Cocobird55
I think the Joan Bunning book is great when you are learning. For more in depth tarot information, I like the Kim Huggens book very much.
Need some insight please?
3ill.yazi
When I started as a teenager, the only book you could find was Eden Gray's book. She actually wrote three, but they are all basically rehashing the same thing. Those were fine for me for years, but were I to advise someone starting out now, I'd recommend Tarot Plain and Simple and the back section of Tarot For Youself, and the Joan Bunning book for meanings. To understand them as a whole, I'd recommend 78 Degrees of Wisdom.
I wouldn't get hung up on accumulating books full of meanings. Tarot Plain and Simple has plenty of those alone. Bunning whittles them down to basic keywords, but then has lessons building up the complexity in a useful way.
Before you get hung up on meanings, I strongly urge you to read Paul Huson's Mystical Origins of the Tarot, which shows how the cards evolved over history, and really opened me up to how subjective and frankly arbitrary the accepted meanings can be. For history, I also recommend the book A Wicked Pack of Cards, though it is pretty irreverent for some tastes.
I also urge you to read Mary Greer's book about reversals. It cured me of being intimidated by reversals. it kind of rehashes the meanings in Tarot For Yourself, but elaborates a little. I don't have the attention span for workbooks like the front part of Tarot For Yourself, though.
But if you just want to get cracking, the lessons in Bunning's book are great.
However, if you could only get one book about learning how to read Tarot, I would tell you to get the terribly titled The Easiest Way to Learn the Tarot --Ever!!! by Dusty White. The title makes me wince, and it looks for all the world like self-published flimflam, but that book can put you in touch with your cards in ways I've not experienced with any other book. I suspect his and Bunning's book, while on the surface coming from different perspectives, would be a winning combination for beginners.
I wouldn't get hung up on accumulating books full of meanings. Tarot Plain and Simple has plenty of those alone. Bunning whittles them down to basic keywords, but then has lessons building up the complexity in a useful way.
Before you get hung up on meanings, I strongly urge you to read Paul Huson's Mystical Origins of the Tarot, which shows how the cards evolved over history, and really opened me up to how subjective and frankly arbitrary the accepted meanings can be. For history, I also recommend the book A Wicked Pack of Cards, though it is pretty irreverent for some tastes.
I also urge you to read Mary Greer's book about reversals. It cured me of being intimidated by reversals. it kind of rehashes the meanings in Tarot For Yourself, but elaborates a little. I don't have the attention span for workbooks like the front part of Tarot For Yourself, though.
But if you just want to get cracking, the lessons in Bunning's book are great.
However, if you could only get one book about learning how to read Tarot, I would tell you to get the terribly titled The Easiest Way to Learn the Tarot --Ever!!! by Dusty White. The title makes me wince, and it looks for all the world like self-published flimflam, but that book can put you in touch with your cards in ways I've not experienced with any other book. I suspect his and Bunning's book, while on the surface coming from different perspectives, would be a winning combination for beginners.
Grizabella
It's all in the cards by John Mangiapane for sure. And then Tarot for a New Generation by Janina Renee is also good, and stays appropriate even after you're a beginner. And The 2-Hour Tarot Tutor by Wilma Carroll is very good, too.
The others mentioned (I didn't read the whole thread) are good, too, I'm sure, but these are the ones I'd recommend.
I'm using a borrowed phone charger because mine broke so I'm trying to whip through AT for now. My phone is my hotspot for internet. I want to get the phone charged and give the charger back soon.
The others mentioned (I didn't read the whole thread) are good, too, I'm sure, but these are the ones I'd recommend.
I'm using a borrowed phone charger because mine broke so I'm trying to whip through AT for now. My phone is my hotspot for internet. I want to get the phone charged and give the charger back soon.
avalonian
You could also check out the new book by Mark McElroy - A Guide to Tarot Card Meanings. I now have it in both the Kindle and the paperback versions.
It has an incredible amount of information, is very approachable and friendly in the way it is written, and each card has a set of three questions that you can ask yourself which will help you get to know the card. Plus advice (for various areas of life) and numerology, astrology, symbolism, the list is endless (well, not quite endless but very comprehensive).
It doesn't just tell you what the cards mean, it helps you to work out what the card means to you and why.
I have to say that for me, this is the best book on Tarot I have seen in years, I absolutely love it.
It has an incredible amount of information, is very approachable and friendly in the way it is written, and each card has a set of three questions that you can ask yourself which will help you get to know the card. Plus advice (for various areas of life) and numerology, astrology, symbolism, the list is endless (well, not quite endless but very comprehensive).
It doesn't just tell you what the cards mean, it helps you to work out what the card means to you and why.
I have to say that for me, this is the best book on Tarot I have seen in years, I absolutely love it.
CuddlyBCat
Thanks a lot everyone. You've all given me some nice titles to check out and decide on.
porcupines
I really like the Joan Bunning book, and also have enjoyed Joanna Watters Tarot for Today. Found it very helpful and easy to read.
Okay you probably do not need any more suggestions now ^_^
Okay you probably do not need any more suggestions now ^_^
donnalee
I enjoy Tarot for the Green Witch by Anne Moura (spelling on last name?) and Power Tarot by two authors, which has general meanings plus a little blurb about each card in reference to work, romance, health, empowerment, etc., which can be great, plus I think a whole section about each card in combination with other cards, like what the 5 swords next to the King of Pentacles might mean etc. I used to love the Mary Greer big workbook--name escapes me now--when I first started. I draw a card for the day and look it up in several books including the above and whatever Rachel Pollack book happens to be around (all tarot books are kept in the bathroom sometimes!) just to keep myself learning and remembering.
