Learning by The Pictorial Key to the Tarot, AEW.

typhoonikan

What is your position on learning the tarot from the 1910 writings by Arthur Edward Waite, both upright and reversed? Should it be viewed as anything special in regards to a manual for the tarot since AEW pioneered the new deck then?

I feel that I may delve and spend time thumbing through the book with more interest than before.

Edit: Clarified post.
 

conversus

Reading The Pictorial Key to the Tarot should not prove to be a waste of your time. It may require a certain amount of determination ; and you may find that it reads better on the second try after 5 or 6 years of other involvement.

Do not expect Mr. Waite to provide definitive answers to your most nagging questions.

Just my own opinion.

CED
 

lark

My view is that after a quick shuffle through it you should set it on the edge of the table, where it very possibly might just get knocked by accident on purpose, into a garbage can placed there for that very reason. :D
 

The crowned one

AS a little piece of history it is worth a read. As a learning tool mostly no, a few good bits, but mostly no. I do love the pompousness of Waite, it really comes through!
 

rwcarter

As the "companion book" to the Waite deck, I think it's definitely worth a read through. I wouldn't take the contents as gospel though.
 

typhoonikan

Great input. I was hoping to hear this. :)
 

Debra

lark said:
My view is that after a quick shuffle through it you should set it on the edge of the table, where it very possibly might just get knocked by accident on purpose, into a garbage can placed there for that very reason. :D
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AMAZING :rolleyes: This is exactly what happened to mine and gosh, after that I learned how to read the cards instead of the book.

Now I have another copy. It's less dreadful when taken with a few grains of salt on the rim of the marguarita glass.
 

The crowned one

Debra said:
Now I have another copy. It's less dreadful when taken with a few grains of salt on the rim of the marguarita glass.
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I have never heard this book better described! On so many levels!
 

Ambrosia

lark said:
My view is that after a quick shuffle through it you should set it on the edge of the table, where it very possibly might just get knocked by accident on purpose, into a garbage can placed there for that very reason. :D
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LMAO! Totally! :D But seriously. Any useful info that may be hidden in it is for me completely overshadowed by the incredibly boring writing style, and extremely rigid (and some of them quite ridiculous) interpretations. I find it VERY laborious to get through.
I do recommend a flip through though. Even if only to base your own opinion on it rather than listening to ours.
 

Miss Divine

I trashed mine!
I thought it was a horrible book. If I would've had to learn Tarot through that book, I would've dropped it altogether in a heartbeat.
It was indeed boring, rigid and something in between.
 
Rider-Waite - Smith Landscape A.E.Waite's early tarot writing