Von Balthasar's Occultism

Valentin Tomberg (1900-1973), a Russian emigre, was the "Anonymous" author of Meditations on the Tarot: A Journey into Christian Hermeticism, written in 1967, but published over a decade after his death. Catholic theologian Hans Urs von Balthasar  wrote a foreward to the 1983 German edition, and this is included as an afterward in the 2002 English edition published by Tarcher/Penguin.

Tomberg writes to enable the reader--"the Unknown Friend"--to acquire "definite knowledge, through the experience of meditative reading, about Christian Hermeticism", that is, esoteric medieval reflections on the themes of Hermes Trismegistus (see the Corpus Hermeticum), in this case through reflection on the Major Arcana of the Tarot. The Tarot cards are for him

... authentic symbols, i.e. they are "magic, mental, psychic and moral operations" awakening new notions, ideas, sentiments and aspirations, which means to say that they require an activity more profound than that of study and intellectual explanation. It is therefore in a state of deep contemplation--and always ever deeper--that they should be approached. And it is the deep and intimate layers of the soul which become active and bear fruit when one meditates on the Arcana of the Tarot (p. 4).

These Arcana, he writes, "stimulate us and at the same time guide us in the art of learning," they provide "a complete, entire, invaluable school of meditation, study, and spiritual effort--a masterly school in the art of learning" (p. 5). As a tool, they are not a rival of religion; "they do not have the pretension ... of elevating themselves above the holy faith of the faithful," they do not hold a secret religion or science: "what they possess is only the communal soul of religion, science and art" (p. 6).

So much for Tomberg's introduction--I wish to look at the Afterword by Hans Urs von Balthasar. And this, when we turn to it, is more illuminative of the purpose of the book than those introductory remarks by the author.

A thinking, praying Christian of unmistakable purity reveals to us the symbols of Christian Hermeticism in its various levels of mysticism, gnosis and magic, taking in also the Cabbala and certain elements of astrology and alchemy. These symbols are summarised in the twenty-two so-called "Major Arcana" of the Tarot cards. By way of the Major Arcana the author seeks to lead meditatively into the deeper, all-embracing wisdom of the Catholic Mystery (p. 659).

And this attempt "is to be found nowhere in the history of philosophical, theological and Catholic thought," though some Christian thinkers, starting with Origen, did explore the writings of pagan philosophers, the "secret wisdom of the Egyptians" (i.e., the writings of Hermes Trismegistus) , and Babylonian and Indian astrology in search of "veiled presentiments of the Logos" (p. 659). In the Middle Ages and Renaissance, Islamic and Jewish mystical traditions (e.g., the Kabbalah) became additional sources for reflection.

Here the important point is that although this penetration into the secret teachings of pagan and Jewish origin was pursued in the spirit of humanism, in the hope of bringing new life into rigidified Christian theology through collecting such scattered revelation and illumination, no one for a moment doubted that despite the disparities everything could be accommodated into the true Christian faith. That Pico, in particular, did not aim at syncretism, he himself made quite clear: "I bear on my brow the name Jesus Christ and would die gladly for the faith in him. I am neither a magician nor a Jew, nor an Ishmaelite nor a heretic. It is Jesus whom I worship, and his cross I bear upon my body." The author of these Meditations could also have affirmed this oath of allegiance (p. 661).

It is startling for von Balthasar to suggest a "penetration" into pagan or Kabbalistic "secret teachings" could bring "new life" into Christianity. I question his assertion that a "gathering and accommodation of Hermetic and Cabbalistic wisdom into Biblical and Christian thought" is not, by definition, syncretistic. He might not "intend" to do so, but I suggest that if you believe these sources contain "revelation and illumination," and that they can bring "new life" to Christian theology, that any "gathering and accommodation" of them "into Biblical and Christian thought" will, of necessity, change the latter.

The mystical, magical, occult tributaries which flow into the stream of [Tomberg's] meditations are much more encompassing [than efforts by Franz von Baader and Pico della Mirandola]; yet the confluence of their waters within him, full of movement, becomes inwardly a unity of Christian contemplation (p. 661).

