Frédéric Lionel was born on 17 July 1908, at 5 AM in Amphion les Bains, France. His father was a successful engineer. After finishing the high school in Geneva, Lionel studied mechanical engineering at the Technischen Hochschule in Zürich, later cybernetics in the United States. In the thirties, he worked in Paris as an engineer in his own firm.
Early during World War Two he and his family escaped to England. He became an officer of the British Secret Service and went back to occupied Europe to help smuggle persecuted people out of the Nazi’s occupied territory. Lionel was widely decorated for his heroic work.
After the war, he rebuilds his firm, but at age 55 he sold the firm and dedicated his life to spiritual exploration. He wrote around 30 books and essays about spirituality, mysticism, the Cathars, Alchemy, Astrology and the Tarot. Some of the titles available in English: “Mirrors of Truth: Reflections of Living Mastery”, “The Magic Tarot: Vehicle Of Eternal Wisdom”, “The Seduction of the Occult Path”, “Challenge”, “Revolution in Consciousness”. His work was published in Franch, German and English and translated to several other languages. However, his work remains widely unknown to the general public.
As a lecturer on Alchemy, he warned for the dangers of technology that was not rooted in old wisdom.
Frédéric Lionel died on 22 December 1999 at age 91 in Paris.
“The Magic Tarot: Vehicle of Eternal Wisdom” was originally published in Franch by Editions du Rocher in 1980. The English translation I own was published in 1982 by Routledge & Kegan Paul Ltd.
The book is available, used and without the Tarot cards for about 63 USD on Amazon.
The Magic Tarot of the New Aeon, a Tarot deck created by Sergei Savchenko in cooperation with the artist Eugene Vinitski under the moniker of the Russian Tarot School, includes the 22 Major Arcana cards created by Frédéric Lionel and adds the four suits of Minor Arcana cards in similar style and vision.
This deck with the accompanying eBook is available in their Etsy shop for 73 USD – shipping included.
However, if someone wants to learn and understand Frédéric Lionel’s system, it is necessary to purchase his book while the eBook is pretty thin and does not include the guidelines of Lionel’s philosophy.
Someone interested in the complete package will have to spend approximately 145 USD. It is way beyond the average sum people nowadays are willing to spend on a Tarot deck, but one should consider it an investment in education and spiritual development. Lionel’s work is truly esoteric and therefore, possibly not at the reach of everyone, both materially and spiritually.
Some may consider Lionel’s teaching old-fashioned. I like old-fashioned. (FULL TEXT IS AVAILABLE EXCLUSIVELY ON PATREON. Read here.)
While the original cards by Frédéric Lionel are no longer available or they are rare and expensive, one of the available alternatives is the Magic Tarot of the New Aeon by Sergei Savchenko in cooperation with the artist Eugene Vinitski under the moniker of the Russian Tarot School.
Sergei Savchenko claims that he has the permission to commercialise the deck from the widow of Frédéric Lionel. Furthermore, they claim that they continued the work of Lionel by adding the 56 Minors Arcans to the original, only 22 Major Arcana cards deck.
However, here I found two issues. First of all, they omitted the double numbering of Frédéric Lionel which is fundamental to understand and use his work properly.
Secondly, I find the artwork of the Minor Arcana cards extremely busy and complicated. Although with a little bit of study and some imagination, most of the cards make sense, truth to be told, that is not an easy deck to work with it. Definitively not recommended for beginners and people not willing to put effort into study and learning.
The 36 page PDF eGuidebook that comes with the deck explains the symbolical meanings embedded into a few cards, but it is not a guidebook for an inexperienced user. Actually, only the first 18 pages consist of explanations regarding the deck and the artwork, while the other half of the booklet consists of unnecessary imagines of the entire deck. While the booklet comes exclusively with the deck, there is no point to have the imagines of the cards included in the booklet. Any other information regarding the deck, the Tarot or how to read the cards would have been more appreciated.
Standard Tarot Card Size: 2.75” × 4.75” (70*120mm),
Durable long-life cards 350gsm.
Safety Cover box.
The Magic Tarot: Vehicle of Eternal Wisdom by Frédéric Lionel on Amazon
Magic Tarot of the New Aeon and eGuidebook on Etsy
FULL TEXT IS AVAILABLE EXCLUSIVELY ON PATREON. Read here.
