Tarot books

[yankeeinlouisiana]

I have recently gotten my tarot cards out again and started to try and learn how to read them. However, the little booklet that came with the cards is just not in-depth enough for me to fully understand the cards. And my head is starting to hurt!

Does anyone know of a good beginners tarot book?

Thanks!

[Dover]

1. What deck are you working with?

Here are some to peruse:

http://www.djmcadam.com/tarot-books.html

[yankeeinlouisiana]

2. The Rider Tarot deck.

n/t

[arikara]

3. Tarot books by Rachel Pollack

I have her Complete Illustrated Guide to Tarot, its a lovely book that covers the common meanings of the numbers, suits and Major Arcana for 4 different decks. Thorough, easy to read and understand. I also enjoyed her Forest of Souls: A Walk Through the Tarot. 78 Degrees of Wisdom is well rated for the Rider-Waite deck, which I don't use so have not read.

http://www.amazon.ca/exec/obidos/search-handle-url?%5Fencoding=UTF8&search-type=ss&index=books-ca&field-author=Rachel%20Pollack

[davsand]

4. How about a website?

http://www.ata-tarot.com/resource/cards/

If I could make a suggestion here, I'd offer up the idea that if you seriously want to get into Tarot, you could get a notebook, take a card and a page of the notebook per day and write down the high points of the "traditional meanings." Then you can maybe do a short meditation on the card as YOU see it--and write it all down.

After you go thru the deck you will have your own personal reference tool.

Just a suggestion.


Laura

[Why Syzygy]

5. The most basic

http://learntarot.com/ . It uses the Rider-Waite deck and traditional meanings. (She also has a new book with a group study at B&N University.)

There are always deeper levels to explore with Tarot, so don't give up just because you don't get every nuance in the beginning. You never will. It is an ongoing discovery relationship, just as with someone who is living. I like to be aware of the coordinates (earth/air/water/fire) and being a numerology watcher, the number of the cards. I also clumsily look at the planetary significance on some occasions. None of that is required to gain meaning from the cards.

I have to laugh a merry laugh sometimes. When I had to make a sudden departure from the temporary insanity house, where I complained of "jail house behavior", the reading I spread right after came right out and told me, "You are as free as you want to be". That hit me on many levels. Watch out, though. It will tell the truth every time. ;)

[Dervill Crow]

6. Another great website

http://www.aeclectic.net/tarot/

[BlueIris]

7. My first Tarot book was "Reversals," by Mary K. Greer. It's a great analysis

of both the reversed and upright meanings of the cards, though.

[rosesaylavee]

8. I learned with Bill Butler's Dictionary of the Tarot.

It's out of print but still available on Amazon...

http://www.amazon.com/Dictionary-Tarot-Bill-Butler/dp/0805205594

[katty]

9. try the Mythic Tarot book/deck - very good

[Dover]

10. A handy online source for learning the individual tarot cards' meaning >>

I've found the explanations to be very good and it uses the Rider Waite deck.

http://www.learntarot.com/cards.htm

On edit: Oops, just realized that Votesomemore already linked to this site.
So I guess I second that emotion.

[LWolf]

11. I had 2 classes in reading Tarot,

and used to do so at fundraisers several years back.

We started out with the rider-waite deck, and the traditional meanings. To be frank, those didn't "take" with me.

My teacher finally told me to decide what each card in the deck meant TO ME, and to assign it that meaning consistently, and that worked quite well.

As the class/es advanced, we each tried a few different decks that called to us. I have a whole collection, just because I like them. ;) I found that the more traditional rider-waite decks, in any version, just didn't "connect" well for me. The first new deck I tried was the Robin Wood, because I really liked the illustrations. I struggled with it for a few weeks, until my teacher literally took it out of my hands and handed me hers: I don't remember the name of the deck now. It was old and worn, with a native/nature theme that I immediately felt at home with. I only used it that once, but it "clicked." I never looked back; I gave my Robin Woods cards to one of the other students in the class who wanted to try them, and moved on to other decks.

Some of my favorites, which I still have, include:

The motherpeace deck
Wisdom of the 4 winds
The Sedona Deck (from our own DR, who rarely drops in, but first drew me to the meeting room almost 6 years ago)
Medicine Cards and Sacred Path Cards (used exclusively for reading myself)
The Infinite Tarot (used most often to read for others)

Some of these are not true "Tarot" decks, but are cards used for divination, like Tarot, but not necessarily tarot based, with traditional arcana, etc..

I'm glad to find this post here; I have little privacy in my life the last few years, and have not been reading because of that. I no longer have space and time undisturbed. Still, I realize that I've let dust gather, and I shouldn't have. As a matter of fact, I have 2 decks over on the shelf that I've never even tried; an old Celtic tree deck that I found somewhere, and a brand-new, still-in plastic mayan deck that has been unopened for more than 3 years.

Along side them are some of my old journals, reflecting on the learning and experiences at the time. I feel called to reread them now.

Edited to add, before I forget your original question:

When you find a deck you like, and feel good with, study the manual that comes with it. It will probably have some spreads as well as card meanings. Practice a lot with it; you'll be able to tell if you are "clicking" with the cards.

[NuttyFluffers]

12. Eileen Connolly, Tarot: a New Handbook for the Apprentice

i found that book to provide nice little exercises to build a strong foundation to your reading. she's a shade christian for some tastes, but her preparation serious kicks your ass to open you up and get really ready to do a good reading.

she makes you do deck seeding for at least your first week or month with any deck. next she has simple general readings, often leaning towards the positive eternal side of things. then she provides little mnemonic rhymes with each card. followed by a list of shaded meanings. she also provides a bottom area of special mixed meanings when in the presence of other cards. and finally it's rounded off with coding for astrological planets, tetragrammaton, kabbalah, etc.

later she has a book for the Tarot: Journeyman. she's pretty solid if you really apply yourself; it's the seeding exercises and meditations that really pay off.

another book i liked was one that focused on reading the core of a situation, a.k.a. the 1st and 2nd card in a Celtic Cross reading. pretty useful for a quick assessment of the situation and the powers that be immediately around it. i find it useful for more "willful" people who are antagonistic about the idea of in "telling the future", but are more open to use the tarot as a sort of psychological talk therapy session. it definitely get the conversation rolling when you can pinpoint their issues, often even the underlying one they were thinking about but not wanting to talk about -- that definitely gets their attention!

remember, the cards are a feel thing most of all. one of my favorite books was focused on just reading the pictures, period. basically it said: stop thinking and flipping through pages -- just tell me what you see, read off what you see in the picture. now this sounds corny has hell, but really, just the process of reading what symbols and images you see in a picture becomes a talking process to 'see' greater things in relation. naturally this works best in a more traditional tarot deck -- so this will work wonderfully with your Rider-Waite. but yeah, just "read" that you see 'a man standing on a castle, holding two sticks in his right hand, looking to the west as the sun is setting...' just stuff like that starts to add up into correlations and opens intuition. it's a great way to throw away the crutch of constantly flipping back to your tarot book for definitions.