The sources are admittedly "magical" and "occult"--is such water safe to drink?

Von Balthasar senses the question will come to the mind of his Christian reader. He therefore backs off a moment. He acknowledges it "remarkable" that Tomberg would choose the Tarot as the object of his meditations. "Naturally the author knows about the magical-divinatory application of these cards." But, says von Balthasar, he's not interested in "laying the cards," only in interpreting "the symbols or their essential meaning ... individually or in their mutual reference to one another." They are more like Jungian archetypes, "principles of the objective cosmos" (p. 661).

He refers to various others, of dubious orthodoxy, who have also sought to "accommodate the Cabbala and the Tarot to Catholic teaching"-- "occultists, theosophists and anthroposophists--with whom the author of the Meditations enters into dialogue." Tomberg, he says, picks and chooses from them and from various Christian and non-Christian philosophers and poets. With these as his sources and foils,

He immerses himself lovingly and with deep earnestness in the symbols of the Major Arcana of the Tarot. They inspire him; he allows himself to be born aloft on the wings of his imagination, to behold the depths of the world and of the soul (p. 663).

Von Balthasar claims Tomberg isn't seeking a despotic magic, "which seeks by way of world forces to gain dominion in the realm of knowledge and in the sphere of destiny." Rather, he says he seeks "subjugation of the cosmic powers to Christ." He admits there could be dangers, but Tomberg "is able to enter into all the varieties of occult science" with "sovereignty, because for him they are secondary realities" (p. 663).

All this is enticing--like the serpent's whispers to Eve. The thought of being in control of "cosmic powers" instead of controlled by them; the thought of seeking knowledge from forbidden sources, in the belief that these can safely mingle in the chosen container. "Oh, I'm not trying to control other people; I'm not trying to do them harm, therefore it is OK," seems a weak defense. Von Balthasar here appears as a moth drawn to the flame of occultism, confident in his ability to be able to draw back before he gets burned. It's a subtler form of power and knowledge he seeks, but power and knowledge nonetheless.

Von Balthasar and Tomberg strike me as snake charmers, confident that the snake will dance to their tune. Could they be opening the door to demons, particularly as they suggest that it is safe for Christians to dabble in these things, through the means of a book that is sold in bookstores alongside other works of Wicca, Magic, Sorcery, New Age, and divination? A prudent pastor and theologian would have made clear statements warning about the dangers inherent in such things.

I'm disturbed by the ease with which von Balthasar enters into these waters, oblivious to the dangers that he or others may face. Recent defenders of von Balthasar say they only seek self knowledge through study of the occult--or Jung, or Myers-Briggs, or the enneagram, or the Ouija board. But was that not the temptation of the serpent in the garden? I'd suggest steering clear of any proposed knowledge that comes from secret sources that acknowledge they are "occult." The clear light of the Word of God must be the guide of the Christian; we must shine it into the dark places, not obscure that light with shadows.

Tomberg: "Ghosts exist."

Valentin Tomberg's Meditations on the Tarot: A Journey into Christian Hermeticism, discussed above in connection with the Afterword by Hans Urs von Balthasar, is, as Theodore Parker once said of another work, "a curious farrago of sense and nonsense."

And it is most certainly nonsense of a heretical nature, denying fundamental Christian teachings of the nature of the human person and his relationship with God.

This becomes most evident in Letter XIII, on Death, which includes arguments on the reality of ghosts and the mechanisms of reincarnation.

Here are some extracts:

... Ghosts exist. This is not a question of belief; it is a matter of fact. There is an immense literature, without speaking of facts that one can find in the sphere of personal experience, which bears witness to the existence of ghosts. Now it is no longer a matter of believing or denying; now it is a matter only of understanding and explaining. Ghosts exist therefore. Thus it happens from time to time after someone's death that this person or "something" of him or similar to him manifests in an outward and physical way (noises, movements, etc.) in the guise of an active energy. It is as if a certain quantity of energy, freed through death, but remaining condensed and not dispersed, manifests as an entity or as an individual "body". ... (p. 358)

What, then, is a ghost? It is exactly what Gurdjieff teaches concerning the product of psychic crystallisation effected from within the physical body, and which can resist the death of the latter. ...

