tarotbear

What book(s) would you recommend for someone who is totally unfamiliar with Tarot cards? Why? Did someone recommend this book to you, did it fall off the shelf at the bookstore, or was it a gift? Why do you feel a beginner would benefit from reading this book?

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Talisman

tarotbear,

(Great idea! Good for you. And I hope some hard working soul cleans the FAQs of extraneous stuff like this.)

I'm sure these book suggestions are obvious, so maybe this will help to get them out of the way first.

ONE: The first book I'd recommend if you had just one is Mary K. Greer's "Tarot For Yourself." Easy enough for a beginner, as profound as you want to make it, and she touches most all bases -- including all the questions tarotbear is seeking for his FAQs.

TWO: Rachel Pollack's "Seventy-eight Degrees of Wisdom." Intelligent, insightful commentary on tarot, including origins, symbolism, historical, mythological and esoteric backgrounds, and how to read.

THREE: A good book written for your most special deck(s). This may be problematic.

And, I hope we can add tarotbear's book to this list soon.

Talisman

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Logiatrix

i have divided my book preferences in two categories: those books you will outgrow, and those books that are "keepers."
sooo...
these are good, but you will outgrow them:
"the idiot's guide to tarot and fortunetelling"--find it at your fave used bookstore, give it at least a cursory perusal, and you will be introduced to tarot. it serves it's purpose.
"tarot basics"--that's exactly what it is.
"easy tarot guide"--also VERY basic, but RWS in color, which is nice.
these are each fine introductions to tarot as far as card meanings and all those FAQ's! i found them for myself at used book sales.
"keepers":
basically ditto on "tarot for yourself" and "78 degrees of wisdom." i'm also partial to anything by hajo banzhaf, and angeles arrien's "tarot handbook." these all must rate pretty well with other tarot enthusiasts in my area, 'cuz i've rarely seen any of them used...i had to pay full-price for each of my "keepers."

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maria42airam

My suggestion as a first book is Joan Bunning's "Learning the Tarot." It's a lesson based book, uses the Rider-Waite deck, and there is a web-page class that can be used with it. You can even download the class to your PC to speed up loading images.

Excellent!

Maria

Apollonia

My all-time favorite, and the one I still reach for several times a week, is "Tarot Plain and Simple" by Anthony Louis. It's written from a personal, real-world viewpoint that I found incredibly helpful, especially at the beginning when I sometimes just wanted to know, bottom line, what the card meant. I also like it because it's organized the way I first learned Tarot, with all the Aces grouped together, etc.

Good luck in finding a few books that really speak to you and your developing style!

tmgrl2

For raw beginners, (that's me, too):

I found/find: Mary Greer - TarotforYourself
Rachel Pollack's Complete Illustrated Guide to Tarot
Joan Bunning: Learning the Tarot

Silvie Simon: (Out of Print but available used at Amazon.com ) The Tarot: Art, Mysticism and Divination (Use full title to do the search)

I have at least 50 books now in my library, but I still use the four I mentioned. Mary Greer does some fun activities with cards that get one to use them in a variety of ways. Joan Bunning's book is available online:

http://www.learntarot.com/

Also, I would recommend going to the Home Page Here at Aeclectic and reading the articles for beginners. They are all excellent, well worth downloading to read and reread.

Also Thirteen's notes on all of the cards are available here also.

The 78-week Study here at AT takes each card and people add on to the discussion. I have been slow to add on, but hope to work my way through the thread.

Search here also for any aspect or card or deck and you will find pertinent threads.

http://www.aeclectic.net/tarot/learn/

terri

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Thordia

I think I agree with all of the above really! Of the ones I have worked with I found 'Tarot for Yourself' is a wonderful book to start getting to know and work with the cards, 'Learn the Tarot' is a great self-study course and 'Seventy Eight Degrees of Wisdom' will give you much insight into the cards... and it is definitely worth getting a book for your deck too.

Another book I would recommend which is good for beginners is Terry Donaldson's 'Step-by-Step' Tarot

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"We are the universe made manifest, trying to figure itself out" ~ Babylon 5

Emily

If you are learning Rider Waite symbolism I would recommend '78 Degrees of Wisdom' too - I've only just started reading this book and its fascinating. I wish I'd read it sooner. It does really go indepth with each card. I would recommend it for a beginner.

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# # Emily # #

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A good student never stops learning
Having fun with the Liber T

The 78th Fool

The Beginner's Guide to the Tarot by Juliet Sharman Burke

http://www.aeclectic.net/tarot/cards/sharman-caselli/

It's a complete self contained Tarot course for the beginner which even includes a superb deck based on the Rider Waite system. The whole package retails for slightly less than a standard US Games deck. This really is not to be missed.

I saw this in my local bookshop and was struck by the wonderful quality of the artwork. This course is largely responsible for me becoming a fluent reader and It's one I still return to even though I'm not a beginner any more.

Chris. xx

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Co-creator of the Quantum Tarot. published by Kunati Inc.