn.

Chen Freespirit

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William Butler Yeats weaves in his poetry symbols

borrowed from his studies and associations to the beliefs

of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. W.B. Yeats and

many of his acquaintances were members of the Hermetic

Order and were employed in its studies. According to The

Chronology of the Golden Dawn by Mary Greer and Darcy Kuntz the

Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn was active as a

mystical order in England and Ireland during the late 19th

and early 20th centuries. It was one of three orders

gathered within a great order "The Three Orders of the

Tree of Life". Even though there were many active

founders of the Golden Dawn society, it is believed that

the main founder is S.L. MacGregor Mathers. The Order

practiced Theurgy1, Alchemy and magic creating a theology

by collectivity of several beliefs such as Cabbalism

(both Jewish and Christian), Christianity, Ancient

Egyptians', Gypsies' and more. New Temples opened in

different places over the world, one of their biggest

based in Paris. The order flourished and gathered many

followers.

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In 1887 Yeats was initiated to the Hermetic society

under the name D.E.D.I Demon est Deus Invertus (The devil is

god inverted). Mathers had taken over the headquarters in

Paris and in 1900 annuls the second order from the three.

He then sent Aleister Crowley, notoriously known as "The

Great Beast 666", involved in black magic and founder of

Thelema2, to take over the headquarters in London as his

emissary. Mathers intentions were thwarted by Yeats and

his associates. Yeats

1. Theurgy; from Greek θεουργία. The practice of rituals with a magical nature in purpose of

the evocation of holly spirits and gods. Used in the means to achieve wholeness with the

divine. (Keith Thomas Religion and the decline of Magic)

2. Thelema; from Greek θélima( to want). A religion established by Aleister Crowley inspired

by a spiritual trip to Egypt. The religion is based on The Book of the Law believed to have

been dictated to Crowley by the devil himself. The core of the religion relies on a man's

will and is derived by man's free will and known as "True will". (Dave Evans Aleister Crowley

and the 20th Century Synthesis of Magick)

had taken control of the London "Isis Urania" Temple. In

1901, Yeats resigned from the Order as the peace kept on

being disturbed by power thriving members seeking to

incorporate dark forces within the orders' methods.

The Order had conducted various rituals for the

evocation of gods and spirits which were believed to give

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its members ideological and prophetic messages from the

beyond, entrusting them to both protect and spread the

prophecy. One of the main means assisting them

communicate and summon these beings was the Tarot cards

which many of their fundamental symbols appear in Yeats'

poems. In his Reveries Over Childhood and Youth Yeats wrote "we

should write out our thoughts in as nearly as possible

the language we thought them in, as though in a letter to

an intimate friend. We should not disguise them in any

way; for our lives give them force as the lives of the

people in plays give force to their words" (p. 105).

Yeats claims that the secret to great poetry lies in the

ability of writing about intimate matters in a

personal language. For Yeats, magic was not poetry so

much as poetry was magic; both evoked energies and

knowledge. Therefore, the key to understanding Yeats'

poems, "The Tower" and "The Black Tower" in particular,

hinges on obtaining the knowledge and meaning of the

Tarot card symbols, which reappear consistently, both to

Yeats and to the Order of the Golden Dawn.

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The Tarot cards' origin was unknown when they had

first appeared in Europe,

Italy in the mid of the 15th century. Paul Huson claims in

his Mystical Origins of the Tarot that "The best bets were that

they came from China, Persia or India, all of which have

their own different types of playing cards…" (p. 5).

However, their symbols correspond with repetitive

ritualistic marks in Cabbalism, Christianity and Ancient

Egypt. One of the suggestions regarding the cards and

their symbols origin, familiar by Yeats, claimed that the

symbols of the Tarot are originated in the Troubadours.

Even so, the main teaching of the order was Cabbalism and

the diagram of the Tree of Life, which the Tarot cards

are believed to be based on.

The Tree of Life is the main

doctrine of the Cabbalism and

reflects on everyone and everything.

