Luce,
I have the Haindl tarot deck and I love it! In my opinion it seems to follow the Thoth deck closer than it does the Rider-Waite. There is a set of two books written by Rachel Pollack that really helps explain this deck. Book One explains the Major Arcana and Book Two explains the minors. I strongly recommend getting these if you can find them. I think I heard that the two books were going to be printed as one but I don?t know for sure. Also, the Haindl tarot now comes in a boxed set with a book. I don?t know anything about the book that comes with the set. It could be the same one written by Pollack or it could be a different one, I don?t know. As far as the Hebrew letters, Runes, I Ching, and other symbols, you don?t have to use them right at first if you don?t want to. As you learn and grow with this tarot deck, you can always add more depth to your understanding as you learn about these symbols. I will try to answer any questions you have if you want me to. Either post your questions here or send me an e-mail at: raeanne_s@hotmail.com