What one book helped you the most?

Is there a "perfect" tarot guide?

Is there one book out there that can be recommended because it helped you understand tarot in a way that you had not previously?

Or if no perfect book exists...then which book personally helped you in understanding the tarot in a new and different way? Which one made all the cards make sense to you, or made you really think about the tarot, rather than just memorize a list of meanings?

Even if it was a "LWB" or caompanion book to a specific deck...let me know!

Thanks for all answers...I am not asking for research, or anything like that...I am just curious, comming from a vast collection of decks...but very very few books.

Of all the books I had when I was learning, Bill Butler's Dictionary of the Tarot probably helped me the most. It is far from perfect; however, it did get me thinking about how to use numerology to sidestep the amount of memorization that was involved, especially when I was learning with the Swiss 1JJ deck.

Stuart Kaplan's Tarot Classic book was also helpful to me back then.

Later on, Gareth Knight's The Magical World of the Tarot is something I found quite helpful. I have only had a chance to leaf through it, but Paul Huson's Mystical Origins of the Tarot looks like something I would recommend to a learner starting out now --- a large improvement over his older The Devil's Picturebook.

Rachel Pollack's 78 Degrees of Wisdom helped me the most, both in terms of deeper understanding of the cards and practical application. There's a good reason why it's a classic!

Top two!

The book that I enjoyed the most and reference the most is called 'Tarot Awareness: Exploring the Spiritual Path' by Stephen Sterling.

The book that I am almost finished with that runs a very close second is 'Seventy-Eight Degrees of Wisdom: A Book of Tarot' by Rachel Pollack.

I read first Joan Bunning's Learn the tarot, and I think it's an excellent material. Each cards are well described, including the minors and the court cards. I think it's great that the original material can be found on Joan Bunning's website.

After that, I read Seventy-Eight Degrees of Wisdom: A Book of Tarot by Rachel Pollack. The stuff she writes about the majors is really great, mind blowing. I had issues with the Pope, now renamed the Hierophant, but what she wrote made me see him differently, and appreciate him. The part of the book that is not well done, in my opinion, is on the minors. She kind of overlook them briefly. Some cards are more detailed but most aren't. The court cards are well described in general.

I think these two books are a must so far. Bunning is more practical while Pollack is more occult. They complete each other well. I haven't read more books so far, but after going through this forum (books and media), I have made a wishlist of books I want.

my favourite Tarot book

I don't think there can be a "perfect" book as we are all individuals with different needs, tastes and points of view.

But for me, the most comprehensive and useful is: Tarot for Your Self: A Workbook for Personal Transfomation, by Mary K Greer.

But that is me, I only read for myself and I consider Tarot just that: a means to transform and improve yourself. I think most people here do not do readings for themselves as much.

just adding my input.

Bar

One book that really helped me to expand my vision of the tarot and gave me the confidence to start trusting my own intuition and interpretive abilities was Jana Riley's Tarot: Dictionary and Compendium, because it collects together on one or two pages for each card brief interpretations from fourteen different writers, or "experts" if you will. (Arrien, Cowie, Crowley, Eakins, Fairfield, Greer, Noble, Pollack, Sharman-Burke, Stewart, Waite, Walker, Wanless, Wirth and Riley)

The reason I found this helpful was because I was able to see really clearly illustrated in one place just how diverse--and even completely opposite--interpretations can be, that not only is there not one "right" interpretation, but that the range of possibilities is huge, and certainly big enough to include my own. (In fact, blank space is provided on the pages for adding your own or other interpretations.) I found this hugely freeing, and it marked a turning point for me in my tarot studies. It's also a useful small one-volume quick reference when I'm stuck or want an overview to jog my own thinking.

Well, I have two, one for RWS & clones, one for Marseille & other non-peopled pips. The first is The Complete Idiot's Guide to Tarot and Fortune Telling by Arlene Tognetti and Lisa Lenard, the second the companion book to the Pythagorean Tarot by John Opsopaus (aka the epic!). This book does a great job of tying Tarot in with numerology.

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Bunning's Learn the Tarot has been the best beginner's guide of the several that I purchased, and I still refer to it often.

For spread interpretation James Ricklef's Tarot Tells the Tale has been an excellent resource.

When one is ready to get past elementary concepts, I highly recommend Greer's "Complete Book of Tarot Reversals" and the Greer and Little "Understanding the Tarot Court". These two books cover both the specific topic intended and add enormously to understanding general principles of meaning and interpretation as well.

peace,
sechat