Yeats had described the Tree of Life

and its sketch in The Trembling of the Veil

"The Tree of Life is a geometrical

figure made up of 10 circles or

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spheres called Sephirot joined by straight lines. Once

men must have thought of it as like some great tree

covered with its fruit and foliage, but at some period,

in a the thirteenth century, perhaps, touched by the

mathematical genius of Arabia in all likelihood, it had

lost its natural form. "(p. 282)

The Tree of Life was known to Yeats, as it is to

scholars today, as a geometrical scheme. However, the

Tree of Life is a divine force that cannot be perceived

by humanly visual abilities and mind. Isaiah Tishby

commented on the divinity of the Tree of Life as it

appears in The Zohar3: "It is clear from the passage just

quoted that the Sephirot, which are finite and

measurable, are not, however, static objects, like fixed,

solid rungs on the ladder of the progressive

3. The Zohar; from Hebrew: רררA group of books commenting on the mystical aspect of (Splendor) רר

the old testimony Torah ררר It is also the supporting literary work to the mystical . רררר

theology of Caballah. The Zohar includes an analysis of the nature of god and the nature of

the human soul differentiating light and dark, good and evil. (and Melila Hellner-Ershed

The Language of Mystical Experience in the Zohar )

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revelation of the divine attributes. They are on the

contrary, dynamic forces,

ascending and descending, and extending themselves within

the area of the Godhead."

The Key to Kabbalah: Discovering Jewish Mysticism by Nissan Dovid

Dubov explains that "Everything that happens in the

spiritual worlds takes place through the medium of the

Sefirot." The Sephirot describe the human's soul's

journey to divinity and wholeness of the soul. Beginning

in the lowest Sephira "Malkut" (Kingdom), representing

humanity, and ending in the highest Sephira "Keter"

(Crown), representing divinity. The human's soul, as

ascending from one Sephira to the other, goes through 4

stages, which are also known in the Cabbala as the 4

worlds; Aziluth (Deity), Binah (Understanding), Yetzirah

(Formation) and Assiah (action). The soul passes through

22 different paths which are also the straight lines

connecting the 10 Sepirot and the 4 worlds in the sketch.

The number 22 also corresponds with the number of the

Hebrew Alphabet.

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The Tarot cards are fashioned of 4 suits each of 10

cards and an additional suit

of the 22 keys. These numbers are not coincidental and

relate with the numbers found in the description of the

Tree of Life; 4 suits with the 4 worlds, 10 cards with

the 10 Sephirot and 22 keys with the 22 lines and the

Hebrew Alphabet. Each suit is dedicated to 1 of the 4

objects believed by the Order to have been the tools of

the wizard or magician; a club (also known as a wand), a

sword, a pentacle and a cup. These 4 also correspond with

the 4 elements; wand - air, sword - fire, pentacle -

earth and cup - water. The 22 keys, also known as The

Major Arcana, each symbolize a different aspect of the

human experience. Symbolic and archetypical figures are

drawn on the cards, representing man's spiritual journey

in unlocking the mysteries of divination.

MacGregor Mathers published in the pamphlet The Tarot

the notion that the 22 card connect into a story or a

long sentence which describes everyman's journey in life.

"The Human Will (The Juggler or Magician) enlightened by

Science (The High Priestess) and manifested by Action

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(The Empress) should find its Realization (The Emperor)

in deeds of Mercy and Beneficence (The Pope). The Wise

Dispensation (The Lovers) of this will give him Victory

(The Chariot) through Equilibrium (Justice) and Prudence

(The Hermit) over the fluctuations of Fortune (The Wheel

of Fortune). Fortitude (The Eleventh Trump) sanctified by

Sacrifice of Self (The Hanged Man) will triumph over

Death itself (The Thirteenth card) and thus a wise

Combination (Temperance) will enable him to defy Fate

(The Devil). In each Misfortune (The Lightning-Struck

Tower) he will see the Star of Hope (Key number

Seventeen) shine through the twilight of Deception (The

Moon): and ultimate Happiness (The Sun) will be the

Result (The Last Judgment). Folly (The card of the

Foolish man) will on the other hand bring about an evil

Reward (The Universe)" (p. 126). Even though The Major

Arcana consists of the 22 keys or Trumps their counting

begins from 0 the Fool which is believed to be the basic

beginning point of the soul. From that point does the

fool grow until obtaining the secrets of the Universe,

key number 21.

