looking for multi-tradition book

patter

I once had a great book, illustrated with rider-waite, which gave breif interpretations of each card from a range of the more common traditions. I left it in a cafe and it got nicked. Since then I haven't been able to remember the authirs or find a new copy. Can anyone jog my memory?

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Laurel

Patter, can you describe it a little more? Do you remember the color or what it had on the front and back cover?
 

patter

It was a large white paperback with a card on the cover -- I think it was Rider-Waite justice or temperance. Each card had a summary page where each traditions main interpretation of the card was given in one of two sentences, and then a more indepth essay. A really great book for eclectic taroticians!
 

Major Tom

Sounds a little bit like The Pictorial Key to The Tarot by A.E. Waite. :) The cover of my copy looks different though...
 

patter

Nope that's not it. This book gave golden dawn, thoth, marseilles etc -- at least 7 or 8 different traditions and their interpretations of each card. That's why I loved it -- not just one cannon.
 

Ophiel

Could it be "The Dictionary of the Tarot" by Bill Butler? It has a white cover, but doesn't sound *exactly* like what you describe...This book takes each card and lists a summary of the imagery for quite a few different cards (12 for the devil) and then compares the interpretation of various sources. It also has short essays about how different decks handle the suits, etc. It's a classic, first published in 1975 and possibly out of print. The cover has "The Hanged Man" from an unnamed deck, similar in general design as RWS. IT also has a section, an overview, of divinational methods...but doesn't have those essays on the cards you mentioned.

Was it a book of only the Major Arcana, or did it include all the cards?

Another possibility (though my cover is dark blue, Llewellyn edition) is "Living the Tarot" by Amber Jayanti. It has a pic of BOTA's "Temperance" on the cover. This was recently reprinted and has a white cover, same card. This one has essays on all the majors. This same author wrote the "Tarot for Dummies," if you know that series in the UK.

The BOTA deck (Paul Case) and WRS decks are quite similar, including Temperance.
 

Xarokys

It sounds a little bit like "Tarot Dictionary and Compendium" by Jana Riley. It lists several different authors' meanings for each card. My copy has a sorta brownish cover but no picture.