Anyankah said:
Why does everyone always focus on the keywords? Her book also has quite a few other things in it; suggestions on how to do readings and exercises about what cards mean to you. As well as a large section withy a couple pages about every card where she explores what the card means to her, including keywords.
I liked her book, but not because of the keywords. Though I do consider it something that is good to start with but needs to be moved on from.
I don't mind keywords if I can see how the person giving them as meanings got to them. Joan Bunning doesn't do this.
She doesn't talk about numbers combined with elements, she doesn't link the minors to the majors of the same number. There is no reasoning for her keywords and that's what I don't like.
I like to be given the information to come up with my own meanings not be given a load of keywords to learn parrot fashion: To me that isn't reading, it's reciting.
I know a lot of people like keywords and use them as a 'jumping off point' and that's how they're supposed to be used but to give keywords without any explanation as to how you got to that keyword just wasn't useful for me.
Another reason why I don't think the Bunning book is the best one out there for beginners is because the only spread it gives is the Celtic Cross.
Now the Celtic Cross is a good spread
once you can read cards but I think it just confuses folks to give them a spread with 10 positions and loads of interplay between those positions.
I think that beginners books should keep spreads quite small.
There are good things in Joan Bunning's book - the Celtic Cross and the way she describes it would have been excellent in a book that wasn't aimed at people just starting out on their tarot journey.
She also advocates drawing a card a day and journalling which I think is excellent advice.
There are much better books out there for the complete beginner (in my opinion) though.