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In his poems "The Tower" and "The Black Tower" Yeats

takes significant notice of 6 symbols from "The Major

Arcana": the Fool, Death, the Tower, the Stars, the Moon

and the Sun. Even though Yeats takes special notice of

these several symbols the Tower seems to be the most

significant one in these poems. Also known by its name

"The Arrow" Yeats had dedicated three separate poems to

the 16th key, the Tower: "The Tower", "The Arrow" and "The

Black Tower". Even though Yeats draws his attention to

several symbols from the 22 keys the Tower seems to be

the most significant one. Although the mystical symbolism

of the Tower is consequential for understanding the

poems, one cannot ignore that Yeats owned and lived in a

tower enriched with national historic background.

According to Moore Institute Database Ballylee

castle, located in the County of Galway, was built in the

16th century as part of the grand estate owned by the

Earls of Clanrickarde. Before Yeats had purchased the

estate in 1916, it had been the home of Lady Augusta

Gregory, Yeats' close friend. Yeats had changed the name

of the Castle, dropping the word Castle completely and

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adding the word "Thoor" (tur) which is the Irish word for

"tower". Engraved on a tablet in front of Thoor Ballylee

can be found Yeats writing:

"I, the poet William Yeats,

With old mill boards and sea-green slates,

And smithy work from the Gort forge,

Restored this tower for my wife George.

And may these characters remain

When all is ruin once again."

Yeats was enchanted by the building and especially by its

location in the rural Irish landscape. However, it was

not the view alone that had lured Yeats to the tower.

Taking into account the engraving on the first floor of

the tower:

"I declare this tower is my symbol; I

declare

This winding, gyring, spiring treadmill of a

stair is my ancestral stair;"

Yeats, once again, manipulates the words into having a

deeper meaning for those who know to read between the

lines. The swirling stairs are not just a staircase, they

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are symbolic spheres, "gyring" and "winding", implying of

the endless cycle in which Yeats believes us to exist in.

They are the Sephirot, reincarnation and the cyclic

escalation of the soul through the Tree of Life.

Moreover, by using the word "symbol" he gives the tower a

profound meaning, bigger than simply a residence; this

tower is his essence.

The 16th trump, the Tower, known to the order as "The

lighting struck tower" and "The house of god", precedes,

in every version of the decks, the Devil and is followed

by the Star. It corresponds in the order of the Hebrew

Alphabet with the letter ר, (mouth)

and is dominated by the planet of

Mars, giving the cards a polemic

aspect; the battle of the mind and

body, divinity versus humanity,

desire versus knowledge and the

desire to obtain knowledge. The Tower

belongs to the Element of fire and

connects the two lowest Sephirot Hod

and Netzach. In her article "Yeats, the Tarot and the

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Golden Dawn" Kathleen Raine claims that the origin of the

card can be retraced to Biblical tower of Babylon "The

Tower […] is, above all, the Tower of Babel struck by the

lightning of divine wrath, and signifies catastrophe and

downfall" (p.146). The moral lesson of the biblical fable

teaches that man had tried to reach god and divinity

through a materialistic shortcut, building a tower as

tall as the sky, and had failed by the ruin of the

building before its construction was completed. By the

use of materialistic means to achieve divinity man had

tried skipping the journey of the soul through the

Sephirot, and had failed to unravel the mystery of the

divine. At the top of the card can be seen a crown, also

the 10th Sephira "Keter", which is god, striking man with

his almightiness.

Despite sharing a similar contribution to the 16th

Tarot key, "The Tower" and "The Black Tower" share a

theme; Yeats' desire to separate the soul from the body.

In his book "The Tower", which shares the second poem's

name, published in 1928, Yeats starts dealing with the

beginning of the end; his death. Yet, this is the death

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of the body rather than the soul. Yeats differentiates

the soul from the body, following the beliefs of the

Order in reincarnation. According to A Readers' Guide to W.B.

Yeats by John Unterecker, in his earlier poem "A Dialogue

of Self and Soul" "Yeats explicitly chooses for his soul

reincarnation rather than a resting place in the artifice

of eternity (p.170). Although the body is the vessel of

the soul and ceases from existing, the soul keeps on in

its circulation from point 0, the Fool and ends in point

21, the Universe, returning, yet again, to point 0. This

notion of rebirth can be seen additionally in Yeats'

earlier poem "The Phases of the Moon", which accordingly

to Yeats corresponds with the soul's circular journey

from nothing to wholeness. Kathleen Raine states in her

article: "We see therefore in the fool's journey a

foreshadowing of the Phases of the Moon, in which the

soul travels the circuit of the Wheel of Fortune" (p.

125).

Both "The Tower" and "The Black Tower" are some of

Yeats latest works, the second being his deathbed poem.