A ghost is always constituted as a consequence of crystallisation, i.e., crystallisation of a desire, a passion, or a purpose of great intensity, which produces a complex of energy in the human being. ... (p. 359-360)

And the same thing that happens with human beings who are possessed by strong desires, passions and intentions can be achieved methodically by making use of the scientific method of the "construction of the tower of Babel". Then one could not only animate the double crystallised from a desire, a passion or a dominant intention, but also equip it with an intellectual apparatus of very developed functioning and a mechanical memory in which all the facts of experience on the physical plane are accumulated. The "self" of such an occultist would then be allied to this double, who is the bearer of his memory and intellect, and could incarnate himself anew--avoiding purgatory and the whole path of purification, illumination and union which is the lot of the human soul after death. ... (p. 360)

[The serpent of Genesis] did not lie. ... He advanced the bold programme--but real and realisable--aiming at a mankind which would be composed of the living and of ghosts, with the latter reincarnating almost without delay and avoiding the way which leads through purgatory to heaven.

You see now, dear Unknown Friend, why the Church was hostile to the doctrine of reincarnation, although the fact of repeated incarnations was known--and could not remain unknown--to a large number of people faithful to the Church with authentic spiritual experience. The deeper reason is the danger of reincarnation by way of the ghost, where one avoids the path of purification (in purgatory), illumination and celestial union. (p. 361)

Similar statements are scattered through the work.

As we have already mentioned, reincarnation--successive lives of the same human individuality--is a fact of experience, as are the successive periods of wakefulness belonging to the day, which are interrupted by sleep at night. (p. 104)

Elsewhere, he becomes enraptured of the glories of paganism (well, of the good paganism of some pagans vs. the bad paganism of other pagans).

With this distinction made, one can say that the "pagan" initiates and philosophers knew of the unique God--the creator and supreme Good of the world. The Bhagavad-Gita, the books of Hermes Trismegistus, Plato, Plutarch, Plotinus and many other ancient sources prove this beyond any shadow of a doubt. The difference between the religion of the so-called "pagan" initiates and philsophers and that of Moses is simply the fact that the latter made monotheism a popular religion, whilst the former reserved it for the elite, for the spiritual aristocracy .... (p. 426)

The "paganism" of the poets--symbolic and mythological paganism--was, in so far as it was not a symbolic version of the wisdom and magic (theurgy) of the mysteries, a universal humanism. Its "gods" were, truth to tell, human personages--heroes and heroines, divinised or poetised, who were prototypes of the development of the human personality, i.e. planetary and zodiacal types. Thus Jupiter, Juno, Mars, Venus, Mercury, Diana, Apollo, etc., were not at all demons, but leading prototypes of the development of the human personality who, in their turn, corresponded to cosmic--planetary and zodiacal--principles. (p. 427)

His discussion of The Judgment (Letter XX) toys with the possibility of a final apokotastasis (p. 584). The judgment will be

... the experience by mankind of awakened conscience and completely restored memory. It will be mankind itself who will judge itself. ... God will not accuse anyone. He will only acquit, justify and forgive. ... The last judgement will be the sacrament of penance on a cosmic scale, comprising universal confession and universal absolution. (p. 584)

Tomberg has produced an eclectic work drawing upon a wide variety of pagan and occult speculation, throwing in a dash of Christian thought from time to time. But is this a Christian reflection? I say, "No." This is confused spiritualism, with belief in ghosts, zombies, and reincarnation.

Again, I ask, How could a Christian theologian survey such a book and not draw attention to these things? Von Balthasar's Afterword, like Tomberg's Last Judgment, delivers a general absolution. Had he done the job of a Christian theologian, he would have countered Tomberg's stories of ghosts and reincarnation with a simple "Thus saith the Lord": "It is appointed for men to die once, and after that comes judgment."