Top Ten essential tarot titles

rachelcat

nicky said:
Tarot Decoded by Elizabeth Hazel

Oh, good, nicky! I thought I was the only person in the world that likes Tarot Decoded! I don't agree with everything in it, but it sure did make me think, and study!

As far as I'm concerned, Mystical Origins of the Tarot and Place's Tarot book are required reading! And Understanding by DuQuette. And 21 Ways, of course!

And I'm glad I'm not the only one who had trouble with Forest of Souls. It just didn't do anything for me at all. I never read 78 Degrees, so I don't know if it's the writing style or the subject matter . . .

And for me, History of the Occult Tarot was a fun read. But then I'm strange . . .

nicky

rachelcat said:
Oh, good, nicky! I thought I was the only person in the world that likes Tarot Decoded! I don't agree with everything in it, but it sure did make me think, and study!

It was tough going but really worth it.

rachelcat said:
And I'm glad I'm not the only one who had trouble with Forest of Souls. It just didn't do anything for me at all. I never read 78 Degrees, so I don't know if it's the writing style or the subject matter . . .

I loved 78 degrees. Forest of Souls *meh*

rachelcat said:
And for me, History of the Occult Tarot was a fun read. But then I'm strange . . .

strange is good LOL

teomat

I've only got three tarot books at the moment (Duquette's Thoth, Barrett's Ancient Egyptian and 78 Degrees), and I'm currently waiting for Case's 'Key to the Wisdom of the Ages'.

I'm so glad that I read Duquette, Book T, Aeclectic's Thoth, RWS and Historical forum and Scion's brilliant posts BEFORE I bought Pollack's 78 Degrees. I've tried numerous times to read this book, but it just irritates me no end. It's so full of...nothing.

As some people have said, you have to see this book as one person's PERSONAL opinion on what the images suggest to them. And taken as that, then it's an OK book. But don't take it as gospel, and certainly don't see it as a 'tarot bible'.

I would never recommend it to a beginner, and I'm so glad I didn't start out with this book.

sapienza

teomat said:
As some people have said, you have to see this book as one person's PERSONAL opinion on what the images suggest to them. And taken as that, then it's an OK book. But don't take it as gospel, and certainly don't see it as a 'tarot bible'.

I would never recommend it to a beginner, and I'm so glad I didn't start out with this book.

My exact feelings. I find this book is very limited by the Waite-Smith symbolism. I prefer starting with a broad picture and then narrowing down in relation to specific decks. I think this book starts with a narrow focus that for some people can be very hard to break away from later on.

Alan Ross

sapienza said:
My exact feelings. I find this book is very limited by the Waite-Smith symbolism. I prefer starting with a broad picture and then narrowing down in relation to specific decks.

Rachel Pollack's more recent "Tarot Wisdom" might be more appealing for those who feel as you do. It's far broader and more comprehensive than 78 Degrees, although I'm sure it still wouldn't be a good choice for those who don't care for Pollack's personal perspectives. I enjoyed it immensely myself.

Alan

teomat

Alan Ross said:
Rachel Pollack's more recent "Tarot Wisdom" might be more appealing for those who feel as you do. It's far broader and more comprehensive than 78 Degrees, although I'm sure it still wouldn't be a good choice for those who don't care for Pollack's personal perspectives. I enjoyed it immensely myself.

Alan

Tarot Wisdom has been in my local library for months. I have been tempted to borrow it as it seems to be a much praised book here on AT. But then so is 78 Degrees...

But 78 Degrees has left such a bad impression on me. If the new book also just goes by the 'looking at the images' approach (and throwing in every multi-cultural reference as possible), and not into REAL in-depth research (e.g how the Golden Dawn formulated their meanings for the minors), then I'll also give it a pass.

I've read enough touchy-feely guess books on tarot as it is.

Alan Ross

teomat said:
Tarot Wisdom has been in my local library for months. I have been tempted to borrow it as it seems to be a much praised book here on AT. But then so is 78 Degrees...

But 78 Degrees has left such a bad impression on me. If the new book also just goes by the 'looking at the images' approach (and throwing in every multi-cultural reference as possible), and not into REAL in-depth research (e.g how the Golden Dawn formulated their meanings for the minors), then I'll also give it a pass.

I've read enough touchy-feely guess books on tarot as it is.

You might be surprised. Take a look at the following review here on AT to see what she includes in Tarot Wisdom:

http://www.aeclectic.net/tarot/books/pollack-wisdom/

The book admittedly does present a very personal view of tarot. If you're interested in something that strictly adheres to and explicates Golden Dawn teachings, you would probably be better off with Robert Wang's classic text "Qabalistic Tarot," a book that I would consider a top ten title for those who favor a ceremonial magick approach to tarot.

