Bunnings "Learning the Tarot"--why doesn't it make sense to me?

Stregaverde

Am I the only one who has not gotten much out of Bunning's book? I'm getting much more out of this forum as far as understanding nuances in the cards. The book is full of great information, it's just not gelling for me--is it me? Is there something that I'm missing?
 

Little Baron

I don't think you are the only one.

I am reading Joan Bunnings book, accompanying the Rider Waite at the moment. It is not the first time I have tried. I keep thinking that there must be something in it, so I keep going back and having another go.

I have just been reading through a couple of the threads here; the last one was about the cards and 'porn'. Reading what a few members said about card combinations and suggested possible interpretations taught me more about the meanings of the cards and how they interact in one thread than what I have already encountered through many books. Also, in the Rider Waite study group, points about the '6 of Pentacles' and how it relates to the Kabbalah, was also far more interesting than the standard blurb in a lot of 'how to learn the tarot' kind of books.

I think that a forum like this is good because it is 'alive' and 'moves' - peoples views are tried and tested, and then tried again by others. The words here change like running water, rather than being confined to a book and a time, like a stagnant pool. Does that make sense?

I will continue to read the book, out of interest, but I think I will learn far more from the readers on here.

LB
 

Fulgour

Stregaverde said:
Am I the only one who has not gotten much out of Bunning's book?
Many people find Eden Gray's books "less than satisfactory"
but very much like Joan Bunning, what we are really seeing
is courageous pioneering at work, so groundbreaking that it
has taken many students beyond its scope. That's success!
 

bleuivy

You're not alone. Joan Bunning's book was the first one I used when trying to learn tarot, and I can honestly say it just didn't take me anywhere. There was just so much information, and I simply couldn't connect with it. What I especially didn't like were the lists of card attributes and reversed card attributes.

I've found these forums much more enlightening than Learning the Tarot, but I know a lot of people really like the book. Oh well. Another book I've just started using is Tarot for Yourself, which I find much more accessible.
 

BodhiSeed

Bunning's Book

I did enjoy Bunning's book when I first read it, but it was the first tarot book I bought. To me, it more or less was an outline that didn't supply the "meat". Today, I tend to rely on "Seventy-Eight Degrees of Wisdom," "Tarot and the Tree of Life", "An Illustrated Encyclopaedia of Traditional Symbols," and the books written for the specific decks I own.

Bodhran
 

Stregaverde

Yes!

You guys have summed up exactly how I feel about the book. There's obviously lots there, and it's well written, it's just not clicking with me. However, like bleuivy, I'm getting loads out of "Tarot for Yourself "and Greer's "Understanding The Tarot Court". I guess it's a difference in learning styles.

I'm going to check out 78 Degrees, since it's been highly recommended by people who seem to also get a lot out of Greer, as I do. And of course I have to give tarotbear's book a go. :)

Thank you for the input, guys!
 

Sulis

I couldn't get anything out of Joan Bunnings' book either. I've tried to do the TABI course which uses her material twice and both times I've had to drop out.

For me it was the fact that there didn't seem to be any 'system' which the keywords she uses are based on.
They aren't based on numerology and they aren't linked to the corresponding Major Arcana card. I just couldn't see where she'd got the ideas for the keywords from (apart from the images on the cards) and so found them very difficult to learn.

I didn't like the fact that the only spread she uses is the Celtic Cross either because I really don't consider it to be a beginners spread.

Many people get an awful lot from her stuff but it just isn't for me.

Love

Sulis xx
 

tmgrl2

For a "first" book...I like Mary Greer's Tarot of Your Self.

There are many others...those that come with decks (I don't mean the Little White Books). Greer is richer in discussion, although I do like Bunning's rendering of the Celtic Cross Spread and how she takes each position page by page.

Best advice....read beginning page here at AT with articles for beginners:

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

I have read and re-read much of this.

Then, familiarize yourself with the cards...somehow...look at them, pull a card for yourself...you must work with your intuition from the outset.

Read a lot here at Aeclectic....you can spend hours and get what you will never get in a book on a particular topic or card or deck or tradition.

Then, remember, it all takes time. It is a process.

Write in a small journal what comes to you when you meditate on a card.

I have at least 50 books I have purchased over the past year...and yes, I have read a number of them, discarded some completely, refer to others, but there is no one book that you can "rely" on other than the one within.

Look at the High Priestess/La Papesse. That book she holds has all of the secrets and if we ask, it shall be revealed to us as we go along and as we become ready to learn.

You will want to become familiar with some of the suit interpretations and number meanings. There are a number of systems. Read here and you will find what works for you.

Just enjoy!! That's the main thing.

terri
 

Umbrae

Stregaverde said:
Am I the only one who has not gotten much out of Bunning's book? I'm getting much more out of this forum as far as understanding nuances in the cards. The book is full of great information, it's just not gelling for me--is it me? Is there something that I'm missing?
You are missing nothing. IMO, it’s poorly written. It is at the top of my Bad Books on Tarot list.

It is written in a format that makes the new Tarot Deck owner think they are ‘learning cards’, and understanding what the cards mean.

In fact, it is written in such a way as to turn the new Tarot Deck owner into a very dangerous parrot – their head stuck in a box of Ms. Bunning’s making, creativity and intuition stifled because their head is racing to find that keyword in bullet point format…

It's All in the Cards: Tarot Reading Made Easy by John Magniapane is not only better, but superior (not that I’ve read it cover to cover – but I ran into it in the library one day…and stayed far too long…

Bunning attempts to “Tell”, not reveal. As you said, “I'm getting much more out of this forum as far as understanding nuances in the cards” and Tarot is so much more than information.
 

Tarotphelia

I thought it was an alright book . Basics, to be sure. I suppose people's way of learning and what they feel they need to get out of the cards will differ.

If you think there is good information there, but you just can't connect to it you might need a different way to make it more interactive for yourself.

I am not one for needing to put other systems on the tarot, so lack of numerology doesn't bother me. I don't feel stifled and forever boxed in by reading others card descriptions or older books . I see it more as a process of enrichment and gathering from different sources to add to the whole. There is always the possibility of seeing something in an entirely new way from coming across a previously unconsidered association. Just more leaves on the tree.