Aging and death, in particular, appear as main themes in

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these poems; taking into account that the word "old"

repeats in "The Tower" 9 times and in "The Black Tower" 5

times. The Tarot card symbols Yeats chooses to use in

these poems support this claim with regard to their

meaning. Age is a burden to Yeats, as can be seen in the

first sentences of "The Tower":

"WHAT shall I do with this absurdity -

O heart, O troubled heart - this caricature,

Decrepit age that has been tied to me

As to a dog's tail?"

The trump of the Tower represents the dichotomy of Yeats

body failure and his soul's desire for knowledge and

continuation.

Throughout these poems Yeats toys with the symbols

of the Tarot freely and gives symbolic references both

explicit and implicit, exploring through them the journey

of the soul and his personal reflection on his own

journey. In "The Tower", Yeats could not have been

blunter in his mentioning of the cards:

"Good fellows shuffled cards in an old bawn;

And when that ancient ruffian's turn was on

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He so bewitched the cards under his thumb

That all but the one card became

A pack of hounds and not a pack of cards…"

A rough assumption would conclude that by "Good fellows"

Yeats had been talking about his associates of the Golden

Dawn, especially given that the poem repeats the word

"Dawn" 4 times. However, a closer look would reveal that

a more distinct assumption could be made regarding the

cards. He refers to the cards and their powers by using

the words "Bewitched the cards" and unravels a glimpse of

the ritualistic manners of the Hermetic Order.

The speaker in the poem retrospectively

examines his life and observes his experiences as

monuments, or perhaps stages, in his life. As he "paces"

through the memories he takes notice of the "Tree, like a

sooty finger", referencing the Tree of life, which he

would "ask a question of"; the meaning of life and its

mysteries. These stages, described in the poem, are part

of a collective consciousness shared by all men going

through the path of life and age.

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"Did all old men and women, rich and poor,

Who trod upon these rocks or passed this

door,

Whether in public or in secret rage

As I do now against old age?"

Similar to the trajectory portrayed by MacGreagor as he

lays out the souls' journey through the Tarot cards as

stages in life. Yeats paints these memories as images

and integrates key elements from the Tarot which

represent his own significant stages through the standard

journey of the soul.

The Moon, the 18th trump, appears in the poem several

times. In a common Tarot reading it relates to dreams and

nightmares, hesitation and unresolved matters from the

past. Arthur E. Waite, who was a member of the Golden

Dawn and co-creator of the "Rider Waite Tarot Deck",

describes the card in The Pictorial Key to the Tarot as "…

represents life of the imagination apart from life of the

spirit" (p.44). Furthermore, the card presents a path

between two towers for which Waite comments: "The path

between the towers is the issue into the unknown" (p.44).

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The light of the moon is meant to guide the passer

through the unknown. Yet, it is deceiving:

"And certain men, being maddened by those

rhymes,

Or else by toasting her a score of times,

Rose from the table and declared it right

To test their fancy by their sight;

But they mistook the brightness of the moon

For the prosaic light of day -"

The moon is bright and full, the deception is at its

peak. Yeats proceeds with the idea of deceit by alluding

to Helen of Troy "Helen has all living hearts betrayed".

Concluding that love, or a particular woman, had betrayed

him.

Yeats had been the first one to introduce the

diagram of the lunar

phases. Raine writes

that Yeats "assigns the

twenty-eight days of

the moon to the twenty-

two Tarot keys and the

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seven planets - twenty-eight in all (since the fool

counts as zero)" (p.127). Based on the phases of the moon

representing different keys, which also represent

different stages of life, the final phase, stage 28, is

the end of one's life. None the less, in A Vision Yeats

attributes the final stage to the key of the Fool, point

0, the beginning of a new life. In "The Black Tower" the

moonlight is "faint", hence the deception is over, but

with it also is life. Unterecker puts it as so:

"Prophetic, the poem brings us closer and closer to the

end of the lunar cycle. In the second chorus one thin

crescent sheds "faint moonlight" into the tomb, but by

the last chorus the tomb has grown "blacker", dark of the

moon is about to arrive, and with it the cataclysmic end

of an era…" (p. 292-293).