Alan

Alan Ross

teomat said:
78 Degrees has left such a bad impression on me. If the new book also just goes by the 'looking at the images' approach (and throwing in every multi-cultural reference as possible), and not into REAL in-depth research (e.g how the Golden Dawn formulated their meanings for the minors), then I'll also give it a pass.

I've read enough touchy-feely guess books on tarot as it is.

I'd like to elaborate on my previous post, now that I have "Tarot Wisdom" in front of me (and a little more time for including details). "Tarot Wisdom" does not go by the 'looking at the images' approach. "Tarot Wisdom" is not an expansion or revision of the earlier "78 Degrees," it is an entirely different book. And the book does include considerable coverage of the Golden Dawn and the theoretical basis for their interpretations, including how they 'formulated their meaning for the minors.'

Pollack refers to the Kabbalah (her spelling) throughout the book. For each of the Majors, she provides the GD Hebraic and Tree of Life correspondences, although she doesn't consistently explain the significance of these correspondences. For the minors, she covers, in fairly substantial detail, the correspondence of each card rank, ace through ten, with the ten Sephiroth and with the corresponding astrological decanate. She has separate sections explaining both the Tree of Life and astrological decans, both of which were used by the Golden Dawn to derive interpretations for the pip cards. Here is some of what she has to say about decans:

As described above, if we set aside the aces as the basic element, we get thirty-six cards. Since the zodiac contains 360 degrees, this gives us ten degrees for each card. Put another way, there are twelve signs and thus thirty degrees for each (360 divided by 12=30). For example, Wands are fire, and the three fire signs are Aries, Leo, and Sagittarius. Thus the Two of Wands becomes 1-10 degrees of Aries, the three is 11-20 degrees of Aries, and the four 21-30. Leo goes with cards five, six, and seven, while Sagittarius with eight, nine and ten. Each decan - each card - is ruled by a planet. Paul Huson traces this system and its meanings to a fourteenth-century Arabic text, translated into Latin, called Picatrix (wonderful name), which not only listed the decans but gave meanings for each one. Although these meanings are often far from what we think of for the cards today (and were not in fact originally connected to Tarot cards but used only for astrology and magical talismans), they may have influenced the Golden Dawn's interpretations for the Minor Arcana.

Here is an example of her pip card descriptions, from her writeup for the Seven of Wands:

Fiery Wands would have great creative energy - the force of fire in a dynamic setting. The lower Major Arcana card here, the Chariot, goes well with the suit, having its own forceful energy. The higher card, the Star, brings a gentleness, while at the same time its posture of pouring out water and holding nothing back also goes well with the drive of the card.

The Star also might remind us that seven on the Tree of Life, Netzach, is the realm of Venus, since as we saw in the Major Arcana, one interpretation of "Star" is the morning star, Venus. Thus, we see fire in the emotional world, where it may, in fact, have cross energies - the powerful desires and drive possibly in conflict with feelings...

The decan of Leo ruled by Mars suggests an aggressive quality, confident Leo made warlike."

The writeups for each minor and court card averages about a page, while the major writeups include several pages per card.

For the court cards, Pollack includes extensive elemental and Kabbalistic correspondences, although I wish she had also included coverage of the astrological modes or qualities (mutable, cardinal, and fixed). She also covers the differences between the traditional courts (Page, Knight, Queen, and King) and the Golden Dawn courts (Princess, Prince, Queen, and Knight). Overall, I'd say that "Tarot Wisdom" is a much deeper and broader book than "78 Degrees," and I would consider it a better choice as a top ten essential tarot book. There is a very limited preview of "Tarot Wisdom" available through Google Books:

http://books.google.com/books?id=t3...r&dq=rachel+pollack&cd=3#v=onepage&q=&f=false

Alan

teomat

Thanks for this info Alan. I admit that your paragraphs have piqued my interest. I might have a look at the book in my library...

The crowned one

Tarot specific ( there are a endless amount of books that have nothing to do with tarot that will improve your reading ability way beyond most tarot books)

Tarot: History, Symbolism & Divination - Robert Place
Mystical Origins of the Tarot - Paul Huson
Tarot tells the tale - Ricklef
Tarot bible -bartlett
Your own journal- You

Top Ten essential tarot titles

rachelcat

nicky

teomat

sapienza

Alan Ross

teomat

Alan Ross

Alan Ross

teomat

The crowned one