Being pressed for time, he left its entire completion and embellishment to his secretary, Otti Votavova.

To pay tribute to truth, I should not like to conceal from the reader the fact that, in actuality, Franz Bardon supplied only the framework of facts for this book. The special nature of this work required serious consideration before I published it under the name of Franz Bardon the importance of the subject matter finally decided the issue. * Troppau is the German name for the Czech city of Opava because of the particulars of the region's history, many locations in the present-day Czech Republic have both Czech and German names. Only a small fragment of his revelation of the fourth card, the Emperor, remains and is found as an appendix to the book 'Frabato', titled 'The Golden Book of Wisdom'. The first card, the Magician, was revealed in 'Initiation Into Hermetics' (IIH) the second card, the High Priestess, was revealed in 'The Practice of Magical Evocation' (PME) and, the third card, the Empress, was revealed in 'The Key to the True Quabbalah' (KTQ). While he fulfilled his mission, only his revelation of three of the Tarot cards were published and the fourth has been lost due to the twists of fate. According to Bardon himself, he was directed by Divine Providence to reveal to humanity the meaning behind the first four major arcana of the Tarot. You might ask, 'who was Franz Bardon?' For those who are not familiar with his work, suffice it to say that Bardon is considered to be one of the most important adepts of our age. His stage name was 'Frabato,' which is an abbreviation of Franz-Bardon- Troppau -Opava. He attended public school in Opava, and after that apprenticed as a mechanic. He died on July 10, 1958, in Brno, also in the Czech Republic.

Franz Bardon was born on December 1, 1909, in Katherein, near Opava in the present-day Czech Republic.

Franz bardon frabato the magician