Published March 17, 2009

Hajo Banzhaf, the popular German tarotbook writer, died on February 11, 2009, reportedly following a "serious operation in Munich". He was 59. His death followed that of his wife and collaborator, Brigitte Theler, 48, on December 13, 2007.

Banzhaf was born May 15, 1949 in Gütersloh, Germany, into what he would later describe as a loving, Christian home. After a crisis of faith, Banzhaf studied philosophy and alternative religions, before a chance encounter with a Polish fortuneteller led him to Tarot.

While Banzhaf said he considered the Tarot merely a fortunetelling game for a while, he changed his mind when he discovered "that wonderful book Jung and Tarot by Sallie Nichols", which he claimed "opened the door to him of the very deep background of Tarot symbolism". Since Nichols' book is of course allegedly based in Jungian principles, and at the least has the word 'Jung' in its title, Banzhaf said he "began to go deeper and deeper into the world of Jungian Psychology", and that this was his "key to understand the cards". Therefore, even though Jung had very little to say about Tarot cards, Banzhaf credits C. G. Jung as his Tarot teacher.

After a twelve-year stint in finance as a Munich banker and investment counselor, Banzhaf in 1985 began his occult career, in which he published more than twenty books on astrology and Tarot, and became a popular lecturer at occult-oriented seminars, e.g. the 2002 World Tarot Congress. He also ran the website, Tarot & Astrologie.

Banzhaf's decision to apply what he understood to be a Jungian interpretation of Tarot symbolism meant he largely ignored occult tradition, even that used as a basis for creating specific decks like the Waite and Thoth Tarots, which Banzhaf used to illustrate his ideas in two of his most popular books, The Tarot Handbook, and The Crowley Tarot. In neither book did he show much interest in the ideas of the respective deck designers, A. E. Waite or Aleister Crowley. Indeed, Banzhaf spoke disparagingly of Crowley especially, contributing to a mythology much promoted in cartofeminist circles that Crowley had only limited involvement in the creation of the Thoth deck, and that it should rightly be called the Harris Tarot, after its artist, Frieda Harris.

This myth has been sharply critiqued by those who point to the fact that Crowley's involvement is heavily documented in correspondence between the designer and artist, as well as in Harris' admission that her paintings (the cards) would mean very little to anyone without Crowley's book (The Book of Thoth) to elucidate what of course is his symbolism.

Banzhaf, in an email exchange with the Tarot News a few years ago, tried to defend his remarks about Thoth being Harris' Tarot by saying the view he had was similar to saying that Plato could adapt the ideas of his teacher Socrates to his own use. Banzhaf argued that Harris was merely inspired by Crowley, and the few notes he had given her for the work. When it was pointed out to Banzhaf that if Crowley was analogous to Socrates, then Harris would have owed her master for much more than a few notes, and more than this she plainly said the deck required his book, Banzhaf replied: "Any analogy is imperfect", but persisted in claiming the deck was Harris'.

In The Tarot Handbook, in which Banzhaf used the A. E. Waite Tarot, he talks about his approach to analyzing the meaning of the cards as one derived from a Jungian view of the Tarot (trumps particularly) as a "hero's journey". He admits this is not the basis Waite used to create his symbolism, but as a Jungian interpreter, Banzhaf assumes there is a deeper, transcendent and impersonal meaning to the symbolism. Banzhaf also applies a personal astrological shorthand for the cards which ignores the esoteric basis of the symbolism, rooted in the hermetic tradition of the Golden Dawn. While this anti-esoteric approach is much praised amongst those who, as the book's back cover says "wish to consult the Tarot without having to learn the language," it is criticized by others (particularly occultists) as being obviously misleading and a barrier to any real understanding of the meaning of the deck.

Banzhaf had planned to participate in the 1st International Tarot Congress in Hamburg, to be held in November of this year, and he had finished his last book, Between Heaven and Earth – the Quintessence of Esotericism, Astrology and Tarot, which, as his publisher states, "was to have appeared on 15th May 2009, his 60th birthday." The publishers, Johannes Fiebig (Königsfurt-Urania Verlag) and Max Rüegg (AGM AGMüller), conclude: "Now it must serve not only as the culmination of his life’s work, but also as his legacy."

(jk)