The image of the Fool is often presented as a

foolish figure, or a court jester, or a juggler or even a

dreamer. He is everyman and no-man for he is a fresh soul

that has burst into the world after shedding its previous

old vessel. The image painted on the card stands on the

edge of a mountain carrying a purse and a staff, in

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Waite's version he holds a rose. The Fool is followed by

an animal, commonly a dog. He is a traveler and begins

walking the path of life. The figure of the Fool

reappears in Yeats' poems constantly. According to

"Yeats, the Tarot and the Fool" by Joan Weatherly "The

Tarot Fool, a symbol for the mystical life Yeats said was

the center of all he wrote, may be considered a masking

image for the encompassing gestalt he was constantly

attempting to construct from his life and work" (p. 113).

The Fool is everything and nothing, bound in the endless

circulation of the soul which Yeats had strived to

achieve. Every poem should be easily related to the other

since all is connected, very similar to the Tree of Life

which reflects on everyone and everything.

Throughout his poems Yeats refers to the stories of

a character called Red Hanrahan who is believed by Raine

to be "related to the Tarot card Le Mat, the Fool, the

zero of the pack, to whom no number is assigned - perhaps

the motley-clad Joker of the familiar deck of playing

cards" (p.122). In "The Tower" Yeats refers to Hanrahan

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several times, relating him to the image of the Fool, who

might be even Yeats himself:

"And I myself created Hanrahan

And drove him drunk or sober through the

dawn

From somewhere in the neighbouring cottages.

Caught by an old man's juggleries

He stumbled, tumbled, fumbled to and fro

And had but broken knees for hire

And horrible splendour of desire;

I thought it all out twenty years ago:"

Similar to the Fool, Hanrahan goes through difficulties

and obstacles in life which he has to overcome in order

to achieve greatness or otherwise known as the Universe.

"That all but the one card became

A pack of hounds and not a pack of cards,

And that he changed into a hare.

Hanrahan rose in frenzy there

And followed up those baying creatures

towards -"

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The cards that have changed into a pack of hounds chase

Hanrahan and are equivalent to the race of life which one

cannot control but simply take part of. Additionally the

hounds suggest to the image on the card of the Fool

followed by a dog.

In "The Black Tower" the dead soldiers protecting

the tower "whisper that a man's a fool". The spirits, in

other words, are telling someone, perhaps Yeats himself,

that he is about to meet his end and start from point 0;

become the Fool. The spirits are there to remind of the

forgotten king, keeping his memory alive, reminding that

nothing stops from existing and keeps echoing in circular

movements, like the soul itself.

The spirits of the dead carry "banners" which "come

to bribe or threaten". The image of the 13th key, Death,

is of a reaping skeleton riding a horse and carrying a

banner; Yeats paints the symbol for us without explicitly

using the word "death". Even though Death might seem a

grave omen, according to Waite the "explanations of the

13th card are, on the whole, better than usual, rebirth,

creation, destination, renewal and the rest "(p.39).

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Death, in the Tarot's connotation, is a mystical one and

signifies the souls' transformation from the lowest form

of life to the highest. Portraying a king, a maiden and a

child kneeling to the skeleton horseman, the card of

Death is the gateway to everyone's soul's transcendence.

Upon his deathbed, Yeats seeks for his soul to transform

into a higher sphere.

On the other hand, in "The Tower" Yeats does not use

the 13th key allegorically. He uses the word "Death"

directly 3 times and speaks of the contradiction between

life and death. He speaks of the death of loved ones,

while one keeps on living without them. Death within the

context of this poem is a final goodbye rather than a

continuation and rebirth of a new life. Even so, the dead

in this poem keep on living in our dreams:

"That, being dead, we rise,

Dream and so create"

Thus, death is not final, even though it does not appear

to be symbolic in this specific poem.

Although the two poems share 4 symbols "The Tower"

mentions directly 2 additional symbols, the Sun and the

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Stars, their absence in "The Black Tower" signifies Yeats

lack of hope on the verge of his death. The tower Yeats

speaks about, perhaps the tower which he lived in, is a

different tower in each of the poems. The tower in the

first poem is lively and observes all the living memories

and people. The tower in the second poem is guarded by

the dead and ghosts of the past. Nonetheless, they are

both Yeats' tower. The two poems can be seen as a

continuous thread of thought however there is a

contradiction in their tone; the first being brighter and

the last a darker one. The light in "The Tower" flows

through the moon, sun and stars whereas in "The Black

Tower" the moon is pale and almost lacking.

