Recommendations pls.

Thread originally posted on the Aeclectic Tarot Forum on 25 Feb 2002, and now archived in the Forum Library.

Soraya	25 Feb 2002
Hi everyone, My birthday is coming up and I want to ask my husband to get me a reference book about symbols to help me interpret the cards. Can anyone recommend something that is comprehensive and easy to get by, i.e. not out of print or a 3-vol. encyclopaedia? (Since we live in Austria we pretty much rely on Amazon for English books). Thanks for your ideas Soraya

Mojo	25 Feb 2002
I have a great book called "A Dictionary of Symbols" by J. Cirlot. It has hundreds of symbols from tarot, astrology and all sorts of other ancient arts and sciences along with detailed stories which illustrate the myths, belief systems and legends that are behind them. Unfortunately, it's out of print, but a quick search of Amazon shows they have a hardback copy for about $50 USD. (careful, there are 3 different books with this same name... I'll only vouch for the one by Cirlot) There is also a small and very inexpensive paperback ($5.00 USD) called "How to Read the Tarot" by Sylvia Abraham. It's not much of a reference book on Tarot (the card meanings are rather basic and uninspiring), but there are 10 pages at the back of the book which give lists of associations for all of the various arcane symbols found on the Waite-Smith cards.

Melvis	25 Feb 2002
I'd like to agree with Mojo on J.E. Cirlot's Dictionary of Symbols. I was only able to find a used copy through Amazon, but there are many other used bookstore websites out there as well...shop around and you might find one, too. Peace, Melvis

Soraya	27 Feb 2002
Hi guys, Thanks for the unanimous recommendation. I have found the dictionary of symbols on the German Amazon web page. Hurrah! It's already on my wishl ist. Soraya

MeeWah	28 Feb 2002
Sorry for the delay in responding to this, but I still want to cast my vote for the very same book!! Now if I could just locate my copy (along with some other Tarot materials that seem to have gone astray) I would be very happy. The wealth of material in that book is more than enough to keep one busy for a long, long time! I thought I heard some years ago of a paperback edition of it, but I've not been able to locate info on it.

Strange2	28 Feb 2002
You may want to try www.eBay.com for Cirlot's "A Dictionary of Symbols". My wonderful wife just got me the hardcover version of this for about $7.00 US! I did a quick search for this on eBay, and there are some of them up for bid right now.

The Recommendations pls. thread was originally posted on 25 Feb 2002 in the Talking Tarot board, and is now archived in the Forum Library. Read the active threads in Talking Tarot, or read more archived threads.