Your First Tarot Book(s)?

[treelet]

The Complete Guide to the Tarot by Eden Gray. It belonged to my father, along with an old pocket copy of the RWS from the 60s or 70s in Portuguese. I was a teenager and didn't take tarot study seriously at all, though I read the book and did readings for friends. When I finally got back into things, it was 78 Degrees of Wisdom by Rachel Pollack.

 

[Brilliance]

Hajo Banzhaf - The Tarot Handbook

 

[geneticsgirl]

Alfred Douglas 'The Tarot', which was given to me along with a deck by my uncle. This book was very dry but worked well enough for me. I then supplemented with Hazel Whitaker's Tarot Talk, which was a bit easier to navigate. Anyone else used the Douglas book?

Just saw up thread that someone else started with the same book.

 

[Teheuti]

Alfred Douglas 'The Tarot', ...
Anyone else used the Douglas book?

It wasn't my first but it was among my first dozen (I bought every Tarot book I could find and there weren't many in the early 70s). I was already interested in applying a Jungian approach so I was thrilled with Douglas' Jung material, which, if I remember right, was very well done.

 

[Le Fanu]

All this mention of Eden Gray - and I really don't remember seeing this name around in the early 80s in the UK. I wonder if it was more for the American market?

I scoured bookshops at the time and only ever heard of this book much later here on AT.

The ubiquitous early 80s tarot manuals where I was were companion books by Stuart Kaplan for the 1JJ Swiss and the Tarot Classic. The former was my first tarot book and I was glad there was a lot of white space on the pages as I expanded the meanings with a black BIC pen. I also remember being rather thrown by the 56 card spread in the back

The next book I got was one which hasn't been mentioned and I cannot for the life of me remember it - I shall call upon Teheuti and gregory who I'm sure will know it: Small paperback. Dutch sounding author (Jan Something?). Crowley's Fool on the front, blue spine, circa 1982. I've looked on my bookshelf but maybe it's still at my parents'.

And then the next book, which changed my life Christmas 1982 was Kaplan's Encyclopedia Vol I which - no exaggeration - was my bible.

 

[Darkmage]

I found Douglas' book a while back. I'm not sure if it's still in print or not, but it is good.

Eden Gray was American, which is probably why most people who teethed on her books (myself included) are American as well. She died a while back. Here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eden_Gray

I do like those Stuart Kaplan books you mentioned. I was lucky enough years ago to find them in hardback. Vol 1. of the Tarot Encyclopedia also has a proud place on my shelf--unfortunately, it's the only volume of the set I have. I need to pick up the other three. Lord knows I used to check them out of the library often enough when I was in HS.

 

[Ruby Jewel]

Hey Jolie I decided not to get Tarot Tells the Tale. I really wish we could flip through books online in places that we choose instead of given a sample by Amazon which usually only gives us the front. I had to go through tons of reviews and tried hard to filter away other people's lenses to extrapolate what might be in the book. Not a perfect system but I get a vague idea of each book which helps. Just looking at what I can read about the book it feels a bit too wishy washy to me. But I still have it on my wish list

You can't go wrong with "78 Degrees of Wisdom" by Rachel Pollock. I bought both volumes (now in one book) of this timeless tarot wisdom back in the early 80s and have since purchased many more tarot books (2 bookshelves full), but it is "78 Degrees of Wisdom" that I keep front and center and refer to whether I refer to others or not. In fact, you might go wrong if you don't have this book.....in my opinion....oh yes, it was also my first. Next was Mythic Tarot deck with book as that was the one my astrology teacher used.

 

[rwcarter]

The next book I got was one which hasn't been mentioned and I cannot for the life of me remember it - I shall call upon Teheuti and gregory who I'm sure will know it: Small paperback. Dutch sounding author (Jan Something?). Crowley's Fool on the front, blue spine, circa 1982. I've looked on my bookshelf but maybe it's still at my parents'.

Jan Woudhuysen? Tarot Therapy or Tarotmania (same book released under different titles)? My copy of each book has a 1979 copyright though. A quick Amazon search shows a copy of Tarotmania with Crowley's Fool on it. Don't remember if that's the one I have or not.

Rodney

 

[Le Fanu]

Jan Woudhuysen? Tarot Therapy or Tarotmania (same book released under different titles)? My copy of each book has a 1979 copyright though. A quick Amazon search shows a copy of Tarotmania with Crowley's Fool on it. Don't remember if that's the one I have or not.

Rodney

That's it! You got it! It was Tarotmania. Was it really published in 1979? How much slower things were to filter through to the mainstream then. Maybe the Crowley Fool cover was the UK printing.

 

[lark]

My first book was a book by a woman named Emily Peach don't remember the name of the book...
And pardon me Miss Peach, but it was B-A-D.
Very confusing and probably way above my newbie head.
I just worked with the cards intuitively and wrote about them in a notebook.
Eventually I was lured back to the book section and bought a few books that did help me.

One of those early books I used a lot was....
Understanding the Cards of Destiny Reading the Tarot...by Leo Louis Martello
Any one have that one?

One bad thing about learning intuitively is when you buy books you rarely agree with them....
I'm always mumbling...that's not how I see that card....mumble.. mumble.
And you come to a quick realization that they probably did exactly what you did, wrote down their intuitive musings.