The Sun, the 19th key, portrays a nude child riding a

horse, behind him a field and above him the radiant sun.

According to Waite it is "the destiny of the Supernatural

East and the great and holy light which goes before the

endless procession of humanity, coming out from the

walled garden of the sensitive life…" (p.45) it

represents the light of life as it transits from this

world to the next. The Sun is believed to be the most

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positive card when appears in a card reading, Yeats

chooses to use it differently. Yeats feels the light is

slipping away from him and is as deceitful as the light

of the moon; they are one united light.

"O may the moon and sunlight seem

One inextricable beam,

For if I triumph I must make men mad."

It appears thrice in the poem; twice attached to the Moon

and the third time stands by itself but it is "Under

eclipse and the day blotted out". The essence of life

creeping far from him until it is not even mentioned in

"The Black Tower". The final time Yeats mentions the sun

and the moon in the same sentence, he chooses to add the

stars and compares them all to be the same "Aye, sun and

moon and star, all…"

The Star, the 17th key, the card portrays a naked

woman, "The Great Mother", pouring the Water of Life from

two big vases, from a pond to the land. Behind her there

are 8 stars and a tree. Waite claims the card to

symbolize "eternal youth and beauty" (p.43). Moreover,

the card "has been certified as immortality and interior

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light. For the majority of prepared minds, the figure

will appear as the type of Truth unveiled, glorious in

undying beauty, pouring on the waters of the soul some

part and measure of her priceless possession" (p.43). The

card is linked to the Sephira of Binah (Understanding)

and even though it may seem that the card does not

correlate with the cyclic route of life, it signifies the

point in which the soul recognizes its infinite

existence. The Great Mother is a static figure due to the

fact that sooner or later, every soul must come to the

same recognition.

The Star, though, has a greater importance to Yeats.

According to The Lonely Tower: Studies in the Poetry of W.B Yeats by

T.R. Henn, Yeats told in his autobiographies of a vision

that had come to him when trying to invoke the "spirit of

the Moon": "after night just before I went to bed, and

after many nights - eight or nine perhaps - I saw between

sleeping and waking, as in a cinematograph, a galloping

centaur, and a moment later a woman of incredible beauty,

standing upon a pedestal and shooting an arrow at a

star". Yeats wrote in his records that he was not the

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only one seeing this vision and that " The child of one

of Mathers, pupils had come running in from the garden

crying out: “Oh, mother, I have seen a woman shooting an

arrow into the sky and I am afraid that she has killed

God" "( p.164).The arrow, as had been mentioned before,

relates to the Tower but the Star, which is the essence

of eternity is related to god. Yeats had studied these

symbols, most retraced to the Tarot cards, and believed

the vision to be a prophetic warning from WWI; as human

ruin (the tower) had offended the divine force.

"The Tower" and "The Black Tower" are in a way Yeats

himself; he is the Tower. Yeats is every symbol of the

Tarot, he is Hanrahan the Fool, his life changes as the

phases of the Moon, he senses and lacks the light of the

Sun and the Stars, he is Death himself, protecting the

Tower, which he himself is; the lonely Tower. These two

poems describe Yeats' last experiences in this world.

Even though they are about youth, age, life and death

they should be seen as an ode to the Tarot cards. They

embody thoughts greater than words can describe and each

sentence illustrates a different mystical aspect. The

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poems glorify the Tarot and their symbols, praising their

powers.

Yeats uses many symbols that have thorough meanings

only to people in the know. His choice of words is

meticulous and his metaphors are not only poetic but

philosophic. His poems were written for everyone but only

the people who truly understand the mystical historic

background of every symbol can try to begin understanding

the cosmic world in which Yeats and his thoughts existed

in. To Yeats, all human beings are related in a shared

consciousness and the symbols he uses are a part of an

eclectic path we all share and will, sooner or later,

understand.

Works Cited

Dubov, Nissan Dovid. Discovering Jewish Mysticism (Key to

Kabbalah). Dwelling Place Publishing (2006).

Hellner -Ershed, Melilla. A River Flows from Eden: The

Language of Mystical Experience in the Zohar. Stanford University

Press. Stanford, California (2005).

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Henn, Thomas Rice. The Lonely Tower: Studies in the Poetry of

W.B. Yeats. Methuen Barnes & Noble (1965).

Huson, Paul. Mystical Origins of the Tarot: From Ancient Roots to

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