What do you look for in a good deck companion book?

I have come to a wall in writing the companion book to go along with my All hallows.

I want to include enough interesting features to make it worthwhile (and worth the price of paying extra for it)

but I don't want to have so much that it is incoherent either.

so, In general...what do you like to see in a companion book? What do you find redundant?

You can vote for as many as you like!

My voting is based on the fact that I hate shelling out for a companion book when it doesn't add anything that a general Tarot book wouldn't have in it.

If that makes sense.

Books I love:

The Fey companion book

All the Magic Realist companion books

because they add masses of info that is unique to the deck.

I suppose some of the other things (standard meanings, 'history') are sort of expected but unless they add to the perspective of the specific deck I don't find they add much. For me.

Aerin

I like a more in-depth look at each card---something that can make me understand WHY the author took a departure (if applicable) from a standard RWS meaning [the author's vision, if you will] and what that departure would mean in the context of a reading. I also like to see a discussion of symbols in and suits of a card, as Joanna Colbert does to an extent in her Gaian Tarot LWB.

For example: the companion book with my New Orleans Voodoo Tarot included the correspondences of each card to the traditional tarot card titles and suits; Kabbala references (Tree of Life); an overview of vodoun and the spirits.

There were also deck-specific spreads, book references (if one was interested in reading up on vodoun further), and in-depth discussions about each card that included elemental correspondences (a la Crowley).

Likewise, if a deck addresses reversals, I'd like to see those interpretations discussed (or the shadow of a card, as is discussed in the World Spirit LWB).

On the flip side: I don't get much out of the companion book to the Gilded Tarot, and prefer to depend on the images on the cards for interpretive purposes. There isn't much meat to the book, IMHO, that couldn't have been shrunken down into a standard LWB.

Just my $.02.

T.

Yeah, I definitely need to know at the very least what a particular symbol is and preferably what the artist means by it. Case in point is the Kitty Kahane Tarot. I believe it's the Empress card that has a chicken or rooster running near her feet. Easy enough to figure out, right? But it's got the head of a man and is wearing a brimmed hat. No mention at all about that image in the companion book....

I'm a spread collector, so new and different spreads are always good.

I use author-provided card interpretations as a launching point for my own interpretations. So maybe include both standard definitions and some "new and different" ones too?

Rodney

Hi Chronata,

happy to answer your poll.

What I really really like are unique spreads that have specifically been made for use with the deck. Spreads that fit the theme(s) - like the Secret Fears Spread that accompanies the Bohemian Gothic Tarot, or the Dragon Spread and the Sun Spread for the Llewellyn Tarot. I'm also happy if the spread describes a topic from a new angle or adds the artist's / author's personal point of view.

Another great feature are in-depth describtions about the reasons the artist chose the symbols he did. A little bit of history is fine as well, what the symbols mean in general, what they mean to the artist himself.


There are a few things I'd like to tell about other things than the content as well that make a solid and well-rounded companion book for me.

Adequate use of language and grammar. I find it shameful if the author repeates phrases and thoughts over and over again. Mostly they read like copies of another author's opinion. Usually grammar is no so much a problem - but you know, mistakes happen, so I thought I should mention it.

Also, proper book binding that lasts normal usage. I find nothing more annoying than books (... or bags ...) that fall apart after reading/using them for only a week.

That's it so far. Wishing you all the best for writing the companion book.

Astraea Aurora

I voted "All of the above" but then actually I thought again and realised that it depends very much who the book is for.

We put a short tarot history, some advice on how to read, and some general information suitable for a beginner into every book. But this is because our decks are widely distributed and I think bought by quite a few people who may have very little tarot experience.

If you are mainly going to market the book on AT, to those with existing interest and knowledge, then perhaps you could leave out some of that more basic stuff?

All good luck with it. I actually love writing but I do also know exactly how it feels when you hit that "block". Don't worry, you'll get past that, it's just something that happens temporarily at times. I'm sure you'll produce a fine book.

Um I forget what I just voted and the poll vanishes when you go to post - but one was "other" - DURABILITY. One thing I am SICK of is books that are actually worth reading that fall apart when you open them The other was something to do with ................

but wait:

Full descriptions about the images or symbolism used

Click to expand...

I mean why THAT artist chose THOSE in particular.

My absolute favorite book that comes with a deck is for the Fey!! I love that book because it takes you through some of the conception part for the cards. I love being able to see how certain cards came about. Now it doesn't have to be for every single card, but it makes me feel more a part of the deck having seen some of the "how it came to be" stuff. (this is my "other" vote) Anything that gives insight to that particular deck is good for me. I love spreads that are deck specific too.

For me I don't want any history stuff. Although that's because I have so many books that already have it. I don't need any more of that. So that's just me.

rwcarter said:

Yeah, I definitely need to know at the very least what a particular symbol is and preferably what the artist means by it. Case in point is the Kitty Kahane Tarot. I believe it's the Empress card that has a chicken or rooster running near her feet. Easy enough to figure out, right? But it's got the head of a man and is wearing a brimmed hat. No mention at all about that image in the companion book....

Click to expand...

This is exactly my point as well. This is what I like to know.....what the artist meant by putting "whatever" symbolism in that specific card. It drives me crazy too Rodney!

There's alot of that in the Deidre of the Sorrows deck too. But her book doesn't mention anything about most of the symbols and why she put them in there.

I voted for new spreads unique to the theme of the deck, but just because I think so many people like that. It's not that important to me in particular.

A full description of the images and symbols used and insight into the artist and why they chose those symbols is excellent and I think is what makes the Robin Wood book so good. Hers is one of the most useful books written, in my opinion.

New meanings with regard to the deck would be good, too.

But I get sooooo tired of the same old Tarot history in book after book. There are tons of beginner books available so to put it into every single Tarot book ever written just gets really old and makes me want to not even buy a book when I find Tarot history in it. It may be interesting to beginners or to someone into Tarot history, but then someone into Tarot history isn't going to necessarily buy the deck-specific books to further their knowledge of its history, so it's not necessary. I always skip over the history part.

Even a beginner with Tarot who buys a deck really doesn't probably have any interest in Tarot history. They just want to know about their deck. Why not just put in a few references to history books they can go to if they want history?