question re Gill tarot

Thread originally posted on the Aeclectic Tarot Forum on 04 Apr 2005, and now archived in the Forum Library.

shadowdancer	04 Apr 2005
Hi there I was wondering if anyone could tell me what the accompanying book is like with this deck? There is an option to buy it with or without the said book, but thought I would obtain a few views before deciding. The cards are intriguing so any views from owners of the deck would also be appreciated. Many thanks Davina

Keslynn	04 Apr 2005
Hi Davina, I love the Gill deck, which reminds me that I should dig it out again and do a reading with it. I would recommend that you purchase the book with the deck. The deck is readable without, but the book gives so many nice insights. The deck is Qabalistically based so if you don't know a lot about Qabalah, then I would definitely get the companion text. If you do know something about Qabalah, then the book is still good because it explains her view of things. :) Kes

Starlily	06 Apr 2005
I never knew that there was a book (aside from the little booklet included with the cards). I am going to have to get this as I adore the Gill Tarot. I'd love to read what Gill has to say about the images. It sounds like she wrote the book, yes?

fyreflye	07 Apr 2005
Gill's book (which she did write) is one of the better companion books I've seen. You could read her deck using any standard Golden Dawn set of interpretations, but Gill's approach is more illuminating than most. You should be able to find it online for less than $10 USD. BTW, add the Gill Tarot to any list of "underappreciated" decks.

catti	07 Apr 2005
I got the deck and book together and agree with everything said here. Elizabeth Gill spent much time into both creations and that effort has to be appreciated. I dont like the card suites very much as I find the words on the card distracting and too limited in application. The Major Arcana is beautifully done in both art and concept and the book really explains it. The book I would keep , where I might trade the deck one day Catti

Starlily	07 Apr 2005
I ordered the book and I am greatly looking forward to reading it. The Thoth is a Golden Dawn based deck also, isn't it? I see similarities between it and the Gill, only for some reason I've always preferred the Gill deck, personally. I wouldn't mind reading a book on Golden Dawn interpretations. Any recommendations?

fyreflye	07 Apr 2005
starlily wrote: I wouldn't mind reading a book on Golden Dawn interpretations. Any recommendations? Robert Wang's Introduction to the Golden Dawn Tarot is the shortest and cheapest. Wang's The Qabalistic Tarot is more detaled and HTF used but still the best book I've seen on the GD system.

Rusty Neon	10 Apr 2005
shadowdancer wrote: I was wondering if anyone could tell me what the accompanying book is like with this deck? There is an option to buy it with or without the said book, but thought I would obtain a few views before deciding. The cards are intriguing so any views from owners of the deck would also be appreciated. I really like this deck. Like fyreflye has noted, this is one of the 'underappreciated' decks. I use this deck on a casual, out-of-the-box basis, i.e., employing RWS, Thoth and Golden Dawn 'Book T' meanings as well as meanings from my 'mental' deck. I find that the LWB that comes with the Gill deck is very well done as far as LWBs go. Unlike some LWBs which are skimpy with little explanation of why the deck creator chose particular symbolism, a good part of the deck creator's choices are well explained in the Gill deck's LWB. It's as if the LWB was sincerely written to help users, with no serious expectation that a companion book would ever be published. A number of years separates the publication of the deck and the publication of the book. (In contrast, the LWB for the U.S. Games Tarot of the Spirit is virtually useless. It doesn't explain any of the deck-specific symbolism at all; it's as if such omission was intentional, in order to aid sales of the companion book). Of course, the Gill companion book is easier to consult than the LWB, as the companion book has card illustrations whereas the LWB doesn't. But aside from it, the casual user of the Gill Tarot could probably get by without the companion book. However, if you decide to use the Gill Tarot as a study deck, the companion book can be helpful to better find out Gill's specific tarot viewpoints to more fully understand the deck. (Another deck with a very good LWB is the Spiral Tarot. Although that LWB lacks the card images, it explains a good part of the deck creator's symbolism choices, such that a casual user of the deck probably wouldn't need the Spiral companion book.)

Rusty Neon	10 Apr 2005
P.S. Here's a link to an earlier thread on the Gill Tarot deck that discusses the colours used on the cards and their relationship to the Golden Dawn 'colour scales': http://tarotforum.net/showthread.php?t=31041

The question re Gill tarot thread was originally posted on 04 Apr 2005 in the Tarot Decks board, and is now archived in the Forum Library. Read the active threads in Tarot Decks, or read more archived threads.