Companion Volumes: The Spoken Cabala and High School Astrology
The Spoken Cabala by Jason Lotterhand is a companion volume with High School Astrology. Arisa had the good fortune to study with Jason for twenty years. A collection of his of spoken remarks about the tarot Major Arcana was compiled and edited by Arisa over a 15 year period, and published in 1989 as The Thursday Night Tarot. This collaboration was a team effort, with several class members making cassette tapes of what Jason had to say in his ongoing Thursday night tarot class. Here is Arisa’s story:
At the time, I had no idea what a momentous event was about to occur in my life on that chilly November evening in 1972. I had been studying Lessons written by a highly esteemed occultist, Paul Foster Case, through an organization he had founded, the Builders of the Adytum Mystery School of Sacred Tarot and Holy Qabalah. Wanting to meet others who were on the Path of Return, I sought out a class at Fritzy Armstrong’s Metaphysical Townhall Bookstore in downtown San Francisco. The teacher was Jason Christopher Lotterhand, a genial gentleman of almost 62 years. The High Priestess, Key 2, was on the easel. To this day I continue to feel, with grateful amazement, the positive impact of this meeting.
Before long, it became evident that this man was actually living according to all the high precepts I had been reading and thinking about. Jason was the embodiment of wisdom, wit, and amazing insight. I became an instant “regular” on Thursdays, never missing a class. Over the next twenty years, until Jason retired, I drank in the most deeply satisfying spiritual ideals and energies imaginable. Every aspect of my life changed for the better. We all loved him and were thankful to have a teacher who was a Self-realized soul and also a kindly grandfather (and later on, a great-grandfather).
Focusing on one of the twenty-two Major Arcana Keys each week, Jason spoke from the viewpoint of the Cabala on any subject that arose during discussion. Because of his enjoyable and entertaining manner, I got inspired to collect his remarks and make a book so we could share him with the world. The first edition of his book, named The Thursday Night Tarot by the publisher, was highly prized by many appreciative students of the sacred Tarot. Jason read over my work of organizing massive amounts of material into twenty-two chapters, one for each Tarot Key. We decided on the title, The Spoken Cabala, together. It was he who asked for this particular spelling of “Cabala,” because that is how it appears in American dictionaries (not as Qabala, Qaballah, Kabalah, etc.) Now, in this second edition of Jason’s book, its original title is restored. The words in this book are spoken in the grand spiritual tradition by which the teacher’s energies are transmitted to students “from mouth to ear.”
What a wonderful human being! God/dess bless him! Jason was always encouraging me to expand upon the original version of High School Astrology. I improved it over 30 years, to its present state.
The Spoken Cabala: Tarot Explorations of the One Self, 357 pages. $29
High School Astrology: A Textbook of Ageless Wisdom, 208 pages, $25
Both books are available on Amazon.com. Or order them from your local bookseller.
P.S. The Spoken Cabala is exactly the same book as The Thursday Night Tarot, with the addition of some photos, an interview Jason did for The Tarot Network News, and new editor's notes. High School Astrology is an excellent introduction to metaphysics by a seasoned professional occultist, while The Thursday Night Tarot is profound philosophy, presented in a most enjoyable manner by a master of Cabala.
