'OH! Not THAT book!"

tarotbear

Dear Oceanpoetry-

We all detest the LWB that comes with any deck as being too generic. I find 'Tarot Plain and Simple' to be the LWB - on hormones! A compilation of one-word explainations with no discussion of reasons as to why or wherefore...blah! As I did say, as a reference for any experienced reader this book is great for someone who cannot 'think of the right word', but if you gave someone a Celtic Cross reading and gave them a ten word answer:
Dear Querent- You asked about the reasons your marriage is going to hell. The answer is: compulsive, silly, archaic, childish, unworthy, domineering, philanthropic, winning, absurd, incandescent. That is my reading for you- $20 please! Do you think they would accept this?

That is why I dislike one-word answers.

{Remember- in a thread like this you don't have to agree with me.}
 

oceanpoetry

Tarotbear,
I wouldn't necessarily recommend "Tarot, Plain and Simple" if you're at an intermediate or and advanced level with tarot. However as you agreed, it is helpful for "finding the right word". I am still learning the tarot basics and I have found the book useful as a reference, and wouldn't want to discourage other beginners, because they might also find it helpful. It isn't the only tarot book but often when I have trouble interpreting what I card means for me I like to cross-reference the different books I have for comparison.

Thanks for recommending "Everything Tarot" - I will check it out! :)
 

zander770

???

ihcoyc said:
I love going negative. . . .Has anyone ever mustered the patience to actually use the method of tarot divination suggested in Israel Regardie's reprint of the Golden Dawn materials?


which ones?

do you want?

~Z~770
:smoker:
 

zander770

???

Originally posted by truthsayer i find robert wang's "the jungian tarot and its archetypal imagery" very annoying. someone has serious mother issues in this book to the point it makes the book a huge turn-off. i don't know if it was wang or jung but i'd love to know for sure.

ummm . . . truthsayer? so . . . the QUESTION is: "you wanna know who," is it? ahhh . . . yes, that would be freud. ziggie. jung's the "cool" one; the student; the 7 of swords; the one w/the "symbols," remember? rememer him? well, he remember's you.

wang supported his daughters', you'll recall, in a mightily successful recording career--along w/now CLASSIC ACTS, such as "Men at Work," "a flock of seagulls," "Oingo Boingo," and, yes! they were the band dubed . . ."

he' DEAD, now, freud, he is. and, the woman? they've moved on . . .

. . . to the poet sharon renyolds.

at least, they were doing that, apx 1885, when freud and her writting were still alive.

~Z~770
:TQP

~Z~770
 

ihcoyc

Re: ???

zander770 said:
which ones?
The five-step process found in original pages *177-199, and in my Llewellyn edition starting at p. 567-581.

I wouldn't try this unless you had both the book handy and the better part of the afternoon to spare.
 

Jewel

I would not recommend Tarot Made Easy or Tarot Plain and Simple. I got both of these books when I started out and they did nothing more than confuse me. Tarot Made Easy made me dizzy with all the definitions of a single cards, particularly the contradictions in it ... then I would refer to the other book with its key word definitions and just got totally overwhelmed (not a good state of mind when trying to learn tarot).

As a beginner I think the book that helped me the most was Tarot for Yourself by Mary Greer. It is a workbook, and I guess I am more of an "applied" learner anyway, so working through the exercises really helped me become comfortable with the tarot. I also started keeping a journal, where I would draw a card of the day and write about it. I would probably like the book that Tarotbear suggested as well since it contains exercises.

78 Degrees of Wisdom is a must in my book, but I would not recommend it for beginners, another book I really like (with exception of the last 5-6 pages of the book that is) is The Truth About Tarot by Gerald Suster.
 

reds97

The Everything Tarot book

I am currently in the process of reading the Everything to know about Tarot.
It is a pretty good book from what i can see and it includes things like cleansing rituals and spreads. Makes a beginner like me feel comfortable with trying out the tarot.

sandra
 

WolfSpirit

tarotbear said:
Dear Oceanpoetry-

We all detest the LWB that comes with any deck as being too generic. I find 'Tarot Plain and Simple' to be the LWB - on hormones! A compilation of one-word explainations with no discussion of reasons as to why or wherefore...blah!

The one-word explanations is only part of the book. There is also a section Situation and advice which gives a more coherent explanation of the card.
What I like about this book though is that it groups the minors per number instead of per suit.
And before the explanation of the cards of one specific number, there is also an explanation about the number in general. When I learnt tarot I just learnt the meaning of a card without looking at what number it is; this book has taught me the basics about numerology in tarot (what I really knew nothing about, so for me this was very useful).
 

oceanpoetry

Wolfspirit, I have found those sections on numerology very helpful, too, as well as the "situation and advice" sections. I have also found the interpretation for reversed cards to be useful.

I have had a tarot deck around for years, but only recently began to start using the cards on a regular basis. I am still learning the cards and their meaning, so it is very helpful to pull out my books and cross-reference, so I can get an idea of different ways that each particular card can be interpreted.

I have also discovered a book called "A Magical Course in Tarot"by Michele Morgan. It covers a lot of information including caring for the tarot deck, preparatory rituals, casting spells, advice on interpretating cards based on their relationship in the spread, etc.
 

Minos

ihcoyc said:
Has anyone ever mustered the patience to actually use the method of tarot divination suggested in Israel Regardie's reprint of the Golden Dawn materials?

I have. It was exhausting, but worth it.

(I cheated and left out the parts where you have to guess the right pile or give up so I could do the whole thing.)

Three observations:

1. You have to know a lot more astrology than I do to make it work well (it was still worth it, though).

2. You have to get used to reading a lot of cards at once, rather than a few in depth, as in most currently-popular tarot spreads. This can be kind of fun.

3. In a lot of places, you're supposed to just lay a bunch of cards out in order and "make a story out of them." If you're used to spreads with well-defined positions (and I think we all are) this is disorienting at first, but when you get into it, really liberating.

There's a better explanation of the process at this page:

http://www.supertarot.co.uk/ootk/openkey.htm