tmgrl2
I have been meaning to start this thread for a while now...
jmd may decide to move to books/media, but I thought it would attract attention here first since those of us who are French-challenged are always looking for literature in English re TdM.
There have been some great links in other threads to websites with interpretations for the pip cards and for Majors.
Recently, I went to our local library and they had two books on Tarot. One was by Silvie Simon: The Tarot: Art, Mysticism, and Divination. She uses primarily Grimaud TdM pictures (a few references to other decks) for the Majors and has about forty pages of discussion on the pips.
As with any "self-contained" piece of literature, there are some anomalies and some ideas one may wish to sort through and discard. However, overall, this is a very good book, IMO, to use to start with TdM if one doesn't read French.
Briefly (LOL, when has tmgrl every done anything "briefly?"}
She gives 1-2 pages to each Major and discusses it in terms of its placement....She brings in elements of numerology, the Tao Te Ching, Kabbalah, The Tree of Life (Sephiroth),Hermeticism, and Indian Brahmin references to name a few.
She gives a good description of the pictures and some meanings of various elements...I feel she also offers a fairly rich disscussion of possible respresentations and interpretations. She uses "Le Batteleur" for The Magician but then talks about "The Magician" which some "purists" may find not to their liking..But she then goes on to call The Magicina...Mage, Juggler, Minstrel, Sorcerer, Mountebank, Bagad, or Pagad. She discusses various cards in relationship to other cards and talks about both complimentary aspects and aspects that might be negative depending on reading, reader and position...
Simon also intersperses these 1-2 pages encapsulatons with running text on The Powers, The History, The Philosophy of Tarot.
There are approximately forty pages devoted to the Minor cards. Some of the interpretations of these seem to me somewhat limiting, although not bad, but less rich than one might find in some of the more recent French literature (Klea for example)
Most of her bibiolographical references were from French literature.
For the Fool, since this much debated card and it's role in all Tarot but especiallly in the TdM, I feel she does a fairly good job of discussion and description. She talks about origin of the word Le Mat...At one point she places the Fool at the end of the 21 Majors, but then almost contradicts herself, since the bulk of the two-page description talks about The Fool as
She combines the Fool with each of the 21 others to come up with a meaning....
The book was published in 1986 and there are copies, used and maybe new at Amazon.com. I paid about $3.00 for it. It cost more to ship it.
So that's my opening post about the book...I thought that it might be a good "keeper" for English TdM fans.
terri
jmd may decide to move to books/media, but I thought it would attract attention here first since those of us who are French-challenged are always looking for literature in English re TdM.
There have been some great links in other threads to websites with interpretations for the pip cards and for Majors.
Recently, I went to our local library and they had two books on Tarot. One was by Silvie Simon: The Tarot: Art, Mysticism, and Divination. She uses primarily Grimaud TdM pictures (a few references to other decks) for the Majors and has about forty pages of discussion on the pips.
As with any "self-contained" piece of literature, there are some anomalies and some ideas one may wish to sort through and discard. However, overall, this is a very good book, IMO, to use to start with TdM if one doesn't read French.
Briefly (LOL, when has tmgrl every done anything "briefly?"}
She gives 1-2 pages to each Major and discusses it in terms of its placement....She brings in elements of numerology, the Tao Te Ching, Kabbalah, The Tree of Life (Sephiroth),Hermeticism, and Indian Brahmin references to name a few.
She gives a good description of the pictures and some meanings of various elements...I feel she also offers a fairly rich disscussion of possible respresentations and interpretations. She uses "Le Batteleur" for The Magician but then talks about "The Magician" which some "purists" may find not to their liking..But she then goes on to call The Magicina...Mage, Juggler, Minstrel, Sorcerer, Mountebank, Bagad, or Pagad. She discusses various cards in relationship to other cards and talks about both complimentary aspects and aspects that might be negative depending on reading, reader and position...
Simon also intersperses these 1-2 pages encapsulatons with running text on The Powers, The History, The Philosophy of Tarot.
There are approximately forty pages devoted to the Minor cards. Some of the interpretations of these seem to me somewhat limiting, although not bad, but less rich than one might find in some of the more recent French literature (Klea for example)
Most of her bibiolographical references were from French literature.
For the Fool, since this much debated card and it's role in all Tarot but especiallly in the TdM, I feel she does a fairly good job of discussion and description. She talks about origin of the word Le Mat...At one point she places the Fool at the end of the 21 Majors, but then almost contradicts herself, since the bulk of the two-page description talks about The Fool as
She combines the Fool with each of the 21 others to come up with a meaning....
The book was published in 1986 and there are copies, used and maybe new at Amazon.com. I paid about $3.00 for it. It cost more to ship it.
So that's my opening post about the book...I thought that it might be a good "keeper" for English TdM fans.
terri
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